La Mission britannique à Lhassa ouverte en 1936 et fermée en 1947 était la représentation diplomatique du Royaume-Uni au Tibet. Elle était située à Dekyi-Lingka.
En , les Britanniques envoyèrent sir Basil Gould en mission à Lhassa, accompagné de Hugh Richardson et de Freddie Spencer Chapman, son secrétaire particulier, ainsi que d'une troupe de soldats et de deux officiers du Royal Corps of Signals. Ces derniers étaient chargés d'établir une station radio sans fil, en réponse à la mission chinoise de « condoléance » dirigée par Huang Musong, arrivée à Lhassa en 1934 après le décès du 13e dalaï-lama et qui avait laissé derrière elle deux agents de liaison muni d'un émetteur-récepteur radio[1],[2]. Hugh Richardson devait devenir, à partir de 1936, le chef de la première mission britannique établie à Lhassa. Premier représentant blanc à servir dans la capitale, il y demeura jusqu'en 1940 et à nouveau après 1946, ayant été affecté à d'autres postes entretemps. Après la fin de la guerre, il revint à Lhassa en tant que représentant britannique[3],[4].
À partir de , Dundul Namgyal Tsarong participa à développer le télégraphe sans fil de la mission britannique au Tibet ainsi qu'à un projet visant à utiliser la rivière Kyichu comme source d'énergie hydro-électrique[5].
À partir de 1944, Kyibu II a travaillé plusieurs années pour le télégraphe de la mission britannique à Lhassa, et fut interprète employé par le Foreign Office britannique[6].
En 1945, le Britannique Robert Ford participa à la mission britannique comme opérateur radio avant de rejoindre le Sikkim la même année[7],[8]. Un autre opérateur radio britannique[9], Reginald Fox, servit à la mission de Lhassa de mars 1947 à 1950[10]. Après l'indépendance de l'Inde le et la fermeture de la mission britannique, il est lui aussi employé par le gouvernement du Tibet[11].
Après l'accession de l'Inde à l'indépendance en 1947, la mission britannique devint la mission indienne[12],[13]. Son successeur indien n'étant pas encore formé, Hugh Richardson devint le représentant de l'Inde et le demeura jusqu'en [14],[15],[16].
Entourage de Frederick Williamson(en) à Dekyi-Lingka, 20 septembre 1933
(en) Christopher Hale, Himmler's crusade: the Nazi expedition to find the origins of the Aryan, John Wiley & Sons, 2003: «in August 1936 the British sent the new political officer, Sir Basil Gould, on a mission to Lhasa. He was accompanied by Hugh Richardson and F. Spencer Chapman, his private secretary, and a military contingent [...]. With him were Lieutenants E. Y. Nepean and S. G. Dagg of the Royal Corps of Signals. It was their job to set up a British wireless station in Lhasa to counter the Chinese radio left by Huang.»
(en) Heather Spence, British Policy and the 'development' of Tibet 1912-1933, Doctor of Philosophy thesis, Department of History and Politics, Faculty of Arts, University of Wollingong [Australia], 1993, x + 362 p.: «The Nanking government saw in the Thirteenth Dalai Lama's death the opportunity to send a 'condolence' mission to Lhasa. When the mission returned to China, two liaison officers with a wireless transmitter remained at Lhasa. In a counter-move, a rival British Mission was quickly established by Hugh Richardson».
(en) Alex. C. McKay, The Establishment of the British Trade Agencies in Tibet: A Survey, in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1992), Third Series, 2, pp. 399-421: «After 1936 a mission was stationed in Lhasa. The last British official in Lhasa, Hugh Richardson, departed in 1950 following the Chinese invasion of Tibet».
Heather Spence, op. cit.: «He remained in Lhasa, the first white representative to function in the capital, from 1936-1940 and again from 1946, having held a number of offices in the intervening years. (...) He returned to Lhasa after the end of the war as British representative (...).»
(en) Bureau du Tibet, "For Tibet the nightmare of foreign occupation had begun," Robert Ford, 6 juillet 2008: «Mr. Ford joined the British Mission in Lhasa in 1945 as a radio officer. The same year he was transferred to Gangtok (Sikkim), where he worked for British-India relations with Tibet. In 1947 when India became independent, he returned to Lhasa and became the first foreigner to be given an official Tibetan rank after his appointment by the Government of Tibet.»
(en) Alex McKay, Tibet and the British Raj, Curzon Press, Richmond, 1997, pp. 203-204: «Reginald Fox served as Lhassa mission Radio Officer from March 1947 until 1950.»
(en) Heinrich Harrer, Seven years in Tibet, translated from the German by Richard Graves; with an introduction by Peter Fleming; foreword by the Dalai Lama, E. P. Dutton, 1954: «India's declaration of independence settled the fate of the British Legation in Lhasa».
Obituary -- Dr Hugh Richardson, The Scotsman, op. cit.: «He returned to Lhasa after the end of the war as British representative and when Britain left India in 1947 after it was awarded self-government he remained in Tibet as the representative of the Indian government as officer in charge of the Indian Mission. Dr Richardson eventually relinquished his post in 1950 (...)».
Heinrich Harrer, Seven years in Tibet, op. cit.: «The British staff were replaced by Indians, but Mr. Richardson stayed on until September 1950, as the Indians had no trained candidate for his post».
Heather Spence, op. cit.: «when Britain left India in 1947 after it was awarded self-government he remained in Tibet as the representative of the Indian government and officer in charge of the Indian Mission. Dr Richardson eventually relinquished his post in 1950 after a total of 14 years in Lhasa – the same year that the Chinese invaded».
(en) Alastair Lamb, Tibet, China & India, 1914-1950: a history of imperial diplomacy, 1989, p. 172: «Frank Ludlow, schoolmaster and botanist, presided over the British Mission in Lhasa from 1942 to 1943, to be followed by his close friend George Sherriff, soldier, diplomat and botanist, who occupied that post until he was forced to leave Tibet because of a heart condition in May 1945.»
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