This list consolidates information on CMS careers found in the footnotes of the seven-volume series Documents illustrative of the Origin, Development, and Activities of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service (Shanghai, 1937 – 1940). Please note that entries are incomplete for all men who served beyond about 1937. The entries only reflect those deemed important in the story of the Customs by the (foreign) leadership of the service in 1937. This reflected the interests of that cadre of officers, and is far from complete.
Aalst, J.A. van
I, 174
J. A. van Aalst was born on the 14th October 1858 at Namur Belgium. He joined the Customs Service on the 1st April 1883 as a postal clerk at Peking, and was graded as 4th Assistant, A, on the 1st August 1885. In February 1896 he was promoted to be Deputy Commissioner and made Acting Audit Secretary at Peking, to which were added in March 1897 the duties of Acting Postal Secretary. On the 1st January 1899 he was transferred to the Postal Department and made Commissioner and Postal Secretary, a post which he held until December 1901, and after which he was retransferred to the Revenue Department. As Commissioner he served at Samshui, Amoy, and Wuchow, and resigned on the 28th February 1914. From the 1st January to the 31st October 1905 Mr. Van Aalst served as a member of the Chinese Commission for the Liége exhibition, and it was largely due to his efforts that the Chinese pavilion on that occasion was such a success. He held Civil Rank of the 3rd Class; Order of the Double Dragon, 2nd division, 3rd Class; Chevalier of the Order of Orange Nassau, Holland. Mr. Van Aalst was one of the first foreigners to make a thorough study of Chinese music. He embodied his researches in the well-known book “Chinese Music” which was published by the Customs in 1884.
Guy Francis Hamilton Acheson was born on the 16th December 1863 at Gosport, England. After graduating from Oxford in 1886, he joined the Customs Service as a 4th Assistant, B, on the 1st June 1888, and was first stationed at Peking, where he remained till the 31st October 1893 studying the language and acting as Private Secretary to the Inspector General. He subsequently served at Canton for nearly two years, at the London Office for two years, at Shanghai for four and a half years, at Soochow where he was Acting Deputy Commissioner in charge of the liken collectorate, for four years, at Chunking as Acting Commissioner for two years, and a Santuao in the same capacity for three years. He was promoted Deputy Commissioner on the 1st June 1911, and on the 1st October 1914 was again transferred to Peking, this time as Assistant Staff and Private Secretary. He remained at Peking till the 31 st December 1919, serving most of his time in the Staff and Chinese secretariats, but during the last eight months of 1919 was on special duty working out the details of the staff superannuation and retirement scheme, a task in which he received much assistance from the late Mr. W. MacDonald, then Commissioner at Samshui. He had been promoted Commissioner on the 1st October 1915. The last three years of Acheson’s service career were spent in the London Office as Non-Resident Secretary, from which he retired on the 21st January 1924. He was subsequently appointed foreign Co-Director of the Customs College, a post which he held till his death on the 8th December 1924. Acheson held Civil Rank of the 5th and 4th Classes, and the Order of the Chia Ho, 4th and 3 rd Classes.
James Acheson was born on the 25th November 1852 at Tandragee, Ireland, and entered the Customs Service on the 1st July 1874 as a 4th Assistant, B. He attained his Deputy Commissionership on the 1st August 1900 while n long leave, having in the mean time served at Newchwang, Tientsin, Canton (three times), the Statistical Department at Shanghai, Ningpo, Wenchow (twice), and the General Office at Shanghai. He was subsequently Acting Commissioner at Kiungchow for five years, then at Pakhoi, at which port he was promoted Commissioner on the 1st April 1911. He resigned from Wenchow on the 8 th November 1916. Acheson held Civil Rank of the 4th and the 3rd Classes, the Order of the Double dragon, 1st Class of the 3rd Division, and the Order of the Chia Ho, 3rd Class.
Aglen, (Sir) Francis
II, 693
F.A. Aglen, son of Don Aglen, was born on the 17th October 1869 at Scarborough, Yorkshire. After education at Marlborough College, he joined the Customs Service on the 1st December 1888 as 4th Assistant, B. His promotion was more than usually rapid. After three and a half years at Peking, he served in turn for short periods at Amoy, Canton, and Tientsin, returning to the Inspectorate on the 1st June 1894 where he was promoted to be Deputy Commissioner on the 1st March 1896. In October of the year following he was made Commissioner and proceeded on long leave. In April 1899 he was appointed Commissioner at Nanking, where he remained until the end of March 1903. During the Boxer trouble, when Peking was cut off from the outside world, Aglen was appointed by I.G. telegram to act conjointly with Mr. F. E. Taylor as Inspector General, but did not take up the appointment ( vide footnote to I.G. Cir. No. 961, antea , vol. Ii, p.238). From April 1903 to 31st December 1904 Aglen was once more at the Inspectorate in Peking, this time as Chief Secretary. On return from long leave he was Commissioner at Hankow from February 1907 till the end of March 1910, when he moved finally to Peking, where he spent the rest of his official career- first as Deputy Inspector General, Officiating Inspector General ad interim , from the 23rd March 1910 to 15th June 1911, then as Deputy Inspector General, Acting Inspector General, from the 16th June to 24th October 1911, and finally as Inspector General from the latter date until his final withdrawal from the Service on the 10th February 1927, on which date he was given special leave for one year. Something of what Aglen accomplished for China and for the Service may be gathered from the Circulars following this one [Circular No. 1681 (Second Series)]. He raised the qualifying standards of the Service especially in Chinese for the foreign In-door Staff, placed all departments on a firmer financial basis, provided better living conditions at al the main- and many of the smaller- ports, put into operation a liberal system of travelling and transfer allowances, and secured for the Service the supreme benefit of a Superannuation Fund. His work for China’s finances on the basis of Customs revenue is outstanding ( vide “China’s Customs Revenue since the Revolution of 1911” passim ), and the foundations, which he helped to lay for a national loan policy, are the foundations on which successive Governments have built. He died in England on the 26th May 1932. Aglen held Civil rank of the 3rd and 2nd Classes; the Order of the Double Dragon, 3rd Division, 1st Class, and 2nd Division, 2nd Class; the Order of the Chia Ho, 2nd Class, 1st Class, 2nd Class with Grand Cordon and Brilliants, and 1st Class with Grand Cordon and Brilliants; 1st Class of the Imperial Order of the Sacred Treasure, Japan; K.B.E. and G.C.M.G., Great Britain; Commander, 1st Class of the Order of St. Olaf, Norway; Commander of the Order of St. Maurice and St. Lazare, Italy; Officer of the Legion of Honour, France; 1st Class of the Order of the Rising Sun, with Grand Cordon, Japan; Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold, Belgium; and Grand Cross of the order of Dannebrog Denmark.
Ernest Alabaster was born on the 6th February 1872 at Twickenham, Middlesex, England, and joined the Customs Service on the 24th June 1889 as 4th Assistant, B. During his first term of service he was stationed successively at Amoy, Tientsin, Tainan, and Shanghai, from which last named port he proceeded on long leave on the 1st July 1896. In order that he might carry out his legal studies in London and Oriental Research work at Cambridge University, his long leave was extended from two years to three years and seven months. During that furlough he qualified as Barrister-at-Law of the Inner Temple. On return from he was appointed Assistant-in-Charge at Samshui, then Acting Commissioner at Wuchow, after which on the 1st May 1904, he was promoted Deputy Commissioner and appointed to the branch office of the Inspectorate at Shanghai. On return from his second long leave he was for six months Deputy Commissioner at Canton before being appointed to Soochow in charge of the Kiangsu likin collectorate, a post which he held for three and a half years. Then followed a year and a half at Wuhu and nine months at Foochow in charge of the Native Customs, after which he was transferred to the Inspectorate at Peking to be Acting Chinese Secretary, and subsequently Examiner in Chinese. On the 1st November 1917 he was promoted Commissioner while in charge of Hangchow, at which port he remained for almost three years. Subsequent charges were Wenchow, Chinkiang, and Moukden. From April 1928 to the 31st July 1929 he was Vice-President of the Customs College at Peking, where, in addition to his normal duties, he did much to carry through the scheme for sending abroad Chinese members of the Service to study Customs organisations and methods (vide I.G. Cir. No. 3857, antea, vol. iv, p 163). He retired on the 31st July 1929 after 40 years’ service. Mr. Alabaster holds Civil Rank of the 3rd Class; the Order of the Double Dragon, 3rd Division, 1st Class; and the Order of the Chia Ho, 4th Class, 3rd Class with Brilliants.
William Edward Annett was born on the 2nd April 1895 at Lyons and was educated at the Lycée Ampère in that city. After spending two years in England and two years in Canada he joined the Customs Service on the 1st September 1914 as 4th Assistant, B. He served successively at Shanghai, Newchwang, Moukden, Changsha and Mengtsz during his first term, and at Chunking (Wanshien) and the Inspectorate, Peking- where he was Acting Assistant Staff Secretary- during his second. On return from long term leave he was stationed in turn at Tientsin, Chinwangtao, Canton and Shanghai, while at Chinwangtao he had charge of that port and of Hulutao, and at Shanghai he occupied the post of District Accountant. He was promoted Deputy Commissioner on the 1st April 1932. From April 1936 to September 1938 he served at the Inspectorate, Shanghai, as Pensions Chief Accountant, and subsequently, as the Circular indicates [Circular No. 5471, 2nd Series], as Chief Accountant. He was promoted Commissioner on the 1st April 1937, and on the 1st October 1938 was given charge of Ningpo.
Thomas Roger Banister was born on the 8th February 1890 at Preston, Lancashire, England, and was educated at Trent College and at St. John’s College, Cambridge, where he graduated with Honours in the Economic Tripos. He joined the Customs Service in December 1913 and, after for months at Canton, was appointed to Peking to study the language. During 1916 and 1917 he was stationed at Chefoo and after that at Shanghai, where the greater part of his Service career has been spent. He was promoted Deputy Commissioner in 1930 and Commissioner in April 1935. In 1912 he was promoted Acting Commissioner at Kiungchow for six months. He held the post of Audit secretary from October 1934 to April 1938 and was then transferred as Commissioner to Lappa. During 1931 and 1932 he was on special duty at the Inspectorate writing his survey of China’s trade during 100 years, entitled “A History of the External Trade of China, 1834-81,” and “Synopsis of the External Trade of China, 1882-1931,” both of which appeared as an introduction to the Decennial Reports, 1922-31. During those two years Mr. Banister also wrote his well-known and interesting account of China’s Lights Service under the title “The Coastwise Lights of China,” a beautifully illustrated work which tells in vivid language with a wealth of detail the romantic story of the lighting of China’s coast and rivers.
Francis Hayley Bell was born on the 14th August 1877 at Shanghai, China, and joined the Customs Service on the 1st April 1896 as 4 h Assistant, B, on probation. Before being promoted Deputy Commissioner on the 1 st October 1919 Mr. Bell served at Hankow, Amoy, Canton, Kowloon, Pakhoi, Chefoo, and Shanghai (twice). On the 31st December 1914 he resigned in order to volunteer for service in the Great War, and was permitted to rejoin the Service on the 10th August 1919. During the war he rose from the rank of Lieutenant to that of Lieutenant-Colonel, was specially mentioned in despatches, decorated with the Distinguished Service Order, and received the General Service Medal and the Victory Medal with Oak Leaf. On return to China Mr. Bell was for a year Out-door Deputy Commissioner at Shanghai, and was appointed Commissioner at Lappa in April 1922. He subsequently served as Commissioner in charge at Chefoo, Canton, Kowloon, and Tientsin, while from October 1929 to April 1930 he was attached to the Inspectorate at Shanghai on special duty in connexion with the formation of the Preventive Service, in which post he made extensive tours of investigation along the China coast. Mr. Bell was in charge of the Tientsin office in June 1930 when it was seized by the late Mr. B.L. Simpson (Putnam Weale). The last three months of his Service career, January to March 1931, were served as Non-Resident Secretary in the London Office. Mr. Bell holds the Order of the Chia Ho, 4th and 3rd Classes.
Aelius Marcellus Bisbee was born on the 22nd October 1841 at Plympton, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, USA. After qualifying for a Shipmasters’ Association of New York, Captain Bisbee joined the Marine Department of the Customs Service on the 11th May 1868 as Divisional Inspector and Harbour Master at Foochow, where he remained till June 1875. His next port was Shanghai, where from June 1875 till April 1878 he acted in the same dual capacity as at Foochow. On the 1st January 1881 he was appointed Coast Inspector, the first to hold the position ( vide I.G. Cir. No. 128), as well as Shanghai Harbour Master. Captain Bisbee remained in this position till his death on the 7th September 1901. With Captain Bisbee as Coast Inspector and the late David Marr Henderson as Engineer in Chief, Sir Robert Hart was enabled to carry out successfully the comprehensive program of lights construction on the China Coast which marked the two decades of last century. In the early eighties first order lights were erected at Howki, Dodd Island, South Cape of Formosa, and the South-east Shantung Promontory, to which were added in the nineties the large lighthouses at Laotuehshan and at Waglan. It was during Captain Bisbee’s time too that co-operation was established between the Marine Department and Siccawei Observatory for the passing on to shipmasters and ship owners of the meteorological observations taken at Customs stations and lighthouses up and down the coasts and rivers of China, thereby contributing greatly to the protection of life and prosperity. Captain Bisbee also did much to modernise the equipment of the older lights, and in his time mineral-oil apparatus took the place of the old-time vegetable oil lamps. Captain Bisbee impressed his contemporaries as being a man of unusual capacity and of marked personality. He held Civil Rank of the 3 rd Class and the Order of the Double Dragon, 3 rd Division, 1st Class.
