William Frederick Travers O'Connor

Lieutenant-Colonel Sir William Frederick Travers O'Connor (30 July 1870 – 14 December 1943 member of the Royal Automobile Club and for his work negotiating and signing the Nepal–Britain Treaty of 1923.

Early life O'Connor was born in 1870, Longford, Ireland, daughter of Anthony O'Reilly, of Baltrasna, County Meath. He had a sister, Lina O'Connor, and two younger brothers Matthew O'Connor and Myles O'Connor. He was educated at Charterhouse School as a Junior Scholar, in Verites house, 1884-1887. He received Henry Wilkinson sabre (number 29781) in 1889, as gift from a family member.

Military career 14 February 1890 – Joined 14th Field Academy Royal Artillery at Shorncliffe as second lieutenant.

1894 – Served in Indian mountain battery stationed near Darjeeling.

1 October 1899 – Promoted to captain.

1899–1903 – Appointed inspecting officer of the Kashmir Imperial Service Troops, stationed at Gilgit near the border of Afghanistan and Chinese Turkmenistan. to Sir Francis Younghusband's Lhasa mission as part of British expedition to Tibet. Awarded medal and clasp.

1904 – Employed former Sengchen Lama's personal attendant Sherab Gyatso to be his personal language teacher and suspected intelligence informant.

21 May 1904 - Fought, and wounded, in battle to capture village of Pala. David (born Dorje) MacDonald briefly took over O'Connor's interpreter duties during recovery.

1907 – Import of two motor cars, by carrying over the Himalayas, into Tibet. One was an 8hp Clement brought as a gift for Thubten Choekyi Nyima, the 9th Panchen Lama, who presided over Tashi Lhunpo monastery near Shigatse. The other was his own 6.5hp Baby Peugeot (Peugeot Type 69).

1908 – Accompanied Sikkimese Prince on world tour and also to meet 13th Dalai Lama.

30 September 1909 – Appointed His Majesty's council for the districts of Seistan and Kain.

14 February 1916 - Promoted to lieutenant-colonel.

August 1916 – Released from Persian captivity as part of prisoner exchange. taking 11 days, Royal Victorian Order, Commander (C.V.O.), 1922

28 June 1931 – Article in The Indianapolis Sunday Star newspaper saying O'Connor inviting 5 Americans on tiger hunt for $100,000 ($20,000 each).

30 June 1931 – Bankruptcy petition filed.

29 July 1931 – Receiving Order issued on a creditor's petition.

27 November 1938 – The Old House performed by John McCormack at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Report on Tibet, 1903. Rules for the Phonetic Transcription into English of Tibetan Words, with Charles Alfred Bell,1904 Lhasa: an account of the country and people of Central Tibet, with Perceval Landon and Herbert James Walton, 1905. Folk Tales from Tibet with Illustrations by a Tibetan Artist and Some Verses from Tibetan Love Songs, 1906. On the frontier and beyond: a record of thirty years' service, 1931 Wrote music and lyrics to The Old House, Quietide and One Hundred Years Ago, 1937. Things mortal, 1940.