Eric Teichman

Eric Teichman

Sir Eric Teichman, born Erik Teichmann (16 January 1884 – 3 December 1944 in Norfolk, England) was a British diplomat and orientalist.

He was a son of Emil Teichmann and Edith Harbord, and younger brother of Oskar Teichman (1880, Eltham, Kent - 1959). He was educated at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University. At the time of his death, Sir Eric had been serving as adviser to the British Embassy at Chungking.

Travels

Teichman has been described as "one of British diplomacy's dashing characters, [a] flamboyantly enigmatic explorer-cum-special agent.[1] He went on a number of "special missions" and "fact-finding journeys" throughout Central Asia, as early as before World War I. In 1935 he travelled by truck across the Tarim basin to Kashgar, and there by pony and on foot across the Pamir and Karakoram ranges to Gilgit, and then to New Delhi.[2] In 1943 he began on his final foreign journey from Chongqing. After caravaning as far as Lanzhou, his truck continued along the outer Silk Road, across the Tarim basin, and over the Pamir Mountains to New Delhi. From there he flew back to England, where a few days later, at the age of 60, he was killed.[3]

Murder

On 3 December 1944, whilst at home at Honingham Hall, his estate in Norfolk, England, Teichman heard the sound of gunfire nearby. He went out to confront two poachers (Private George E. Smith of Pittsburgh and Private Leonard S. Wijpacha of Detroit) who were trespassing in the grounds of his estate. Both intruders were American soldiers based at a nearby USAAF airfield and each was armed with an M1 carbine. Sir Eric was killed during the confrontation, receiving a fatal gunshot wound to the head.[4]

Private Smith (army serial number: 33288266) was subsequently court-martialled at RAF Attlebridge, convicted of murder and executed by hanging on the gallows at HMP Shepton Mallet on 8 May 1945 (i.e. VE day), despite appeals for clemency, including one from Lady Ellen Teichman. His companion, Private Wijpacha was charged with being an accessory to murder, but was not sentenced to death.[5] Smith's remains are buried in grave 52, row 3 in Oise-Aisne American Cemetery Plot E, France.

Teichman was buried in the churchyard of St Andrew's Church, Honingham. His grave is in the corner plot, directly in line with the now-demolished Honingham Hall. His wife was buried in the same grave in 1969.

Literary works

Sources

Winchester, Simon "The Man Who Loved China," Harper Collins, 2008.

References

  1. ↑ Winchester (2008)p.73
  2. ↑ Winchester (2008) p.73-74
  3. ↑ Winchester (2008) p.124
  4. ↑
  5. ↑
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