In 1920, at the behest of Sir Francis Younghusband (the first Chairman of the Committee), Colonel Charles Howard-Bury - the leader of the 1921 expedition - persuaded Sir Charles Bell to use his considerable influence with Tibetan officials to negotiate permission for a passage to Mount Everest from the northern side (the Nepalese approaches from the south were closed to foreign entry). Permission was granted by the Tibetan government for the British to proceed in the following year, 1921.