* “I have further to inform you that the arrangements notified in Circulars Nos. 10 and 15 of 1868 ( antea , vol. I, pp. 86-95, 100-101) by which the coast was divided into three sections, northern, central and southern, and each section placed under a Divisional Inspector, has been found unnecessary; the three appointments have been abolished one after another, and instead, one officer is now to be charged with the inspection of the whole coast. For the future, the Harbour Master at Shanghai ( Captain Bisbee ) will be Harbour Master at Shanghai and also Coast Inspector.”- Extract from I.G. Cir. No. 128, dated 3 rd January 1881.
Carlo Bos was born on the 7th April 1876 at Obersalzbrunn, Prussia. After leaving school he served for five years in the Italian Army, and came out to China with the Italian Expeditionary Force in 1900. In august of that year he joined the Customs Service at Shanghai as 3rd Class Tidewaiter. From January 1903 to March 1909 he served at Lungchow, and while there in July 1907 was transferred to the In-door staff as 4th Assistant, C. He served subsequently at Foochow for three years, at Tientsin Native Customs for six years, and at Harbin for over a year. On return from long leave in October 1920 he was stationed at Hankow for a year, at Shasi for two and a half years, and then again at Hankow for a year and a half. He was promoted Deputy Commissioner while on leave in April 1926 and appointed to the Appraising Department, Shanghai, of which Department he became Director in October that year. In December 1928 he was promoted Commissioner, and in July 1929 was chosen to be first to fill the newly created post of Tariff Secretary, a post which he held till May 1932. In the following year he was Commissioner for six months at Amoy, after which he was transferred to Tientsin, where he remained as Commissioner till the 15th June 1935 when he retired. He died at Toronto, Canada, on the 27th December 1936.
Cecil Arthur Verner Bowra, son of the late E.C. Bowra- one of the early British Commissioners of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service- was born on the 22nd August 1869 at Ningpo, and entered the Customs Service as 4th Assistant, B, on the 18th October 1886. He served at Peking, Tientsin, Chefoo, Canton, Amoy, and Kiukiang before being appointed on the 1st July 1899 as Assistant in Charge at Newchwang. Here he remained during the Boxer uprising and the subsequent occupation of the port by the Russians. For his distinguished services during this very difficult time he was promoted on the 17th March 1903 to a full Commissioner- a promotion to which the warm commendation of the late Admiral Alexieff- then Russian Viceroy in the Far East- contributed not a little. For two and a half months (1st April to 16th June) in 1905 he was detached for special duty at Seoul, and on his return served as Commissioner at Soochow, Amoy, and Moukden before being summoned to Peking to take up the post of Chief Secretary, a post which he held from the 1st June 1910 to the 31st December 1923, during which incumbency of thirteen and a half years he served as Officiating Inspector General on no fewer than four occasions: (1) from the 1st July to 21st September 1913; (2) from the 12th September 1918 to 6th January 1919; (3) from the 8th May to 8th December 1920; and (4) from the 5th April to 5th November 1923. He was appointed to the Non-Resident Secretaryship in London from the 1st January 1924 and held that post to the 17th October 1926. After seven and a half month’s leave he retired on the 31st May 1927. Bowra is a Barrister-at-Law of the Inner Temple, and holds the following distinctions and decorations; Civil Rank of the 3rd and the 2nd Classes; Order of the Double Dragon, 1st Class of the 3rd Division; Officier de l’Ordre Royal du Cambodge; Order of the Chia Ho, 3rd Class, 2nd Class, 2nd Class with Grand Cordon, and 2nd Class with Brilliants and Grand Cordon; Order of the Wên Hu, 2nd Class; 3rd Class of the Imperial Order of the Rising Sun, Japan; Knight of the 1st Class of the Order of St. Olaf, Norway; and the China Expedition Medal, 1900, Great Britain.
André Charles Eugène Braud was born on the 5th February 1883 at Fontainebleau France. After graduation as Bachelier dés Lettres at the university of Montpelier he joined the Customs Service on the 16th December 1901 as 4th Assistant, C, and was appointed to Pakhoi, where he remained for almost two years. From December 1903 to May 1907 he was stationed at Nanking, and here he laid the foundations of that thorough knowledge of Chinese for which he afterwards became distinguished. He served subsequently at Swatow for two years, at the Inspectorate at Peking for three years, and was at Shanghai in August 1914 when he was called to the colours at the outbreak of the Great War. On return to China in April 1918 he was appointed for a few months to Shanghai before being moved to Wuhu, where he was given charge of the Native Customs and where he remained till May 1920. He was then retransferred to Shanghai, and while there was appointed Deputy Commissioner on the 1st April 1921. From October 1922 to October 1927 he served at the Inspectorate at Peking in the capacity of Chinese Secretary, being promoted to Commissioner in April 1924. On return from long leave in October 1928 Mr. Braud was placed once more in charge of the Chinese Secretariat at the Inspectorate, this time in Shanghai. From May 1929 to April 1932 he was Commissioner in charge of Canton, and it was during his incumbency of this post that the momentous events referred to in this S/O Circular took place [refers to Semi-Official Circular No.88 Vol.5 p67]. After being in charge for a few months at Chefoo in 1932 he was once more moved to the Inspectorate, where he served as Non-Departmental secretary from October 1932 to March 1933, assisting, inter alia , in the completion of the first edition of the “Code of Customs Regulations and Procedure.” From March 1933 to January 1935 he was Commissioner in charge of Shanghai. His final year of service (1936) was passed as Financial Secretary at the Inspectorate. He retired on the 15th December that year, returned to France, and died in November 1938 at Nice. While at Shanghai in 1921 in charge of the General Office Mr Braud compiled the well-known and invaluable “Handbook of Customs Procedure at Shanghai,” which ran through two editions. Mr Braud, who had an unusually clear and incisive mind, was an exceptionally gifted linguist and a man of great force and character. The Chinese Government recognised his services by decorating him with the Order of the Chia Ho, 4th Class, 3rd Class and rd Class with Brilliants; the Order of the Brilliant Jade with the White Cravat; and the Customs Gold Medal for Meritorious Service. His own Government conferred on him the distinction of the Chevalier de l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur. For his services during the Great War he was decorated with the Médaille Militaire and the Croix de Guerre avec Palme.
Mr. (afterwards Sir) R.E. Bredon was born at Portadown, Ireland, on the 4th February 1846. He was educated at Trinity College Dublin, where he graduated M.A., M.B., M.Ch. Served as Surgeon to the 97th Regiment. Joined the Customs Service September 1873. Served as Commissioner at Chefoo, Ningpo, Canton, Hankow, and Shanghai, and was Chief Secretary at Peking on various occasions. Appointed Deputy Inspector General 1st July 1898. After the Boxer uprising Bredon was in charge for four years (October 1900 to September 1904) of the branch office of the Inspectorate at Shanghai and, during Sir Robert Hart’s last furlough, served as acting Inspector General from April 1908 to April 1910. Died at Peking 3rd July 1918. Sir Robert was an associate member of the Treaty Revision Commission of 1902. Among his numerous decorations and honours the following may be cited; Civil Rank of the 1st Class (1910); Order of the Double dragon, 2nd Division, 2nd Class (1904); Brevet Title of Pu Chêng Ssû (1904); Officer of the Legion of Honour, France (1878); Knight Commander of the Order of St. Olaf, Norway (1908); Grand Officer of the Order of the Rising Sun, Japan (1910); Knight Commander of the Order of the Polar Star, Sweden (1910); Knight Commander of the Order of Dannebrog, Denmark (1910); Grand Cross of the Order of St. Stanislaus, Russia (1909); Grand Cross of the Order of Francis Joseph, Austria (1909); and K.C.M.G., Great Britain (1904).
E.V. Brenan was born on the 22nd January 1846 at Dinan in France, and, after training at sea joined the Customs Service on the 1st April 1871 as first officer of the revenue steamer Feihoo . On the 1st June 1875 he was transferred to the Coast section of the Revenue Department and served as Tidesurveyor and Harbour master at Amoy, Tamsui, Foochow, Newchwang, Chefoo and Shanghai. For over two years, 1st May 1888 to 31st August 1890, he served in the Maritime Department as Acting Coast Inspector, then in the Out-door Revenue Department as Tidesurveyor at Kowloon, after which he became harbourmaster at Shanghai. In August 1892 he was transferred to the In-door Revenue Department and appointed to Canton as Acting Deputy Commissioner for preventive work. He served subsequently at Shanghai as Deputy Commissioner and as Acting Commissioner at Kowloon, Samshui and Lappa. He resigned as Commissioner on the 31st March 1909. Brenan held Civil Rank of the 4th and 3rd Classes and the Order of the Double Dragon, 3rd Division, 1st Class. He was the father of Sir John Brenan, K.C.M.G., sometime H.B.M. Consul General at Shanghai.
C.H. Brewitt-Taylor was born on the 11th December 1857 at Kingston, Sussex, England, and came out to China to be Professor of Navigation and of Mathematics at Foochow Arsenal Naval College, where he served from the 1st October 1880 to 30th September 1891. He joined the Customs Service on the 1st November 1891 as 3 rd Assistant, A, at Tientsin, where he remained for almost five years. In May 1898 he was appointed Acting Assistant Chinese Secretary at the Inspectorate at Peking, and was appointed Deputy Commissioner on the 1st June 1900 and Commissioner on the 1st January 1908. In April of the latter year he was detached for special duty as Co-Director of the newly created Customs College, and held that post for four years. He served as Chief Secretary for one year, April 1912 to April 1913, and was subsequently Commissioner at Moukden and at Chungking, from which later port he resigned on the 31st October 1920. Brewitt Taylor had a deservedly high reputation as a Chinese scholar. He translated the well-known textbook T’an Lun Hsin P’ien and edited and revised Hirth’s Text-book of Documentary Chinese. His best known work is the masterly translation of the San Kuo Chih. Brewitt-Taylor held Button of the 3rd Class; Order of the Double Dragon, 3rd Division, 2nd Class; Order of the Chia Ho, 3rd Class, and British medal with clasp, “Defence of Legations,” 1902. He was specially mentioned in H.B.M Minister’s despatches for distinguished conduct during the siege of the legations in 1900.
See also the biography, Public success and private sorrow (2009) by Isidore Cyril Cannon.
Brown, (Sir) John McLeavy
IV 434
John McLeavy Brown was born on the 27th November 1835 at Magheragha, Lisburn, Co. Antrim, and was educated at Queen’s College, Belfast, and Trinity College, Dublin. He graduated B.A. from the Queen’s University, but did not receive his degree until 1868, when he was in Europe with the Burlingame Mission. In the meantime he had in 1861secured an appointment as Student Interpreter in the Consular Service for the Far East, and had made such an advance in the study of Chinese that in 1864 he was appointed Assistant Chinese Secretary at the British Legation in Peking. In 1867 he was appointed for a short time in charge of the Legation, and in November of that year he was appointed Secretary to the special mission sent by the Chinese Government to all the courts of the world under Mr. Anson Burlingame as Ambassador Extraordinary. On the return of the mission to China at the end of 1870 Mr. Brown resumed duty at the British Legation as Chinese Secretary, a post which he held during 1871 and 1872. In April 1873 the Customs Service as a First Class Clerk, and in the following year was appointed Deputy Committee at Canton. After being in charge at Takow in Formosa he was promoted Commissioner in February 1877, and as such served at Chianking, Canton, and Shanghai, at which latter port he acted for a time as Statistical Secretary. He went on long leave in January 1880, and before his return in August 1882 he added to his scholastic honours by B.A. and LL.B. at Dublin University (1881), and by being called to the Bar as Barrister-at-Law of the Inner Temple (1882). From August 1882 till April 1888 he was in charge of Amoy, after which he again proceeded on furlough, taking in the autumn of the later year the LL.D degree at Dublin. On his return he was appointed to Kowloon, where he held charge from April 1890 to July 1893. He was then detached to succeed the late Mr. J.F. Schoeniche as Chief Commissioner of the Korean Customs and Financial Advisor to the King of Korea. He held this post through all vicissitudes for practically twenty years, witnessing such events as the China-Japan war of 1894-5, the declaration of Korean independence, the growing rivalry between Russia and Japan in Manchuria and Korea, the Boxer uprising in North China and the advantage taken of this by Russia to push her interests in Manchuria and Korea, the Russo-Japanese war 1904-5, and the annexation of the country in 1910 by Japan. During his incumbency of the double post of Chief Commissioner of Customs and Financial Advisor, Mr. Brown did much to counteract Russian intrigue and to protect Korean interests. After his retirement in December 1913, Mr. Brown was appointed Counsellor to the Chinese Legation in London, a post which he held until his death on the 6th April 1926. He was created C.M.G in 1898 and Knight Bachelor in 1906. From the Chinese Government he held Civil Rank of the 3rd and 2nd Classes; the Order of the Double Dragon, 2nd Division, 2nd Class; the Order of the Chia Ho, 2nd Class; and Pao Hsing of the 1st Class. Japan decorated him with the 1st Class of the order of the Sacred Treasure, and Korea with the 1st Class of the Order of Tai Kuk. He was also Commander of the Order of Charles III of Spain; Chevalier of the Order of Danebrog, Denmark; Chevalier of the Order of Leopold, Belgium; and Chevalier of the Order of St. Maurice and St. Lazare, Italy.
