Born on 18 August 1888, John de Vars Hazard spent much of his childhood in
France and was educated at
Bedford School before going on to study
engineering. In his youth he took part in pioneering climbs in the
Lake District, and made the first ascent of
Great Gable's Abbey Buttress at Easter 1909. He joined the
Royal Artillery and served in the
First World War, during which he fought at the
Battle of the Somme in 1916, as second in command to
Henry Morshead, and was awarded the
Military Cross. Morshead took part in the
1921 British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition and the
1922 British Mount Everest expedition, and recommended that Hazard should be a member of the
1924 British Mount Everest expedition. According to Hazard's obituary in the
Alpine Journal, he is best remembered for leaving four
Sherpas behind on the
North Col during the
1924 British Mount Everest expedition, whilst he was bringing the men down, resulting in a very risky rescue operation by
Howard Somervell,
Edward Felix Norton and
George Mallory. Later, after most of the expedition had left to return to
India, Hazard transgressed a
Tibetan rule and went to survey the
Yarlung Tsangpo River. As a result, the
Alpine Journal obituary claims, the Tibetan authorities banned foreign expeditions in
Tibet for nine years, between 1924 and 1933. However, this account of events has been disputed and Hazard has been described as a "scapegoat" for the diplomatic debacle later known as the
Affair of the Dancing Lamas. ==References==