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