J.D. Campbell was born at Edinburgh in February 1833 and joined the Service in December 1870. He served at Peking as Chief Secretary and Auditor till October 1870, when he was dispatched to London on special duty. He was appointed Non-Resident Secretary at London in January 1874 and remained there till his death in December 1907. He acted as Hart’s confidential agent in Europe, recruiting and examining foreign candidates for the Service, purchasing official stores, procuring apparatus for the lighthouses built by the Service, supervising the building of revenue (and other) cruisers required by the Government, and carrying out negotiations entrusted to him. He played an important part in the parleys with the French Government for the conclusion of the Franco-Chinese war of 1884-5, and with the Portuguese Government for the Protocol of Lisbon, signed on the 26th March 1887. The Chinese Government accorded him Civil Rank of the 3rd Class (1878), Civil rank of the 2nd Class (1882), and the Order of the Double Dragon, 2nd Division, 1st Class (1897). He also held the following decorations; C.M.G., Great Britain; Commander of the Order of the Legion of Honour, France; and Commander of the Order of Our Lady of the Conception of Villa Viçosa, Portugal.
William Cartwright joined the Customs Service in August 1863, and shortly afterwards was made Secretary to the Inspector General. He served in various capacities at Foochow, Amoy, Taiwan, Canton, Tamsui and Hankow, and as Chinese Secretary on three occasions- 1875-76, 1887-89, and 1889-93. He was appointed Commissioner in January 1873 and retired from the Service in May 1895. He held Civil Rank of the 3rd Class; Pao Hsing of the 1st Class; Order of the Double Dragon, 3 rd Division, 1st Class; and Chevalier of the Order of Francis Joseph.
J.L. Chalmers was born on the 10th November 1854 at Hong Kong and joined the Customs Service on the 1st October 1873 as 4th Assistant, B. He served at Tientsin, Chefoo, Canton, Pakhoi, Hankow (twice), Ichang (twice), Peking, and Tamsui, and resigned on the 31st March 1892. He was permitted to rejoin on the 1st October 1895, when he was appointed to the Korean Customs, serving at Seoul and Chemulpo for the best part of ten years. He was promoted to be Deputy Commissioner in April 1905, and was appointed to the Statistical Department, where he remained in charge till the 30th April 1911, having been promoted to be Commissioner on the 1st March 1910. On return from long leave he was again appointed on the 16th October 1912 to be in charge of the Statistical Department, where he remained until his death on the 16th November 1914. Chalmers acquired for himself a well-founded reputation as a sound Chinese scholar. He held Civil Rank of the 3rd Class, the Order of the Double Dragon, 3rd Division, 1 st Class, and the Order of the Chia Ho, 3rd Class.
Chan Lün, a native of Canton, was born on the 1st July 1864 and joined the Customs Service on the 1st January 1884 as a Candidate Clerk. He served for over two years at canton, six and a half years at Swatow, two and a half years at Tamsui and for over eleven years at Tientsin, at which last named port he was detached for several years to serve on the Tientsin Yang-wu Chü. From the 1st February 1907 he was detached for service in the newly created Shui-wu Ch’u, where he remained with the Ch’u till the close of his official career in June 1928. He took a keen interest in the Customs College, with which institution he was associated for many years as Director. He holds the Order of the Chia Ho, 3rd Class, 2nd Class with Grand Cordon, and 3rd Class with Brilliants, also the Order of Wên Hu, 2nd Class.
Chang Pao Fu, a native of Tangshan, in Chihli (now Hopei) province, was born on the 15th January 1899, entered the Customs College in 1916, and graduated in 1920. Mr. Chang was appointed to the Inspectorate at Peking, where he served till the 31st January 1928, during which time he worked in the Consolidated Debt Office from the 1st March 1925 to 30th September 1927. In February 1928 Mr. Chang was transferred to Harbin, where he remained for over a year and a half. Since then Mr. Chang has served at Kiukiang for 19 months, Shanghai for almost two and a half years, Amoy for 22 months, and at Tientsin since July 1935, from which port he was invalided on the 17th November that year. Mr. Chang holds the eighth Class of the Order of the Chia Ho.
Chang Yung Nian, a native of Peiping, in Hopeh, was born on the 24th April 1893. He was educated at the Customs College, Peking, and joined the Service on the 13th July 1916 as a Chienhsi, with seniority from the 1st October 1912. He was appointed to Newchwang, where on the 1st October 1917 he was made 3 rd Clerk, C. After two years’ service at Newchwang and two years at Harbin he was transferred to the Inspectorate at Peking, where he remained for five years, and where he was promoted to Assistantship rank. From September 1925 to September 1929 he was stationed at Chefoo. During 1930 he was on duty in the Yangyu Native Customs, and from April 1931 to January 1934 he was at Shanghai in the Appraising Department and on special duty. From the latter part of 1934 he has been occupied in preventive work along the Great Wall and in the Tientsin area. He was promoted Deputy Commissioner on the 1st January 1938.
Cheong Kam, a native of Canton, was born on the 12th March 1850 and joined the Customs Service on the 1st December 1876 as a Candidate Clerk. He served for seven years at Canton, in two spells, seven years at Swatow, over six years at Foochow, almost six years at Hankow, and four years at Shanghai. On the 31st August 1906 he was detached for service in the Shui-wu Ch’u, where he remained till his resignation on the 30th June 1920. In 1911 Mr. Cheong Kam was selected to proceed to Calcutta to watch Indian opium sales and to receive copies of opium shipment permits for transmission to the Chinese Government or Customs authorities in China in accordance with articles V and VIII of the Anglo-Chinese Opium Agreement of 1911 ( vide. I.G. Cirs. Nos. 1790 and 1832). Mr. Cheong Kam holds the Order of the Chia Ho, 3rd Class, 2nd Class with Grand Cordon, and 2nd Class.
Chung Mun Kwong, a native of Canton, was born on 3rd May 1869, and joined the Customs Service at Shanghai on the 1st June 1888. He served as Clerk in various ranks, at Shanghai, Ichang, Swatow, Foochow, and Tientsin, before being finally detached on the 1st October 1911, for duty in the Shui-wu Ch’u, where he remained till his retirement on the 31st August 1925. He had been promoted 3 rd Assistant, B, on the 1st October 1912 and had risen to be 1st Assistant, A, at the time of his retirement. From the 1st September 1913 to 14th July 1916 he was detached for special duty in connexion with the Lung-Ch’in Yü-Hai Railway. He was decorated with the 7th, the 6th , and the 5th Classes of the Order of the Chia Ho.
Yves Henri Jean Cloarec was born the 30th March 1889 at Paris, and, after education at the Lycée Condorcet in Paris in service in the French Navy, was for a time in the department of the Under-Secretary of State for the Navy. He joined the Customs Service on the 13th May 1912, and, before the outbreak of the Great War, served at Shanghai, Hankow and Moukden. During the war he served in various capacities in the French Navy. On rejoining the Service in April 1918 he was stationed for one year at the Inspectorate at Peking, and served subsequently for a year and a half at Mengstz before being retransferred to Peking as Acting Service Chief Accountant, a post which he held for the better part of three years. He served again at Shanghai from October 1924 to the end of November 1928, after which he was acting Commissioner at Lungchow for a year. He was promoted Deputy Commissioner on the 1st October 1929 and Commissioner on the 1st April 1932. From April 1931 to the end of September 1934 he was again on duty at the Inspectorate, this time as Audit Secretary, after which for a year and a half he was in charge of Lappa and the port of Chung Shan. On return from long leave in April 1937 he was appointed first to Swatow, and after six months to Mengtsz, from where he was retransferred to the Inspectorate in June 1938 and appointed Financial Secretary.
Abraham Johannes Commijs was born on the 27th July 1876 at Amsterdam, Netherlands, and entered the Customs Service on the 8 August 1897 as 4th Assistant, B. He served in succession at Kowloon, Nanking (studying Chinese), Hangchow, Shanghai (where for a little over two years — September 1902 to November 1904 — he was attached to the branch office of the Inspectorate then functioning there under the Deputy Inspector General), and subsequently for three and a half years at the Shanghai Custom House. In June 1908 he was transferred to the Inspectorate at Peking, where he remained till September 1910 in the capacity of Assistant Private Secretary to the Inspector General. Later he served at Tientsin, Harbin, and Mengtsz before being transferred in April 1921 to Shanghai, where he remained till his death on the 27th July 1931. Mr. Commijs, who had been in charge of the Revenue Office at Shanghai since April 1921, was promoted Commissioner as Financial Secretary on the st February 1929 and given charge, as indicated in the Circular, of all revenue and loans work. Mr Commijs held the Order of the Chia Ho, 5th , 4th and 3rd Classes, and Double Dragon, 3rd Division, 2nd Class in 1911-12.
John Herbert Cubbon was born on the 8th November 1887 at Douglas, Isle of Man, was educated at King William’s College, and joined the Custom’s Service on the 19th January 1906 as 4th Assistant, C. For the first five and a half years of his Service career he was in the Postal Department. And was stationed successively at Hankow, Shanghai, Mukden and Taiyüanfu. On 1st September 1911 he was transferred to the Revenue Department, In-door, and appointed to the Inspectorate at Peking, where he remained for a year and a half. On return from long leave he served for three years at Shanghai and for a year and a half at Antung before being transferred once more to the Inspectorate, where he remained for three years in the Audit Department. On the 1st April 1925 he was promoted Deputy Commissioner while serving at Shanghai as District Accountant. For five months- November 1925 to the end of March 1926- he was Acting Commissioner at Nanking, after that he was summoned once more to the Inspectorate at Peking to be Acting Audit Secretary. On the 1st April 1929 he was promoted Commissioner while in charge of Ninpo, a charge which he held from October 1927 to April 1929. On return from long leave in September 1930 he was once more stationed at the Inspectorate, first as Audit Secretary, and then- from July 1931 to April 1936- as the Financial Secretary. He was reappointed to this latter post in April 1937 and held it to the 15th July 1938, when he withdrew from the Service. He assisted Mr. S.F. Wright ( vide footnote to I.G. Cir. No. 4251, vol. IV. p.509) in enlarging and revising the third edition of “China’s Customs Revenue since the Revolution of 1911.” Mr. Cubbon holds the 4th Class of the Order of the Chia Ho, the Customs Gold Medal for Meritorious Services, and has been honoured by the British Government with the rank of Officer of the Order of the British Empire.
Dawson-Grove (Dawson-Gröne)
II, 588
H. Dawson-Gröne, who changed his name in 1923 to Dawson-Grove, was born on the 21st August 1878 at Sunderland and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he distinguished himself by his linguistic attainments, carrying off University prizes in French, German, Italian, Spanish, Arabic and Sanskrit, and securing Honours in Classics and Modern Literature. He joined the Customs Service on the 1st April 1902 as 4th Assistant, C. After two and a half years at Tientsin, he was transferred to the Inspectorate at Peking where he served as Acting Assistant Chinese Secretary for two and a half years. He was then appointed Acting Commissioner to open Kirin, and remained in Manchuria in various capacities till the 1st October 1911. He subsequently served at Shanghai, Harbin, Shasi (twice), Swatow, Samshui, Ichang, Newchwang, Chinkiang, and Hangchow. He was appointed Deputy Commissioner on the 1st April 1921 and Commissioner on the 1 st March 1927. He retired from the Service on the 15th October 1935. Dawson-Grove holds Civil Rank of the 4th, the 3rd and the 2nd Classes, the Order of the Double Dragon, 3rd Division, 3rd Class, and the Order of the Chia Ho, 4th Class.
