George Jonas Whitaker Hayward (c. 1839 – 18 July 1870) was a well-known nineteenth-century English explorer. Information for all but the final few years of his life is scarce. His exploration efforts and eventual murder in South Asia during "The Great Game" period eventually earned him a degree of acknowledgement and fame.
Pre-exploration life
Hayward was long believed to have been Irish but research in the 1990s by Charles Timmis revealed that he was in fact a Yorkshireman, born at Headingley Hall on the outskirts of Leeds. His father, also named George Hayward, was a Land Agent working for the Earl of Cardigan around Leeds. His mother was Eleanora Whitaker, who died when he was only about 6 years old. He was educated at the Forest School in north London. In 1859 he became an ensign in the British Army. He was stationed in Multan, India (now in Pakistan) with the 89th Regiment of Foot. In 1863 he purchased a commission and became a lieutenant. He next transferred to the Cameron Highlanders regiment in 1864. He sold his commission in 1865 and left the British Army.
Affiliation with the Royal Geographical Society
Hayward appeared in England in 1868 and approached Sir Henry Rawlinson, vice president of the Royal Geographical Society. He wanted to be hired as an explorer in central Asia and the western Himalayas. Surprisingly Hayward was provided with £300, surveying equipment, map making instruments and instructions to attempt to reach and survey the then unmapped Pamir Mountains. He was to become the only explorer funded by the Royal Geographical Society during "The Great Game."
Political turmoil in Central Asia
The era that Hayward operated in was one of imperial expansion in Central Asia. In the south the British Empire, based out of India, was consolidating and expanding its positions to the north. In the north the Russian Empire was expanding its territory at a dramatic pace. Soon the Russians were expanding south into central Asia. The area between the two empires was shrinking fast and clandestine agents and explorers were sent to map this unknown area of the world full of lawless tribes, murderous despot rulers and some of the most formidable and challenging terrain on Earth.
Although the Royal Geographical Society was strictly apolitical, Rawlinson was also a member of the government's India Council and a known Russophobe. For this reason it has often been suggested that he may have had political motivations in encouraging Hayward's explorations.
Journey to Kashgar and Yarkand
Hayward's official Royal Geographical Society mission was to explore the Pamirs and their routes and approaches. After being rebuffed by officials from approaching the Pamirs via the Northwest Frontier he travelled to Ladakh and onwards to Kashgaria with the intention of approaching the Pamirs from there.
Another Englishman, Robert Shaw, uncle of Sir Francis Younghusband, was making a similar journey to Yarkand and Kashgar at the same time. Shaw seems to have resented Hayward's presence, and although they were often within a few hundred metres of one another, they only met once at the start of their approach to Kashgaria, and then again many months later.
While awaiting permission to proceed at the Kashgaria border Hayward escaped from his guards and spent 20 days exploring and charting the course of the Yarkand River.
Shaw reached Kashgaria in December 1868 after sending ahead envoys announcing his arrival and carrying with him gifts for Yakub Beg. Yakub Beg had just made himself ruler of Kashgaria after the Chinese had been driven out by the Dungan Revolt (1862–77). A few weeks after Shaw's arrival he was joined by Hayward. Hayward sent no envoy and hand no gifts but convinced the border guards he was with Shaw. Shaw was disturbed by this as he figured Hayward would be stopped at the border.
In Yarkand Hayward and Shaw were separately kept under house arrest. After sometime Shaw was allowed to proceed to Kashgar to meet with Yakub Beg. After a warm reception Shaw eventually found himself once again under house arrest. A few weeks later Hayward arrived in Kashgar and was also placed under house arrest. The two were able to periodically communicate by passing secret notes.
Neither man knew at the time, but they were being held while Yakub Beg was waiting for the response to his recent envoy to Russia. When no positive response came from Russia Shaw again was allowed an audience with the King. Afterwards he was free to return home and was able to arrange for Hayward's release as well as that of Mirza Shuja, a Pundit exploring the region for Britain.