John Claude White (1 October 1853 – 1918) CIE was an engineer, photographer, author and civil servant in British India.

He also established a forestry department and the first police post in Aritar as well as introducing English apple cultivation in the northern towns of Lachung and Lachen.

The putative aim of the expedition was to settle disputes over the Sikkim-Tibet border but in reality it became (by exceeding instructions from London) a de facto invasion of Tibet.

[2] On 12 September 1876, before departing for India, White married his distant cousin Jessie Georgina Ranken at All Saints Church in Kensington, London.

[1] White created a rich and detailed photographic account of the culture and scenery of the Himalayas during his travels through the region.