William Lloyd (mountaineer)

Sir William Lloyd (29 December 1782 – 16 May 1857) was a Welsh military commander, and was one of the first Europeans to ascend a Himalayan peak.

He was born in Wrexham, the son of a banker, and went to school in Ruthin. In 1798, he joined the army of the East India Company, and became a major in the Bengal Infantry, captaining the Residency Guard at Nagpur for 14 years. In 1822 he began a journey through the Himalayas that took him as far as Buan Ghati on the Tibetan border. On 13 June he climbed the peak of Boorendo alone. In 1840, he published his journal as The Narrative of a Journey from Cawnpoor to the Boorendo Pass. He was knighted in 1838, and retired to his estate of Bryn Estyn at Wrexham, where he became captain of the Denbighshire Hussars Yeomanry.

Sources

• Welsh Biography On-line