Gustav Detring was born on the 28th December 1842 at Jülich, in Prussia. He joined the Customs Service on the 15th April 1865 and was appointed to Amoy as 4th Class Clerk. During his long career in China of almost 48 years, Detring served in various capacities at Amoy, Peking, Shanghai, Canton, Chinkiang, Tamsui, Ningpo, Chefoo, and Tientsin. He was appointed Commissioner on the 14th March 1874, and in the following year was one of the Commissioners at the Austro-Hungarian exhibition at Vienna. He also served as Commissioner to the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition in 1876 and at the Paris exhibition in 1878. While in charge at Canton in 1884 he formed a close relationship with the Viceroy Li Hung-Chang, a friendship broken only by the great statesman’s death in 1901. Detring’s incursions into politics were not always happy, but he was a devoted servant of China, and during his incumbency as Commissioner at Tientsin, did more did more than any other foreigner for the development and trade of the port. In 1904 he proceeded to London with His Excellency Chang Yen Mao, Director General of the Chinese Engineering and Mining Company, to take action for the recovery of the control of the company and its property from the English company which had been formed to hold its property during the time of the Boxer uprising. The verdict was in favour of Chang Yen Mao. During the last five years of his life Detring continued to live in Tientsin, and, although holding the rank of Commissioner, devoted his attention to the affairs of the company. He died at Tientsin 4 th January 1913. Among his many decorations and honours were Civil Ranks of the 3rd and the 2nd Classes; Button of the First Class Order of the Double Dragon, 2nd Division, 1st Class; Commander of the Order of the Rose, Brazil; Commander of the Order of Christ Portugal; Order of the Red Eagle, 3rd Class, and Order of the Crown, 2nd Class, Prussia; and Officer of the Order of Leopold, Belgium.
David Crawford Dick was born on the 8th August 1866 at Edinburgh, and was educated at Daniel Stewart’s College, Edinburgh. He was trained as a quantity surveyor, and subsequently joined the firm of Messrs. D. & C. Stevenson, M.M.I.C.E., General Civil Engineers and Engineers to the Scottish Lighthouse Board, with which firm he remained as an assistant for about nine years. He left Messrs. Stevenson to go to Gibraltar with Messrs. Topham, Jones and Railton, contractors for the Gibraltar Harbour and Dockyard Scheme Constructional Works, where he was employed for about a year and a half. He left Gibraltar in May 1900 to join the Engineer’s Staff of the Maritime Department of the Chinese Customs Service as Assistant Engineer, a post which he held until the 31st May 1908 when he was appointed Engineer-in-Chief in succession to the late J.R. Harding. He held this latter post till his death on the 8th May 1919 at Atoona, Pennsylvania, USA. Mr. Dick’s incumbency of the Engineer-in-Chief’s post was marked by active modernisation of existing lights, the introduction of vaporised petroleum burners, gas made from oil by the Pintsch method, and the reconditioning of old stations, re-equipping them with up-to-date optical and other apparatus. In 1910 the establishment at Steep Island was brought up-to-date and provided with a fog siren of the latest type, and the buildings at North Saddle reconstructed. In the following year the Taku lightship was replaced by a new steel gas-lighted vessel with a 45,000 candlepower light. Two years later Shaweishan was practically rebuilt and provided with a new group-flashing light and a powerful compressed-air fog siren. Chilang point lighthouse, at the time of its construction, one of the most powerful in the world, was built in 1911, and Elgar Island on the year following. In 1916 the North Saddle station was overhauled, and a new first-order light was installed with an incandescent mantle burner of half a million-candle power on a mercury float. It was during Mr. Dick’s time in 1918 that the Lamocks Island lighthouse was wrecked by earthquake. Mr Dick who had been an Associate Member of the Institute of Civil Engineers, Great Britain, since 1895, attained full membership in 1914. He held Civil Rank of the 4th Class and the Order of the Chia Ho, 3rd Class.
James Archibald Dick was born on the 9th March 1880 at Bristol, and after having served for two years as a clerk in an insurance office, joined the Customs Service on the 1st July 1901 at Shanghai as a Watcher. He passed quickly through the various ranks of Tidewaiter at Chinkiang, and while there was promoted Assistant Examiner in January 1904. In 1909 he was transferred to Harbin where he remained in the capacity of Engineer for three years. Between April 1913 and October 1920 he saw service at Nanking and Chungking. From October 1921 to April 1928 he was stationed at Hankow, at which port he was promoted Chief Appraiser in March 1928. The rest of his Service career- apart from two periods of home leave- to the 15th October 1935, the date of his retirement, was spent in the Appraising Department, Shanghai, where he held the rank of Supervising Chief Appraiser. After retirement he was offered, and accepted the position of Technical Advisor to the Appraising Department, a post which he held from the 16th October 1935 to the 15th October of the year following. In recognition of his very valuable services in raising the standards in the examination of goods and the appraising of values the Government conferred upon him the Customs Silver Medal for Meritorious Services.
Arthur Henry Francis Edwardes was born on the 8th February 1885 at London. After education at Haileybury he joined the Customs Service in October 1903 as 4th Assistant, C. Before being promoted Deputy Commissioner in 1921 he served at Swatow, Tientsin, Peking (three times), Amoy, Shanghai (twice), Shasi, Hankow, Kowloon and Newchwang. From March 1922 to October 1923 he was Deputy Commissioner in charge first of the Appraising Department and subsequently of the General Office at Shanghai, after which he acted for 10 months as Personal Secretary to the Inspector General at Peking. From there in September 1924 he proceeded to Canton as Commissioner in charge, and while there accidentally wounded in the knee during the Shameen shooting affray of June 1925. On return from leave in November of that year he served for a few months as Personal Secretary, then as Chief Secretary, and as Officiating Inspector General for four months during Sir Francis Aglen’s absence on leave, 25th June to 10th November 1926. On Sir Francis Aglen’s withdrawal from the Service on the 10th February 1927 he was appointed Officiating Inspector General by Presidential Mandate, an appointment which was subsequently- on the 3rd October 1928- confirmed by the National Government at Nanking. Mr. Edwards resigned his appointment on the 9th January 1929 and received the equivalent of a pension from the Chinese Government. He subsequently accepted a post as advisor to the Board of Foreign Affairs of “Manchukao.”
Theodore Jackson Eldridge was born on the 15th July 1864 at Beyrout, Syria, where his father was British Consul. He was educated for the sea and served for nearly two years in the Royal Indian Marine before joining the Marine Department of the Customs Service on the 1st December 1888 as a Third Officer. He did duty on the Customs cruisers Feihoo, Kaipan , Pingching , and Likin before being given a shore billet at Shanghai as Acting Harbour Master and Acting Deputy Coast Inspector. He was promoted Deputy Coast Inspector on the 1st July 1903and held that post till the 1st January 1919, when he was made Coast Inspector, which post he held until his retirement on the 14th July 1924. Eldridge holds Civil Rank of the 4th Class; the Order of the Double Dragon, 3rd Class of the 3rd Division; the Order of the Chia Ho, 5th , 4th and 3rd Classes; the Order of the Wên Hu, 2nd Class; and the China Expedition Medal, 1900, Great Britain. Eldridge is also a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and an Associate of the Institute of Civil Engineers, Great Britain.
Earnest Nash Ensor was born on he 26th March 1891 at Annaghmore, Northern Ireland, and joined the Customs Service on the 1st January 1909. He served first in the London Office for more than two years before being transferred to China, where he served at the Inspectorate in Peking and Chinkiang. In October 1914 he resigned while stationed at Chinkiang, in order to join the British Forces. ON the conclusion of the Great War he was permitted to rejoin on the 22nd August 1919 and was appointed to Kiukiang. From September 1920 to April 1923 he was stationed at Shanghai, where he was for a time in charge of the Appraising Department. During the years 1925 to 1928 inclusive he served at Shanghai (twice), Kowloon, and Wuchow. He was promoted Deputy Commissioner in April 1928. On return from leave he was stationed at Kowloon for six months, whence he was transferred to Wuhu, where on the 1st October 1930 he was promoted Commissioner. Subsequently he had charge of Ninpo for a year and Kowloon for two and a half years. From November 1935 to the end of March 1937 he served at the Inspectorate at Shanghai as Tariff Secretary, during part of which time he was detailed for special duty as Commissioner in charge of Customs Inspection Posts on Railways, and in April of the latter year was appointed to take charge of Hankow, a post which he still (May 1939) holds. For his services during the Great War Mr Ensor was decorated with the 1914-15 Star, the General Service Medal, the Victory Medal, and the Fifth Class of the Order of the Wên Hu.
Andreas Feragen was born on the 23rd October 1891 at Arendal, Norway, was educated at the University of Oslo, and joined the Customs Service on the 27th May 1912 as 4th Assistant, B. During his term he served at Shanghai, Ningpo, Harbin, Kiukiang, and Wuchow, and during his second term he served at Amoy and Shanghai, where he was Acting Assistant Director of the Appraising Department. On return from long leave he was stationed for a year and a half at the Inspectorate, Peking where he occupied the post of Acting Assistant Audit Secretary. After short terms of service at Swatow and at the Wuhu Native Customs he was once more transferred to the Inspectorate, this time at Shanghai, in the capacity of Assistant Financial Secretary. He was promoted Deputy Commissioner on the 1st October 1930. In 1934-35 he was for a short time District accountant at Shanghai, after which he was Acting Commissioner, first at Kiukiang and subsequently at Wuchow, at which latter port on the 1st October 1936 he was promoted Commissioner. On the 1st April 1938 he was appointed Administrative Commissioner (additional) at Shanghai. Mr. Feragen has been specially commended by the Ministry of Finance for his skilful handling of the situation at Wuchow when the local authorities were in revolt against the Central Government.
Jan William Helenus Ferguson, son of Jan Helenus Ferguson- Minister for the Netherlands at Peking, 1872-95- was born at Hong Kong on the 16th February 1881, and, after education at the Public School of Wageningen, joined the Customs Service on the 22 nd September 1898. After a few months at Shanghai he was transferred to Peking to study Chinese. He remained at Peking till the end of 1904 after four years’ service as Acting Assistant Postal Secretary. For three months he was stationed at Hankow and was then transferred to Lungchow where he remained till September 1907. During long leave he graduated as Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Rotterdam, and began his studies for the Doctor of Science degree, which he took at the same University in 1925. On return from long leave in June 1910 he was stationed for nine months at Shanghai, when he was transferred to Harbin, at which port he remained till the end of July 1916, having been promoted Deputy Commissioner in June that year. From August 1918 to April 1924 he served in the Statistical Department of the Inspectorate, part of the time as Deputy Inspector in charge, then as Acting Statistical Secretary, and finally- on promotion to Commissioner’s rank in October 1920 – as Statistical Secretary. From October 1925 to November 1927 he was in charge of Hankow, after which he was transferred to Canton, where he remained till the 8th April 1929. After some 13 months leave he was invalided from the Service. He died in the Netherlands in August 1930. Mr. Ferguson held Civil rank of the 4th Class; the Order of the Chia Ho, 5th , 4th, 3rd and 2nd Classes; was Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau, Netherlands; and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, London.
Thomas Tapley Helenus Ferguson, eldest son of the late Jan Helenus Ferguson, Dutch jurist and sometime Minister for the Netherlands at Peking, was born on the 18th January at Arnba in the Netherlands East Indies. After being educated as a civil engineer, he joined the Customs Service on the 9th October 1888 as a 4th Assistant, B, and was promoted Deputy Commissioner on the 1st April 1904, having In the meantime served at Peking (twice), Ningpo, Chefoo, Ichang, Hankow, Shanghai- where he was for a time attached to a the provisional Inspectorate- and Soochow. He remained five years at Tientsin- 1st April 1904 to 1st April 1909- for a year and a half Deputy Commissioner in the Maritime Customs, then for several months supervising, at the request of the Haiho Conservancy Board, dredging operations on the Taku Bar — for the deepening of which Ferguson had invented a special raking apparatus, which for a time proved successful. His last year and four months at Tientsin were spent as Deputy Commissioner in charge of Native Customs. During April and May he was again detached for Conservancy work, this time in connexion with experiments being conducted by the Whangpoo Conservancy Board. He was promoted Commissioner on the 1st April 1911 and transferred to Peking as Audit Secretary. He subsequently served as Commissioner at Amoy for two years, at Foochow for four and a half years, where he took the initiative in starting and organising conservancy work on the Min River, and at Antung for one year, from which latter port he retired on the 31st October 1923. Ferguson holds Civil Rank of the 4th Class; the Order of the Double Dragon, 1st Class of the 3rd Division; the Order of the Chia Ho, 3rd Class, 2nd Class and 3rd Class with Brilliants; Cross of Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau, Netherlands; Gilt Medal conferred by the Chinese Government; Provincial Medal granted by the Viceroy of Fukien; and Membership of the Royal Netherlands Institution of Engineers.
Mr. G.H. Fitz-Roy came to China in 1857 as an attaché to Lord Elgin, High Commissioner and Ambassador Extraordinary for Great Britain. He joined the infant Customs Service in 1859 and was appointed Commissioner at Shanghai in November 1860, which post he held until May 1863. He served again at Shanghai from December 1865 to April 1868, during which time he served for seven months, April to October 1866 as acting I.G. during Hart’s leave of absence. He resigned from the Service on the 30th June 1868 and died at Nagasaki in August that year.
