Mussoorie is now almost 200 years old. Whenever the history of Mussoorie is talked about, the names of three gentlemen called Frederick must simply find mention. Two of them were related directly to the “discovery” of this popular hill station as it was a hunting trip they undertook in the year 1823 that brought this place into light. These two were lieutenant Frederick Young of East India Company and his friend Frederick John Shore who was the joint magistrate of Dehradun at that time. This short hunting trip by the two young Fredericks became a giant leap for history.
The third Frederick came later. However, not much is known about these three men by the thousands of tourists who keep visiting this hill town.Lieutenant Young, an Irish man, was so enamoured by the beauty of the place that he decided to build a hunting lodge (shooting box) on the Camel's Back Road along with Shore. This can be called the first construction in Mussoorie.
Young then suggested to his superiors in the army and civil establishment to build a convalescent home for the tired and sick army personnel in the salubrious environment of these hills. In 1827, the company's government established a convalescent depot for British soldiers at Landour.After that, Young built his residence in Landour and named it “Mullingar” after the city of this name which still exists in his native Ireland. Building after building, roads joining other roads, one civic facility following the other came to be installed. Later on, it came to be called by the name of Mussoorie. An interesting and little known fact is that originally ,the town was called Masuri after the Mansur plant that grows here but was later changed to Mussoorie to match with Mullingar’s nine letters. Young later went on to raise the first Gurkha regiment, made the Doon valley his home, and is believed to have introduced the potato for the first time in the Himalayas. Young’s daughter, L Hadow Jenkins, spent her first five years in Mussoorie and Dehradun, and in her memoirs she recalls the potato garden, the ride up to Mussoorie from Rajpur, the parades on Dehradun’s huge parade-ground, and the house her father built in a meadow off Rajpur Road where the Saint Joseph’s Academy stands now.
Frederick Young was born on November 30, 1786, at Green Castle in the north of Ireland. He became a military cadet at the age of 15. Under the aegis of the East India Company, Ensign Young arrived in Calcutta in 1802. During the Anglo-Gurkha war in the Doon valley, Young became the captive of the Gurkhas for about a year. He became conversant with their language, studied their religion, their manners and customs, gaining their friendship and admiration.
In 1825, Young married the beautiful Jeanette. Young’s tenure in Dehra ended in 1844, and after serving briefly in Darjeeling and Dimapore, he went home to Ireland as General where he died at the age of 87. Sadly, there are no memorials to Young in Mussoorie but in the Dehradun cantonment, there is a “Young Road”. Now, to come to the most colourful Frederick! Frederick E Wilson. He is better known as “Pahadi” Wilson because over the many years he spent in Garhwal Himalayas, he became just like the locals here –a Pahadi like the mountain folk. The legend of Pahadi Wilson and his wife Gulabi is part of the folklore of this mountain region.
The freshness and beauty of the legend has not faded. It has, in fact, grown more popular and interesting down the decades. He was an adventurer who is believed to have deserted the British Army just after 1857. He escaped into Garhwal and landed in Harshil, a remote idyllic valley on the banks of the Bhagirathi. Wilson married a beautiful Garhwali girl, Gulabi, of Mukhba village.
He then made a fortune out of timber. He came to be known as "Raja Wilson". His character may have had grey shades as people felt that he was exploiting local resources for his advantage. Gulabi and Wilson lived in Wilson Cottage, a huge mansion built by him in the late 1850s. Wilson and his wife lie buried in the Mussoorie cemetary.
Wilson is also remembered for the large, juicy, red apples he introduced to this region. Known as "Wilson Apples", these are sold by locals to travellers and pilgrims on their way to Gangotri.
Wilson passed through Mussoorie for the first time in the early 1840s.Wilson had two wives, both from Harshil’s neighbouring village of Mukhba. The prettier one was Raimatta, who proved unable to bear children. The other one was Sungrami whose nickname was Gulabi. Wilson travelled frequently between Mussoorie and Harshil.In Mussoorie, Pahadi Wilson had owned or at least financed the old Charleville Hotel naming it after his middle son Charles who showed no interest in running it.