Sir Eric TeichmanGCMG CIE (bornErik Teichmann; 16 January 1884 – 3 December 1944 inNorfolk,England) was a Britishdiplomat,orientalist, travel writer and photographer.
He was a son of Emil Teichmann and Mary Lydia Schroeter, and younger brother of Max Teichmann (1876–1963) and Oskar Teichman (1880–1959), both of whom were born inEltham. Eric Teichman was educated atGonville and Caius College, Cambridge. At the time of his death, he had been serving as adviser to the British Embassy atChongqing.
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 theTarim Basin toKashgar, and there by pony and on foot across thePamir andKarakoram ranges toGilgit, and then to New Delhi.[2] In 1943 he began his final foreign journey from Chongqing. After caravanning as far asLanzhou, 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]
On 3 December 1944, whilst at home atHoningham Hall, his estate inNorfolk, England, Teichman heard the sound of gunfire nearby. He went out to confront twopoachers (Private George E. Smith ofPittsburgh and Private Leonard S. Wijpacha ofDetroit) who were trespassing in the grounds of his estate. Both intruders were American soldiers based at a nearbyUSAAF airfield and each was armed with anM1 carbine. Teichman was killed during the confrontation, receiving a fatalgunshot wound to the head.[4]
On December 4, all of the soldiers in Smith and Wijpacha's section were ordered to turn in their arms as part of the investigation. Casts of footprints left by the two perpetrators were also made. Wijpacha was questioned by his superiors on 6 December and confronted with this evidence, at which point he confessed.[5] Smith was arrested the next day and admitted to shooting Teichman.[5]
Private Smith (army serial number: 33288266) was given a psychological examination in January 1945,[6] subsequentlycourt-martialled atRAF Attlebridge with a conviction ofmurder. He wasexecuted byhanging on thegallows atHMP Shepton Mallet on 8 May 1945 (i.e.VE day), despite appeals forclemency, including from Lady Ellen Teichman. His companion, Private Wijpacha was charged with being an accessory to murder, but was not sentenced to death.[7] Smith's remains are buried in grave 52, row 3 inOise-Aisne American Cemetery Plot E,France.
Teichman was buried in the churchyard of St Andrew's Church,Honingham.[5] His grave is in the corner plot, directly in line with the now-demolished Honingham Hall. His widow was buried in the same grave in 1969.