Alexander Henderson Forbes was born on the 12th May 1885 at Tientsin, and after education at George Watson’s College, Edinburgh, and King’s College, London, joined the Customs Service on the 27th August 1906 as 4th Assistant, C. During his first term he served at Chinkiang, at the inspectorate at Peking (twice), and Tientsin (twice). He was subsequently stationed at Kongmoon for a few months, then for two years at Lappa, to be followed by four years (October 1916 to October 1920) at Lungchingtsun, then a branch office of the Hunchun Customs. He was promoted Deputy Commissioner in April 1925 while at the Inspectorate at Peking, where he served from October 1921 to October 1926. He returned to Lungchingtsun as Acting Commissioner in October 1927, where he remained till the end of April 1929, in which month he was promoted Commissioner. After six months at Foochow and six months at Nanking he was transferred to the Inspectorate at shanghai on special duty in connexion with the formation of the Preventive Service, and here he remained- with a short interval of three months when re returned to Nanking- till October 1942, being appointed Preventive Secretary on the 1st February 1931 ( vide I.G. Cir. No. 4172, postea , vol. IV.. P. 365). Mr. Forbes was subsequently Commissioner in charge of Amoy for a year, and then of Kowloon till April 1939, with an interval of one year — March 1935 to April 1936 — when he returned to his former post at the Inspectorate as Preventive Secretary.
Captain Charles Stewart Forbes, R.N., was born in 1829 and started his adventurous career as a middy in the North Star on the Australian station. During the Crimean War he was in command of a gunboat in the Baltic, and during and after the second China War (1858 to 1860) he commanded the Algerine , taking an active part in the suppression of pirates. Later, he joined Garibaldi in Sicily, and was the first to enter Naples, on which occasion he was mistaken for the General himself. He explored Iceland and wrote a book, giving an account of his explorations. After active service at the River Plate in command of the Curlew he took service under Captain Sherard Osborn for duty in the Anglo-Chinese flotilla. On the dissolution of that undertaking, he became a blockade runner during the American civil war, and than joined the hapless Emperor Maximilian in Mexico. In 1865 he proceeded to Saigon with the intention of obtaining a telegraph concession from the French Government, after which he made an abortive, attempt to negotiate a loan with Japan. On his return to England he became an agent for both and the Chinese and the Japanese Governments for the purchase of arms and gunboats. In July 1868 he accepted from Hart the post of Marine Commissioner, but resigned the post eighteen months later. He subsequently went to California and made an immense fortune there from mining enterprises. He died in London on 11th May 1876.
Jinzaburo Fukumoto was born on the 24th July at Wakasanoako, Japan, and joined the Customs Service on the 13th October 1905 as 4th Assistant, C. He served at Chinkiang, Soochow, Newchwang, Nanking, Shanghai, Tientsin Native Customs, Antung, and Tsingtao before being promoted Deputy Commissioner at the last-named port on the 1st April 1928. From October 1929 to the middle of April 1930 he was in charge of Foochow, and on return from long leave was appointed to Dairen where he remained until 25th June 1932, when his services were dispensed with. The “Manchukuo” authorities, however, retained him in the post of Commissioner of Customs at Dairen.
P. M.G. de Galembert was born on the 31st January 1858 at Tours, and, after graduating Bachelier és Lettres at the College Combrée, joined the Customs Service on the 1st July 1904 as 4th Assistant, B. He was promoted Deputy Commissioner on the 1st July 1904, having served in the interval at Chefoo, Shanghai (twice), Foochow and Lungchow. He was Deputy Commissioner in charge at Amoy when the Native Customs riot took place there in the summer of 1905 ( vide, I.G. Cir. No. 1294, postea , vol. II, p. 494 ). On the 1st October that year he was appointed Postal Commissioner at Shanghai where he remained till the 31st May 1907. On return from long leave he was appointed Customs Commissioner at Lappa, a post he held for two years. He resigned on the 30th September 1913. de Galembert held Civil Rank of the 3rd Class, and the Order of the Double Dragon, 3rd Division, 1st Class.
Cecil Bouverie Valentine Golding was born on the 26th February 1879 at Great Crosby in Lancashire. After seven years’ service in the mercantile marine and one and a half in the London Fire Brigade, Golding joined the Customs Service at Shanghai on the 13th October 1903 as a Watcher. He passed quickly through the various Tidewaiter ranks and became a Boat Officer on the 1st March 1914, Assistant Tidewaiter on the 1st June 1918, Tidesurveyor, B, on the 1st March 1919, and Chief Tidesurveyor on the 1st December 1921. He was invalided from the Service on 31st December 1928. Golding served 17 out of his 25 years’ career at Shanghai, two and a half years at Tientsin, one year at Canton, and two at Foochow. He holds the Order of the Chia Ho, 5th and 4th Classes.
E.H. Grimani, born at Londonderry, Ireland on the 1st February 1851. Joined the Customs Service on the 15th November 1872 as 4th class Clerk at Shanghai. Served at Peking, Amoy (twice), Takow, Wuhu, Chinkiang (twice), Shanghai (thrice), Ningpo (twice), Wenchow, Hankow, Tamsui, Lappa, Canton, and was finally in April 1898 appointed Deputy Commissioner, Likin, at Kiukiang. He resigned from the Service on the 30th September 1904. Grimani held Civil Rank of the 4th Class.
Alfred Herschell Harris, was born on the 29th October 1863 at Ootacamund, Madras, India, and joined the Customs Service in July 1883 as 4th Assistant, B. After a year at Hankow he proceeded to Peking, where he spent a year and a half studying Chinese. From March 1886 to the end of July 1890 he was detached for duty as interpreter on special duty with the Viceroy Li Hung-chang at Tientsin. During his career of 40 years in the Customs Mr. Harris served at Lungchow, Shanghai (twice), Wuchow, Yochow, Changsha, Swatow, Kowloon (twice), Newchwang, Amoy, and Canton. From November 1901 to June 1902 Mr. Harris acted as assistant Statistical secretary. In October 1908 he was promoted direct from the rank of chief Assistant to the rank of full Commissioner. In May 1904 Mr. Harris had the distinction of establishing the Customs at the recently opened port of Changsha. While at Kowloon — September 1908 to March 1912 and again from April 1916 to September 1918 — Mr. Harris took a leading part in the negotiations with the Hong Kong authorities for a Customs Agreement. He was Davis Scholar in Chinese at Oxford in 1892, and was examiner in Chinese for the Service in 1913. He holds Blue Button of the 4th Class; Civil rank of the 3rd Class; Order of the Double Dragon, 4th Class; and Order of the Chia Ho, 3rd Class, 2nd Class, and 3rd Class with Brilliants.
Hart, (Sir) Robert
VII, pp.373-388 Biography
Reginald Follett Codrington Hedgeland was born on the 18th December 1874 at Exeter, Devonshire, England. After education at St. Paul’s School, London, and Pembroke College, Oxford, where he graduated in July 1897, he joined the Customs Service in May 1898 as 4th Assistant, B. Before being promoted Deputy Commissioner in June 1917, Mr. Hedgeland served at Kiungchow, Nanking (studying Chinese), Tientsin, Lappa, Kowloon, Swatow and Nanning, of which latter port he was in charge for six years. In April 1921 he was appointed Commissioner and after return from long leave in April 1923 was given charge of Aigun. He was subsequently in charge of Swatow and Canton, and retired in April 1930 while Commissioner at Hankow. Mr. Hedgeland has a fluent command of Chinese, both of Mandarin and Cantonese. He holds the Order of the Chia Ho, 4th and 3rd Class, and 3rd Class with Brilliants; the 3rd Class of the Order of Wên Hu; and the Ordre Royal des Millions d’Éléphants et du Parasol Blanc de Luang Prabang, France.
K.E.G. Hameling was born on the 27th July 1878 at Leer, East Friesland, Germany, and joined the Customs Service on the 16th April 1898. After a year’s service at Swatow he was transferred to Nanking to study Chinese, remaining there for over two years. He subsequently served at Hankow, the branch Inspectorate Shanghai, Newchwang, Tientsin and Peking. In September 1905, he was appointed secretary to H.E. Shêng Hsüan-huai, then engaged in negotiating a commercial treaty with the German representatives. From the 1st May 1907 to 15th October 1912 he served at the Inspectorate at Peking as Acting Chinese Secretary, being promoted deputy Commissioner on the 1st January 1909. It was while at Peking that he worked out the scheme of an Inspectorate-controlled examinations in Chinese for foreign members of the In-door Staff, a scheme which with certain modifications has persisted till today. He was promoted Commissioner on the 1st November 1912, and on return from long leave on the 15th October 1913 was appointed to Wuhu where he remained till the 16th August 1917, when his name was removed from the “Service List” on account of China’s declaration of war against Germany. After the war he returned to China and spent several years at Peking in a commercial capacity. He died at Rügen, Germany,in the summer of 1925. Hemeling graduated M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Leipzig, and acquired considerable reputation as a Chinese scholar, his monument in this respect being his “English-Chinese Dictionary.” He held Civil Rank of the 5th and 4th Classes, the order of the Double Dragon, 3rd Division, 1st Class, and the Order of the Chia Ho, 3rd Class.
Mr. G. H. Hext, who first went to China as 3rd Officer in the Delta , joined the Customs Service in July 1877 when he was appointed 2nd officer in the Feihoo . He was promoted to be 1st Officer in February 1881, and held that rank till June 1888, when, as a reward for the successful superintendence of the building of the above-mentioned revenue cruisers [vol. VII, p. 155], he was transferred to the In-door Staff and promoted Assistant, A. He remained in this rank till his resignation in April 1895.
Herbert Duthy Hilliard was born on the 15th November 1883 at Grove Park, Kent, England, and, after education at Tonbridge School, joined the Customs Service on the 17th November 1903 as 4th Assistant, C. He served first for two and a half years at Swatow, then at Hankow for more than three years, and at Soochow for a year and a half. On return from long leave he was stationed for a few months at Nanking, and then at Shanghai, where he remained till October 19191, and where for two years he was Acting Deputy Commissioner in charge of the Out-door Staff, bonding and returns, as well as Inspector of Examiners. From November 1920 to October 1925 he was Acting Commissioner at Kongmoon. He was promoted Deputy Commissioner in April 1922 and Commissioner in April 1926. As Commissioner he served at Ichang, Mengstz, and Soochow before being transferred in April 1929 to Shanghai to take charge as Statistical Secretary of the Statistical Department of the Inspectorate General of Customs, at which post he remained till the end of March 1932. It was during his tenure of office at the Statistical Department that two cardinal reforms in the preparing of China’s Customs Statistics were carried out; the one was the centralisation of the compilation of these statistics at the Department in Shanghai instead of leaving such compilation, as previously, to the individual ports; and the other was the introduction of electrically controlled tabulating machines, by the use of which it has become possible to speed up immensely the compilation of trade returns. The final five years of Mr. Hilliard’s Service career were spent as Commissioner in charge of Swatow, April 1933 to March 1935; Tientsin, April 1935 to September 1936; and Nanking, October 1936 to March 1938, which latter post he was forced to evacuate owing to Sino-Japanese hostilities. Mr. Hilliard retired from the Service on the 16th November 1938. He holds the Order of the Chia Ho, 4th Class, the Ordre Royal des Millions d’Éléphants et du Parasol Blanc de Luang Prabang, France, and the Customs Gold Medal for Meritorious Service.
Hillier, H.M.
II, 676
III, 640
II, 676 — H.M. Hillier was born on the 17th February 1851 at Hong Kong and joined the Customs Service on the 17th august 1872. He served at Shanghai, Hankow, Newchwang, and Peking, before being transferred to the London Office where he remained for two years. On his return to China in 1885 he served at Hankow, Tientsin and Shanghai, at which latter port he was made Deputy Commissioner on the 1st June 1887. He was appointed to Kowloon in June 1895 and made Commissioner there in April of the following year. He served twice as Chief Secretary, once at the Branch Inspectorate at Shanghai from the 1st April 1901 to 15th April 1903, and at Peking from the 1st October 1908 to 14th February 1909. He was Commissioner also at Nanking, Kiukiang, Chinkiang, and Tientsin. He resigned on the 30th September 1913. Hillier held Civil Rank of the 4th and 3rd Classes, and the Order of the Double Dragon, 3rd Division, 1st Class.
III, 640 — Harry Mason Hillier was born on the 17th February 1851 at Hong Kong and joined the Customs Service at shanghai on the 17th August 1872 as a 4th assistant. He served at Shanghai, Hankow and Newchwang before being transferred on the 1st March 1880 to the inspectorate at Peking, where he acted as Assistant Audit Secretary till the 30th June 1882, when he was transferred to the London Office, remaining there until the 31st July 1884. He subsequently served at Hankow, Tientsin, and Shanghai, where he was promoted Deputy Commissioner on the 1st June 1887. On return from his second long leave he was again appointed to Shanghai, and afterwards to Pakhoi and Kowloon as acting Commissioner. He remained at the latter port for four years, and was promoted Commissioner while there on the 23rd April 1896. From April 1901 to April 1903 he officiated as Chief Secretary at the provisional Inspectorate at Shanghai, and was subsequently Commissioner at Nanking, Kiukiang, and Chinkiang. From September 1908 to February 1909 he was Chief secretary at Peking, after which he was Commissioner at Tientsin till the 31st March 1911. He resigned from the Service on the 30th September 1913. Hillier, like his two brothers, the late Sir Walter Cane hillier, sometime Chinese Secretary to the British Legation, and E.G. Hillier Peking agent of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation was recognised as a man of outstanding ability. He held Civil Rank of the 4th and the 3 rd Classes, and the Decoration of Imperial Order of the Double Dragon, 1st Class of the 3rd Division.
