Our Man in Mongolia: Charles Binsteed, an Agent of the British Empire in Mongolia

Sue Byrne is an independent researcher specialising in Mongolia.

Who would have thought that a twenty-six year old British Army Officer would be the first European to enter Urga in February 1912 mere weeks after the Bogd Khan’s declaration of independence? The young man was Charles Binsteed, who had taken Extra Regimental Leave beyond empire to study first Russian and then Chinese, and was on his way across Siberia to China to begin his language training. On hearing the news of the political changes in Mongolia he travelled south to the Mongolian capital where he met some of the putative new political leaders and lodged in Russian military barracks. He immediately began to record the situation he found and sent the outline of an article from the city to George Morrison, by then the ex-Times correspondent, in Peking.

The initial driving force for Binsteed’s travel seems to have been his genuine desire to extend his language skills to include Chinese, having already mastered French and Russian. He had discovered Mongolia (Inner and Outer) through the writings of the great 19th century Russian expedition leaders such as A.M. Pozdneev, as well as, through accounts in The Times. He became fixated on writing about the country, wanting to appeal to the ‘curiosity and wish for knowledge’ among the general British public, and righting ‘the lack of books on Mongolia in the English language’. This aspiration reflected a common trait among Victorian British travellers, many of whom wanted to achieve a ‘first’. His presentation of Mongolia would be through the lens of his own empirically gained local knowledge rather than simply a translation of Russian works. He was keen to know more about ‘the Yellow Faith’, being intrigued by ‘the vastness of the realm over which . . Lamaism ruled’. As Binsteed set out for his two-year secondment in China, no doubt he saw this as the perfect place from which to pursue his ambitions.

At this time the British had no consular presence in Mongolia (Outer or Inner) and tended to regard this ‘outer region’ of the Chinese Empire as being beyond their sphere of interest or relevance. However, they were conscious of the presence of Russians in the northern parts of the territory and were somewhat wary of this. But now, as news broke of the Bogd’s declaration followed shortly by the end of the Qing Empire, the British had a heightened need for first-hand intelligence on the changes and developments in Mongolia and particularly how the Russians were going to respond. Would they recognise Mongolia’s claim of Independence? Trading opportunities also seemed to be opening up in Mongolia as British companies such as British American Tobacco and Price’s Candles had either established themselves there or were trading their goods into the country. As the year wore on the British needed information to keep them up to date on the rapidly changing situation; what was the nature of the political alliance and trading agreement the Russians were making with the new Government; were Russian merchants taking up the trade and commercial opportunities left by the departing Chinese; what new openings were there for British traders to export British goods into Mongolia; what could be learned about the purported worsening military situation?

Concurrently, during 1912 the British were effectively forced to consider the issue of Tibet which had likewise declared independence from the Qing. Not wanting to jeopardize the delicate negotiations on this more strategically sensitive question, the British adopted a ‘watch and wait’ policy on the subject of Mongolia’s independence, preferring to see what the Russians would do before committing to a position.

And so it was that Charles Binsteed with his particular set of interests, experiences and skills and his timely presence in Peking, came, over the next two years, to provide the British Legation with a steady stream of well-sourced and first-hand information about Mongolia. From early 1912 to the beginning of 1914 when he returned to London, the young officer made five journeys in Mongolia (both Inner and Outer) and its border areas Kalgan (present-day Zhangjiakou) and Tsitsihar (present-day Qiqihar, Heilongjiang province). He wrote eleven articles and reports as well as producing three maps following his long journey during the summer of 1913. Seven reports were written for the British Legation in Peking, three articles for The Far Eastern Review and a lengthy monograph in The China Year Book 1914.

He made the first substantive contact with the British Legation in Peking in August 1912 when he presented his handwritten report accompanying a letter he had received from one of the independence leaders he had met in Urga on his first visit. On learning of this visit and of his Russian language skills, wide reading and appointment as an army scouting officer, his value to the Legation as someone who could seek out and provide them with reliable intelligence on Mongolia became evident. His trip to Qiqihar via Harbin a month later (September 1912) was probably requested by the Legation, given his knowledge of the region and the subject under investigation being Russian activity and policy in Northern Manchuria.

Thus, it could be argued that Binsteed, an Army officer on language leave, was effectively conscripted by the British to become, what the historian John Fisher describes as ‘a gentleman spy’ or intelligence agent. It was after his trip to the Manchu territory that he wrote six of the above-mentioned reports on Mongolia for the Legation. In a covering memo the Head of Mission described Binsteed as ‘a language officer attached to His Majesty’s legation’. In his reporting he did not play the part of a disinterested observer and was ready to offer his somewhat imperialistic opinions on Mongolia and the Mongols, as well as on contemporary issues concerning British policy toward Mongolia, particularly relating to trade.

Binsteed also kept journals on his 1913 travels to Jehol (May) and Kalgan (July) and on his long summer trek from Hailar across eastern Mongolia along the Kherlen valley to Urga. In these, using his army training as a scout, he methodically records his observations on all he sees and experiences. The journals are held along with over two hundred photographs he took in Mongolia, by the Royal Geographical Society in London. One section on his summer trip gives a detailed account of a week’s stay in the Sait Südjict Hoshun Monastery, in Khentii Aimag. This was, in fact, a highly unusual occurrence – a foreigner being allowed to stay and being given unfettered access to a monastic complex. During this period in history, Mongolian historians claim that foreigners were not allowed to enter these spiritual spaces. Binsteed gives no indication that he was aware of how special this experience was, not fully realising that his employment of a Peking-based Mongolian lama as his interpreter had made this possible.

On his return to London in early 1914, he submitted a paper to the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society about what he had learned about Lamaism. Binsteed concluded the Yellow Faith was ‘a mysticism that is not meant to be understood’ and this is ‘the root of its power’. Interestingly he made little mention of Lamaism in his more political and economic writing other than to describe the person, position and political place of the Bogd Khan.

Notwithstanding Binsteed’s prolific reporting for the British Legation, he seems to have remained focused on his self-defined brief of gathering information for his intended book. He made hazardous journeys in Mongol lands at a very volatile time to collect first-hand information and to experience the country and her people. He also fulfilled, in part, his wish to raise awareness of Mongolia (Outer and Inner) among English speakers by publishing articles on his new-found knowledge. In this sense the needs of the Legation and Binsteed’s own ambitions were in harmony and, as such, he fits perfectly the description of ‘gentleman spy or agent’.

Binsteed never did write his book. Following his return to London, he joined his regiment at the beginning of the First World War and, by the end of 1914, was serving in France. He was killed the following April not long after being promoted to Major and just months before his 30^th birthday – one of the hundreds of thousands of young men to perish in the war who were never able to fulfil their dreams.

The compilation in this book includes almost all the reports written by G. C. Binsteed for the British Legation in Beijing in the years 1912-1913 and some of the photographs he took to illustrate them. These documents offer new insights into Mongolia and its people at that time, and provide an opportunity to get acquainted with the actual observations as well as the values and attitudes of one foreign traveller who visited Mongolia during this period.

The opinions expressed are those of the contributor, not of the RSAA.