Henry Eilbeck Hillman was born on the 4th May 1874 at Moville, Co. Donegal, Ireland, and was educated for the British Navy, in which Service he was transferred as Lieutenant to the China Station and stationed for some years on the Yangtze, where he eventually became British Government Pilot. In 1900 he commanded “Woodlark,” which in company with H.M.S. “Woodcock,” successfully navigated the dangerous Yangtze Gorges and arrived in Chunking in the summer of that year. On the 1st February 1906 he joined the Marine Department of the Customs Service as river Inspector with headquarters at Kiukiang, where he remained till 1912. In December of that year he was promoted to be Acting Deputy Coast Inspector at Shanghai, and was confirmed as Deputy Coast Inspector on the 1st August 1913. Early in the year following he was transferred to Canton to act temporarily as Harbour Master, a post which he held till the 21st April 1915. On return from war service in March 1919 he was reappointed to Shanghai as Deputy Coast Inspector, and was promoted to be Coast Inspector in July 1924, apposition which he held until his retirement on the 3rd May 1934. After retirement his services were specially retained on contract for one year as advisor to the Inspector General on pilotage matters. In May 1914 he was appointed tot eh rank of Commander in the British Navy, and in November 1918 to the rank of captain. Besides the Mons Star, the General Service Medal, and the Victory Medal, which Captain Hillman holds for his war services, he has been decorated by the Chinese Government with the 5th and 4th Classes of the Order of the Chia ho, the 3rd lass of the Order of Wên Hu, and the 6th Class Order of the Brilliant Jade.
A.E. Hippisley was born at Clifton, Bristol, on the 9th December 1848. Joined the Customs Service on the 14th October 1867 and was appointed to Chinkiang as 4th Class Clerk. Served in various capacities at Chinkiang, Peking, Amoy, Canton, shanghai, Tamsui, Wenchow, Lappa, Tientsin, and Hankow. Was appointed Deputy Commissioner, Assistant Statistical Secretary, in April 1875, and was made Commissioner in April 1882. Served as Chinese Secretary from May 1882 and May 1885, as Chief Secretary from April 1896 to October 1897, and as Postal Secretary from April 1907 to April 1908. By Imperial decree of the 1st October 1901 Hippisley was appointed an Assistant Delegate tot eh Treaty and Tariff Commission, in the work of which for the next four years he took a prominent part. His memoranda on conservancy, financial, and taxation questions are distinguished by their grasp of the subject, breadth of view, sound reasoning, and clarity of expression. Hippisley was a member of the Chinese commission for the Paris Exhibition of 1878, the Health Exhibition in London of 1884, and the Paris exhibition of 1900. In the latter year he was entered as Barrister-at-Law (Inner Temple). Hippesley has had the Civil rank of the 4th , the 3rd , and the 2nd Classes conferred upon him; and holds the Cross of the Chevalier of the Order of Francis Joseph, Austria; the 3 rd Class of the order of the Rising Sun, Japan; and the Order of the Double Dragon, 2nd division, 3rd Class.
Herbert Elgar Hobson was born on the 15th July 1844 at Ashbourne, Derbyshire, and joined the Customs Service on the 1st June 1862 at Shanghai. After studying the Chinese language at Peking, he acted as interpreter to General Gordon from the 1st April 1864 to the 1st May 1865. During his career of 50 years in China Hobson served in various capacities at Shanghai, Ningpo, Swatow, Hankow, Chefoo, Tamsui, Wenchow, Takow, Amoy, Canton, Tientsin, Ichang, Chungking, Kowloon, Wuhu, Yatung, and Tengyueh. Was appointed Deputy Commissioner on the 1st January 1872 and Commissioner on the 1st April 1873. He resigned on the 31st May 1912, and died on the 25th February 1922 in England. Hobson had the honour and responsibility of opening Custom houses at no fewer than three ports- Wenchow in February 1877, Chungking in September 1890, and Tengyueh in April 1900. During his nine-year term as Commissioner at shanghai (April 1901 to January 1910) Hobson did much to place Whangpoo Conservancy on a sound basis and to make it the success it afterwards became. For his services with Gordon, Hobson was decorated by the Chinese Government with a Medal of the 1st Class, and was subsequently granted at various times Civil rank of the 5th , the 4th , the 3rd and the 2nd Classes. He was also decorated with the Order of the Double Dragon, 3rd Division, 1st Class, and 2nd Division 3rd and 2nd Classes.
Hu Fu-Sen, a native of Kwangtung, was born on the 6th August 1885 in the Chungshan district. He was educated at the Boone University, Wuchang, and joined the Customs Service at Hankow in December 1903 as a Candidate Clerk. After five years’ service at Hankow he was transferred to Ichang, where he remained for nearly seven years. In May 1916 he was retransferred to Hankow, serving there for 11 years before being moved in March 1927 to the Appraising Department in the Shanghai Customs. While at Hankow in August 1918 Mr. Hu was promoted to Assistantship rank. From then on his rise was rapid. In December 1919 he was promoted to 4th Assistant, A; in June 1922, 3rd Assistant, A; in June 1925, 2nd Assistant, B; in September of that year, 2nd Assistant, A; in May 1929, 1st Assistant, A.; and in October of that year Chief Assistant, A. On the 1st October 1930 he was promoted Deputy Commissioner, and on 1st April 1932 Commissioner. From April 1929 to 1932 he served at the Inspectorate in Shanghai in the Staff Secretariat, first as Assistant Staff Secretary and then as full Staff secretary. In 1933 he was in charge of Hangchow for six months, after which he was again transferred to the Inspectorate in his former capacity as Staff Secretary. He fell due for retirement on the 20th December 1938, but was specially retained, as his services were too valuable to be dispensed with. Mr. Hu has been awarded the Customs Gold Medal for Meritorious Service.
Hü Kam-Shui, a native of Canton, was born on the 18th December 1878, and joined the Customs Service on the 3rd February 1899. He served at Canton for the better part of three years, and at Foochow from the 1st October 1901 to 30th June 1914, when he was detached for duty at the Shui-wu Ch’u, where he remained till its dissolution on the 30 th June 1928. He subsequently served at Lappa (twice), Samshui, and Canton, from which last-named port he retired voluntarily on the 30th April 1933. Mr. Hü gained rank as an Assistant on the 1st October 1912, and was promoted Deputy Commissioner on the 1st April 1932. He has been decorated with the Order of the Chia Ho, 4th Class, 3rd Class and 2nd Class with sash.
George Hughes, one of H.N. Lay’s appointees, joined the Customs Service in November 1859 as a Clerk. From May to November 1861 he was in charge of Ningpo as Deputy Commissioner, after which he was transferred to Canton, where he remained till February 1862, in which month he was promoted Commissioner and sent to Swatow. After ten months at this port he was transferred to Amoy, where he held charge from December 1862 to April 1865. On return from long leave in March 1868 he was Commissioner at Tientsin for a year and a half, after which he was once more in charge of Amoy for five and a half years. On expiry of his second furlough he served at Newchwang from April 1878 to September 1879 and at Chefoo from the latter month to April 1883. He resigned in March 1885 while on long leave. Mr. Hughes held Civil Rank of the 3rd Class.
Johnston, J.C.
III, 641
John Clark Johnston was born on the 3rd January 1854 in Perthshire, Scotland, and entered the Customs Service on the 1st July 1874 as a 4th assistant, B. He served at Shanghai, Kiungchow, Pakhoi (twice), Swatow, Canton, Hankow, Kowloon, Chefoo, Seoul, and Jenchuan before receiving his Deputy Commissionership on the 1st April 1898 at Shanghai. He was promoted Commissioner on the 1st November 1909 and appointed to Ichang, having in the mean time served at Shanghai, Canton (for the second time), Pakhoi (for the third time), and Wuhu. His subsequent Service career was spent at Ningpo, and finally, for the fourth time, at Pakhoi, from which port he resigned on the 15th April 1916. Johnston held Civil Rank of the 4th and 3rd Classes, the Order of the Double Dragon, 1st Class of the 3rd Division, and the Order of the Chia Ho, 3rd Class.
Cecil Henry Bencraft Joly was born on the 17th September 1892 at Macao, was educated at Reading School, and joined the Customs Service on the 22nd November 1912 as 4th assistant, B. He served at Shanghai, Kiukiang, the Inspectorate at Peking, Ningpo, Mengtsz, Harbin, Amoy (where he was in charge of the Native Customs), Kongmoon, Amoy again, Hankow, and Aigun, where he was Acting Commissioner from October 1930 to October 1932. He was promoted Deputy Commissioner on the 1st October 1930. On return from long leave in the autumn of 1933 he was appointed to be in charge of the General Office at shanghai, and subsequently to be Administrative Commissioner, a post which he held from September 1934 to the end of December 1937. He was promoted Commissioner on the 1st April 1936. On return from leave in January 1939 he was appointed Commissioner at Nanking, temporarily resident at Shanghai, and was transferred as Commissioner at Tengyueh in May of that year.
Knud Erik Jordan was born on the 2nd October 1888 at Amoy and, after a short business career, entered the customs Service on the 8th March 1911 as 4th assistant, C (on probation). He was appointed to Tientsin for six months, being transferred thence to Peking, where he remained for over three years, during which time he devised and elaborated a special telegraphic code for the use of the Customs Service, a code which, with necessary alterations and additions, still remains the Service code. In 1915 he was transferred to Shanghai, had here he remained for three years before proceeding on long leave. On return from furlough he was stationed for a time at Antung before being transferred to the Inspectorate at Peking, where he remained for over four years, acting as Assistant Staff Secretary and later as Assistant Chinese Secretary. During his third term he served at Shanghai from 1926 to 1928, and was then appointed to take charge of Native Customs at Tientsin. On the 1st April 1929 he was promoted deputy Commissioner, and in the year following he was sent to Mengtsz in charge, and subsequently to Kiungchow. On the 1st October 1931 he was promoted Commissioner. From April 1934 to April 1938 he was Personal Secretary to the Inspector General and in charge of the Private Secretariat; during these years he twice conducted the annual Inspectorate examination of Foreign Assistants in Chinese, and of the Hsüeh-his-yüan. In April 1938 he was appointed as Commissioner at Amoy. Mr. Jordan is a Knight of the Order of Dannebrog, and holds Silver Life Saving Medals bestowed by the French Government and by the Société Centrale de Sauvetage des Naufragés for conspicuous gallantry on the occasion of the burning of the Georges Philippar at sea on the 16th May 1932.
Paul Henry King was born on the 3rd June 1853 at London. After education at Haileybury and on the Continent he joined the customs Service as 4th Assistant, A, on the 21st January 1874. During his long career of 47 years in the service Mr. King served at Swatow, Kiukiang (twice), Chefoo (twice), London Office (three times), Shanghai (twice) Tientsin, Hangchow, Kowloon, Canton (twice), Pakhoi, Wuhu, Ichang, Amoy, and Foochow. He was promoted deputy Commissioner in November 1899 and full Commissioner in April the following year. During the Boxer year he was Commissioner at Canton, where he came much in contact with the great Viceroy Li Hung-chang, who, in view of the siege of Peking by the Boxers, appointed him to control the Customs Houses of the Liang Kwang (vide antea, vol. II, p.230, footnote). The only Inspectorate posts held by Mr. King were those of Statistical secretary, from April 1911 to October 1912, and of Non-Resident secretary in London from the 1st June 1914 to the end of September 1920. On leaving the London Office he was granted six months’ leave prior to retirement. He died at Guernsey in October 1938. Besides his well-known book “In the Chinese Customs Service,” Mr. King wrote, either singly, or in collaboration with his wife, a number of novels, the best known of which is “The Raven on the Skyscraper.” Mr. King held the Order of the Double Dragon, 3rd Division, 1st Class, and 2nd Division, 3rd Class; the Order of the Chia Ho, 3rd and 2nd Classes; and Civil Rank, 4th and 3rd Classes.
Hirokichi Kishimoto was born on the 10th July 1883 at Tokyo, and joined the Customs Service on the 1st August 1905 as 4th Assistant, C. After serving for over two and a half years at Chefoo he was transferred to the Inspectorate at Peking, where he remained till the end of June 1912. He was next stationed at Shanghai for over two years, and then at Tsingtao for two years, where he was on special duty in connexion with the Japanese occupation of that port. On return from long leave he was again stationed at the Inspectorate at Peking, serving in the capacity first of Acting Assistant Chinese and then of Acting Chinese Secretary from October 1917 to October 1922. He was promoted Deputy Commissioner in April 1921 and Commissioner in October 1922. From the 19th October 1923 to 1st November 1925 he was on duty at Shanghai, and for some time officiated as Commissioner in charge of the port. After a year and four months at Dairen as Commissioner in charge he was once more transferred to the Inspectorate-first at Peking and later at Shanghai, where he remained for over two years in the capacity of Chief secretary. On return from long leave he was in charge again of Dairen for nine months, before being transferred once more to the Inspectorate at Shanghai as Chief Secretary, a post which he has held continuously from the 1st April 1931 to date (1939). During the Inspector General’s absence from the 4th April to 24th August 1937 as counsellor to the Chinese delegation attending the coronation of King George VI of England, Mr. Kishimoto signed for the Inspector General. Mr. Kishimoto holds the Order of the Chia Ho, 3rd Class, and 3rd Class with Brilliants, and has been specifically thanked for his meritorious services rendered in January and February 1932 in successfully removing some 100 members of the Chinese staff and their families from regions of extreme danger during the Sino-Japanese conflict at Shanghai.
N.A. Konovaloff was born on the 23rd November 1877 at Stavitza in the province of Tver, Russia, and joined the Customs Service on the 16th January 1897 as 4th Assistant, B. His promotion was more than unusually rapid, as he became a Deputy Commissioner on the 17th March 1903, having in the interval served at Ichang and Peking, at which latter place he acted as Professor of Russian at the Tung Wen Kuan for a couple of years, and as Private Secretary to the Inspector General from the 1st September 1900 to 16th March 1903. From the 16th April 1903 to 1st August 1904 he served as Acting commissioner at Newchwang, after which he returned to the Inspectorate at Peking where he remained till the 31st January 1907, and while there was promoted to be Commissioner from the 1st November 1906. On the opening of the Manchurian trade marts he was appointed to be Commissioner at Harbin, a post which he held from the 1st February 1907 to 28th February 1911 and where he did pioneer work for the establishing of Chinese Customs. On return from long leave on the 1st September 1913 he was detached for three years to serve as Advisor to the Audit Department, a post which he held till the establishment of the Kuomintang Government in the summer of 1928. Konovaloff is a Diplomate of the oriental Institute of Vladivostock and of the Imperial University of St. Petersburg. He holds from China Civil Rank of the 3rd Class, the Order of the Double Dragon, 3rd Division, 1st Class, and 2nd Division 3rdClass, and the Order of the Chia Ho, 3rd and 2nd Classes; from Russia, Chevalier of the Order of St. Stanislaus, Chinese campaign Medal, Chevalier of the Order of St. Anne, Russo-Japanese bronze War Medal; and from France, Chevalier of the Legion of Honour.
H.C.J. Kopsch (British) joined the Service in January 1862 as one of H.N. lay’s recruits. He was appointed 4th Class Clerk in January 1863, and rose to be Deputy-Commissioner in October 1867 and Commissioner in June 1868. During his career of 38 years in China he served as Commissioner at Chinkiang, Tainan, Shanghai, Newchwang, Pakhoi, Ningpo, and Tamsui. From the 1st April 1891 to the 1st July 1897 he was Statistical Secretary, and during his last year in this post he acted also as the first Postal Secretary. In the latter capacity he was all for expansion, rapid development, and full incorporation in the Postal union, a policy which, if allowed, would have speedily brought about disaster. He resigned in January 1900. He held Civil Rank of the 3rd Class, 1st Class of the 3rd Division of the Double Dragon, and was Chevalier of the Order of Francis Joseph. In 1903 he wrote a pamphlet on Bimetallism which attracted some attention at the time.
Pierre Paul Prosper Marie Kremer was born on the 29th June 1878 at St. Rewan, Finistère, France, and joined the Customs Service as 4th assistant, B, on the 18th January 1897. He served at Shanghai (five times), Nanking, Chungking, Wenchow, Kiungchow, Canton, Wuchow, Chefoo, and Ningpo before being promoted Deputy Commissioner (Acting Commissioner) at the last-named port on the 1st April 1919. Five years later he was promoted Commissioner, and in that capacity served at Samshui, Kiukiang, Newchwang, Chinkiang, and Mengtsz, from which last-named port he retired on the 30th April 1930. Kremer holds Civil Rank of the 5th Class; the Order of the Chia Ho, 4th and 3rd Classes; and the Pao Kuang Chia Ho, 3rd Class. Kremer served through three years of the Great War, and was decorated with the Croix de Guerre.
Wyndham Ogilvie Law was born on the 25th September 1882 at London, and, after education at Merchant Tailor’s School, joined the Customs Service on the 21st June 1905 as 4th Assistant, C. After serving at Amoy for a few months and at Peking for two and a half years, Mr. Law was given short leave and accompanied Sir Robert Hart in the spring of 1908 to England. On return Mr. Law served successively at Shanghai, Wuchow, Changsha, Antung (twice), Wuhu, Tientsin, Ichang, Lungkow, London, and once more at Shanghai before being transferred to Canton, where he was placed in charge of the Canton Native Customs, and on the 1st April 1924 promoted Deputy Commissioner. From Ma to the end of September that year he was in charge of the port of canton after which he served at Harbin for two years and at Kowloon for eight months. While serving as Deputy Commissioner in charge of the Postal Parcels Office at Shanghai he was in January 1929 promoted Commissioner and appointed Chief Secretary (additional) in the Inspectorate at Nanking a post which he held till the 6th October 1930 when he was granted sick leave and was finally invalided from the service on the 31st March 1931. From the 16th Amy to 31st December 1938 Mr. Law filled the post of Non-Resident Secretary in the London Office.
Lancelot Henry Lawford was born on the 8th June 1886 at Rckhampton, Queensland, and joined the Customs Service on the 23rd November 1905 as 4th Assistant, C. He served at Wuhu, Kowloon, Shanghai, Chinkiang, the Inspectorate at Peking, and Hangchow before being promoted Deputy Commissioner on the 1st April 1924 while holding the post of District Accountant at Shanghai. From October 1927 to the end of November 1930 he was a gain at the Inspectorate, first at Peking and subsequently at Shanghai, in the capacity of Audit Secretary. He was promoted Commissioner on the 1st April 1928. From December 1930 to June 1931 he was Commissioner in charge of Tsingtao, and from the latter month to July 1932 was in charge of Shanghai. On return from long leave he was again for a few months in charge of Shanghai before being transferred in March 1933 to the Inspectorate in the capacity of Chief Secretary. During Sir Frederick Maze’s absence from the1st April 1934 to the 7th January 1935 he was Officiating Inspector General, after which he resumed for nine months his former post as Commissioner at Shanghai. From October 1936 to April 1937 he was Commissioner in charge of Hankow, returning once more in the latter month to the Shanghai Commissionership. Mr. Lawford holds the Order of the Chia Ho, 4th and 3rd Classes.
Horatio Nelson Lay, son of G. Tradescant Lay, first British Consul at Canton and at Foochow. H.N. Lay became Student Interpreter in the British Consular Service in China in September 1849, and in 1854 became Acting Vice-Consul and Assistant Chinese Secretary at Shanghai. On the 1st June 1855 he resigned from the British Consular Service, and accepted from the Chinese Authorities the post of British Inspector of Customs at Shanghai. In 1858 Lay served as Interpreter to Lord Elgin, the British plenipotentiary, in all the negotiations that preceded the framing of the Treaty of Tientsin, and on the 1st July 1859 was appointed head of the new Customs Service, instituted in accordance with Rule X of the Rules of trade appended to that Treaty. On the 21st January 1861 a formal despatch of appointment was issued to him by Prince Kung. Lay was dismissed from his post as Inspector General on the 15th November 1863 for having exceeded his authority in regard to the Sherard Osborn flotilla (vide British Parliamentary Papers: China No. 2 (1864), p. 35).
W.G. Lay was born on the 30th October 1862 at Shanghai and joined the Customs Service on the 25th November 1880 at Peking as 4th Assistant, B, studying Chinese. He served at Foochow, Ningpo, and Kiukiang and was then (June 1886) transferred to the Customs Service in Korea, where he remained for over two years. He was promoted Deputy Commissioner on the 17th March 1903, having in the interval served at Kiukiang, Chefoo, Swatow, and Shanghai. In September 1905 he was appointed Postal Commissioner at Canton, and remained with the Postal Service for six years. On return to the Revenue Department he served as Customs Commissioner at Swatow, Lappa, and Kowloon, dying at Hong Kong on the 15th November 1921. W.G. Lay was an exceptionally sound Chinese scholar, evidenced by his book “Kung Han Yi Yao,” and by the fact that he served as Chinese Examiner to the Service in 1916. He held Civil rank of the 4th and the 3rd Classes, the Order of the Double Dragon, 3rd Division, 3rd and 1st Classes, and the Order of the Chia Ho, 3rd Class.
Walter Thurlow Lay was born on the 18th April 1840 at London, son of G. Tradescant Lay, the first British Consul at Canton and Foochow, and brother of Mr. H.N. Lay, the first Inspector General. W.T. Lay was first appointed in 1861 as Student Interpreter in the British Consular Service, but left that Service and joined the Customs on the 15th October 1862 at Canton as a 3rd Class Clerk. Lay was a fluent speaker in Chinese, and for a time during the Taiping Rebellion acted as interpreter on board H.M.S. Reynard. During his career of 50 years in China he served in various capacities at Canton, Kiukiang, Foochow, Ningpo, Hankow, Tamsui, Newchwang, Pakhoi, Wuhu, Ichang, Chinkiang, and Hangchow. He was appointed deputy Commissioner on the 1st June 1875 and Commissioner on the 1st October 1877. He resigned on the 30th September 1912 and died in England on the 17th August 1917. W.T. Lay held Civil Rank of the 3rd Class and the Order of the double Dragon, 3rd Division, 1st Class.
Emile Laurent Lépissier was born on the 23rd February 1850 at Paris and joined the Customs Service on the 1st June 1869 as a 4th assistant, B. He served at Shanghai (four times), Hankow (twice), Chinkiang, Ningpo, and Canton, before being promoted Deputy Commissioner on the 17th March 1899 and appointed Assistant Statistical Secretary. He subsequently served at Foochow for five years from the 1st October 1901 to 31st October 1906, and again for two and a half years in the Statistical Department. He resigned on the 30th September 1912 from Canton, while occupying the post of Out-door Deputy Commissioner, and was given brevet rank of Commissioner. Lépissier held Civil Rank of the 4th Class.
Li Kuei, a native of Kiangsu, was born on the 23rd November 1842 at Chiang-ning-hsien. He joined the Customs Service on the 1st June 1865 at Ningpo as Writer, and remained attached to that port in that capacity till his virtual resignation on the 1st June 1893, when he was granted indefinite leave in order that he might proceed to Hangchow preparatory to entering upon his duties as Chih-chou for Hai-ning. He was deputed to accompany the commission from China appointed to attend the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition in 1876, and on his return in January 1877 was given a year’s leave to enable him, to write a book on his travels.
Lester Knox Little was born on the 20th March 1892 at Pawtucket, Rhode Island, U.S.A., and was educated at Dartmouth College, where he graduated B.A. in 1914, and joined the Customs Service on the 21st October of that year. From November 1914 to the end of October 1916 Mr. Little was at the Inspectorate at Peking, after which he served for three and a half years at Shanghai, and for a few months at Tientsin Native Customs before going on long leave. While at home Mr. Little took up post-graduate work at Brown University, and qualified there in 1921 for the M.A. degree. On return from furlough he served at the Amoy Native Customs for three years, and at the Inspectorate at Peking for two years where he was Acting Pensions Chief Accountant. During his third term he was at Tientsin for 18 months, at Shanghai for two and a half year, most of the time as Acting Administrative Commissioner, and at the Inspectorate, Shanghai, for one year as Personal Secretary from October 1933 to April 1934, after which he was transferred to Canton, where he remained till October 1938 when he once more proceeded on long leave. While at Canton Mr. Little was specially commended by the Kuan-wu Shu for his skilful handling of Customs affairs during the political crisis at Canton in July 1936.
Edward Gordon Lowder was born on the 15th September 1862 at Kanagawa in Japan, and joined the Customs Service at Foochow on the 1st September 1882 as a 4th Assistant, B. During his first term he served at Foochow, Peking (studying Chinese), and Kiukiang, and during his second term at Tientsin, Hankow, Wuhu, Lappa, Foochow once more and Shanghai, at which port he was Assistant Secretary at the provisional Inspectorate in 1900 and 1901. On return from long leave he was again stationed at the provisional Inspectorate in Shanghai, holding there the posts of Assistant Secretary and Acting Audit Secretary. On the closing of the provisional Inspectorate he was transferred to Peking, where he was promoted Deputy Commissioner on the 1st January 1906 and Commissioner on the 14th February 1908, and where he made his mark as Audit Secretary in 1909 after which he officiated as Commissioner at Shanghai. Subsequently he was Commissioner at Newchwang, Kowloon, Amoy, Hankow, and again at Shanghai. He was superannuated on the 14th September 1922. Lowder holds Civil Rank of the 4th and the 3rd Classes; the Order of the Double dragon, 1st Class of the 3rd Division; the Order of the Chia Ho, 3rd Class, 2nd Class, and 3rd Class with Brilliants; and the China Expedition Medal, 1900, Great Britain.
Lu Shou Wen, whose family home is in the Heungshan district of Kwangtung, was born on the 11th January 1891 at Foochow. He was educated at the Customs College, Peking, and, after graduating there, proceeded as a Government student to the University of Wisconsin, where he graduated B.A. in 1914. He was appointed to the Customs Service on the 6th January 1915 as 4th Assistant, C, at Foochow, where he remained for over 10 years. From July 1925 to February 1932 he was on duty at Shanghai, first in the Custom House, where for several years he rendered yeoman service as an Import, and, later, an Export Supervisor in the General Office, and second at the Inspectorate, where he was in charge of the Department of Chinese Studies under the personal direction of the Chinese Secretary. In March 1932 he was transferred to Hankow, where for a time he was Acting Deputy Commissioner in charge. His next post was Ningpo, where he was Acting Commissioner for a year, and where on the 1st April 1934 he was promoted Deputy Commissioner. From the 1st October 1934 he was again transferred to the Inspectorate and appointed Travelling Commissioner, a post which he held till the 30th April 1937, when he was sent to Chungking in charge of that port and of Wanhsien. He was promoted Commissioner on the 1st April 1937. In 1936 Mr. Lu conducted the oral tests completing the Inspectorate Chinese examination of that year and the examination of Hsüeh-his-yüan, and in the following year was appointed to investigate the complaints against Customs officers of maltreatment of Chinese emigrants returning from abroad to the southern ports- Foochow, Amoy, Canton, Kongmoon, and Kiungchow.
Luigi de Luca, son of Fernando de Luca, Italian Minister to China, 1880-89, was born on the 8th October 1875 at Naples and educated at the University of Rome, where he graduated LL.D. in July 1898. He joined the Customs Service on the 18th October that year as 4th assistant, B. After a few weeks at Shanghai he was transferred to the Inspectorate, to which office he was attached till the close of 1900. He then served a year and a half at Chinkiang and five years at Shanghai. On return from long leave he was, after nine months at Tientsin, transferred to the Inspectorate at Peking, where he remained for four years in the capacity first of Assistant Private Secretary and later of Assistant Staff Secretary. Then followed eight months at Mengtsz as Acting Commissioner. In April 1917 he was promoted Deputy Commissioner, being at that time stationed at Shanghai. In April 1920 to April 1923 he was again at the Inspectorate at Peking in the capacity of Staff Secretary, and here in October 1920 he was promoted Commissioner. From April 1924 to November 1928 he held the position of Statistical Secretary, and on the removal of the Inspectorate from Peking to Shanghai resumed duty once more as Staff Secretary. He closed his 35 years of service with a three-year tenure of the Tientsin Commissionership and retired on the 17th October 1933. While on leave in 1923 Mr. De Luca was appointed, and served as, Co-Delegate to the Geneva Conference on Customs Formalities. That his eminent services have been highly appreciated both by the Chinese and Italian Governments is evidenced by the fact that the former have conferred on him the Order of the Chia Ho, 4th, 3rd and 2nd Classes; the Order of the Brilliant Jade with White Cravat; and the Customs Gold Medal for Meritorious Services; while the latter have honoured him with the Order of the Crown of Italy, Chevalier, Officer, and Commander ranks. Mr. de Luca holds also the China Expedition Medal, 1900, issued by the Italian Government.
R.T.F. de Luca, born at New Orleans, U.S.A., on the 18th December 1865. Educated in Italy and graduated LL.D. at the University of Pisa in November 1887. Joined the Customs Service in December of the same year as 4th assistant, B, and in April 1898 was promoted to be Deputy Commissioner, Likin, at Hankow. Appointed Chinese Secretary (Commissioner) at the Inspectorate, Peking, on the 1st October 1904. Died while on leave on the 22nd January 1916. R. de Luca served at Kiukiang (twice), Peking (twice), Shanghai, Hankow (twice), Soochow, Canton, Nanking, and Harbin. From January 1902 to December 1903 he was detached to serve with the Commission for the revision of the Italian Treaty and Tariff, in which capacity he again served from September to November 1906. While at the Inspectorate he held the post of Chief Secretary from January 1907 to September 1908. He had conferred on him at various times the following decorations; Chevalier, Officer and Commander of the Order of the Crown of Italy; Chevalier of the Order of St. Maurice and St. Lazare (Italy); Commander of the Order of the Dragon of Annam (France); Order of the Double Dragon, 2nd Division, 3rd Class; Civil Rank of the 3rd Class; and the Order of the Chia Ho, 3rd Class.
Leonard Arthur Lyall was born on the 28th July 1867 in London, and joined the Customs Service as 4h Assistant, B, on the 18th October 1886. After six months study of Chinese at Peking he served in various capacities at Wuhu, Swatow, Takow, Shanghai (three times), Hangchow, Nanking, Shasi, Dairen, and Szemao before returning to Peking in November 1911 as Assistant Chinese Secretary. He was promoted Deputy Commissioner on the 1st April 1912 and Commissioner (Chinese Secretary) on 1st November 1913. Lyall served as Commissioner at Shanghai on two occasions, from April 1919 to October 1920 and from September 1922 to October 1925. He was three times appointed Vice-President of the Chinese Commission for Tariff Revision; in November 1917 for the Commission which sat all through 1918; in February 1922 for the Commission which sat from March to September that year; and in September 1926 for the abortive Commission for the Compilation of Values. He retired from the Service on the 31st May 1927, and accepted a post as assessor on the Opium Advisory Committee of the League of Nations, a post which he filled with so much distinction that he was subsequently appointed Chairman of the Committee. Lyall has translated the analects of Confucius under the title ”The Sayings of Confucius” (2nd Edition), London, 1925, also the works of “Mencius,” London, 1932, and is the author of the volume “China” in the Modern World series, London, 1934. Lyall holds Civil Rank of the 4th Class; the Order of the Chia Ho, 3rd Class; 3rd Class Pao Kuang; and 2nd Class Pao Kuang.
William MacDonald was born on the 7th March 1867 at Dingwall, Scotland. After graduating from the Royal school of Mines, London, where he was a pupil of Huxley, he joined the Customs Service on the 16th October 1892 as a 4th Assistant, A, Acting Professor of English at the Peking T’ung Wên Kwan. He remained at Peking in that capacity until the 30th November 1898, and during these six years acquired a very sound knowledge of Chinese. He next served at Ningpo, Hangchow, and Hankow, before being re-transferred to Peking on the 1st December 1904, where, on the 1st February 1906, he was promoted Deputy Commissioner and appointed Assistant Postal Secretary. On return from long leave on the 1st April 1910 he served at Shanghai in charge of the Postal Supply Department for 18 months, and subsequently in the Statistical Department till the 15th April 1915. He was promoted Commissioner on the 1st November 1919, having in the meantime served at Hankow, and at Samshui in charge. He was Commissioner at Hangchow and Antung before being once more, on the 1st February 1922, moved to Peking to take up the post of Vice-President and Dean of the Customs College. He remained in this position till the 15th October 1923, when he was succeeded by Mr. W.H.C. Weippert. On return from long leave in the autumn of 1924 of 1924 he was appointed Commissioner at Kiaochow, from which port he was invalided on the 21st June 1926. MacDonald held Civil Rank of the 3rd Class of the 3rd Division, and the Order of the Chia Ho, 4th, 3rd and 2nd Classes.
George Ernest Marden, original name, George Ernest Ludwig Gumprecht was born on the 3rd July 1892 at High Beech, Essex, England. After serving for two and a half years in the British Army, he joined the Customs Service at Canton on the 1st September 1913 as a Watcher. On the outbreak of the Great War Marden rejoined the British Army, serving first in the infantry and later, from August 1917, in the Royal Air Force. He was through the battles of Neuve Chapelle, Aubers Ridge, Loos and Hohenzollern Redoubt, and was twice wounded. He was demobilized on the 28th June 1919 with the rank of Lieutenant, having been twice mentioned in despatches and decorated with the Military Cross, the 1914-15 Star, the General service Medal, and the Victory Medal. He rejoined the Customs Service after demobilisation, and became Assistant Boat Officer, A, on the 1st February 1923. On the 31st December 1924 he resigned in order to start what is now the well-known firm of Marden & Co., Transport and Forwarding Agents and Customs Brokers.
F.J. Mayers, born at Chefoo on the 19th July 1870, son of W.F. Mayers, Chinese Secretary to the British Legation. Joined the Customs Service on the 1st June 1889 as 4th Assistant, B, and was promoted to be Deputy Commissioner, Likin, at Soochow on the 30th April 1898. Appointed Commissioner 1st April 1911. He served at Foochow, Tamsui, Shanghai, Hankow, Chungking, Peking, Soochow, Tientsin, Canton, Ichang, Wuhu, Chefoo, Amoy Chinkiang and Changsha. While at Tientsin in 1904 he took over the administration of the Native Customs from the Tientsin Provisional Government. He was invalided from the Service on the 30th April 1924. Mayers held Civil Rank of the 4th Class; Order of the Double Dragon, 3rd Division, 1st Class, and 2nd Division, 3rd Class, and Order of the Chia Ho, 3rd Class.
Fredrerick W. Maze, son of James Maze, Killultagh Cottage, Upper Ballinderry, and Mary, daughter of Henry Hart, of Ravarnette House, Lisburn, was born in Belfast. He was educated at Wesley College, Dublin, and privately. He served first in Chefoo and Newchwang for a few years and was appointed afterwards to the Inspectorate in Peking, where he remained for some six years, leaving on the 17th March 1900 as Deputy Commissioner. On 30th June 1906 he was promoted to be Commissioner, having in the meantime served at Tengyueh (June 1906 to December 1908), canton (March 1911 to April 1915), Tientsin (April 1915 to October 1920), Hankow (October 1921 to October 1925), and Shanghai (October 1925 to 9th January 1929). In 1927 he was offered the posts of Chief Commissioner, Deputy Inspector General, and Southern Inspector General by the Nanking Nationalist Government, but declined to accept. He was appointed Deputy Inspector General by the Chinese Government on the 3rd October 1928 and Inspector General on the 9th January 1929. On the 1st January 1932 His Majesty King George V conferred upon him a knighthood of the Order of the British Empire. He holds in addition the following decorations and distinctions: Civil rank of the 3rd Class, China, April 1904; Double Dragon, 3rd Division, 1st Class, China, February 1908; Order of the Chia Ho, 3rd Class, China, June 1914; Order of the Chia Ho, 2nd Class, China, 1919; 3rd Class of the Imperial Order of the sacred Treasure, Japan, 1920; Pao Kuang Chia Ho, 3rd Class, China, February 1921; Pao Kuang Chia Ho, 2nd Class, china, October 1927; single Rhinoceros Conservancy Medal, 1st Class, China, December 1924; Appointed Advisor to Marshal Sun Ch’uan-fang, November 1926; Appointed Advisor to the National Board of Reconstruction, August 1928; Commander of the Order of Leopold, Belgium, 1930; Appointed Member of the National Flood Relief Commission, August 1931; Commander of the Order of Christ, Portugal, 1932; Appointed Member of the National Loans Sinking Fund Administrative Commission, 1932; Commander of the 1st Class of the Order of St. Olaf, Norway 1933; Appointed Member of the Monetary Advisory Committee, March 1935; Knight Commander, 1st Class, of the Order of Dannebrog, Denmark 1935; Appointed Counsellor to accompany His Excellency Dr. H.H. Kung, Envoy Extraordinary, at Coronation of His Majesty King George VI (the British Government declined to recognise the appointment, but he accompanied Mr. Kung, as Counsellor, to Berlin, Brussels, Paris, and Rome after the Coronation); Order of the Brilliant Jade with Blue Sash (3rd Class), China, March 1937; Commander of the Legion of Honour, France, 1937; Cross of the 1st Class, Order of the Red Cross, Germany, 1937.
H.F. Merrill was born at white River, Vermont, U.S.A., on the 15th June 1853. He graduated B.A. at Harvard in 1874 and was selected along with the late H.B. Morse, C.C. Clarke, and W.F. Spinney be E.B. Drew for the Chinese Customs Service which he joined on the 1st September 1874 as 4th Assistant, B. He served at Kiukiang, Takow (twice), Amoy, Shanghai (twice), and Peking before being appointed full Commissioner on the 1st January 1887 and detailed for special duty in Korea where he took over charge of the Korean Customs from P.G. von Möllendorf, who had been called to resign for having persuaded the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs to sign an agreement with Russia by which, in return for the use of Port Lazareff Russia undertook to provide all the army instructors Korea might require. Merrill did yeoman service in reorganising and strengthening the Korean Customs by picked men drafted from the Chinese Customs Service. From July 1908 to November 1909 Merrill served, at the request of the Viceroy of Chihli, as superintendent of China’s educational mission in the United States. Other ports at which Merrill served as Commissioner were Wuhu, Tientsin, Canton, and Shanghai. He resigned on the 31st August 1916 and retired to Boston, where he died on the 12th July 1935. For his services in Korea Merrill was granted Patent of Nobility, 2nd Class, and given rank of Vice-President of the Board of revenue. He held also Civil Rank of the 2nd Class in China, and the Order of the Double Dragon, 3rd Division, 1st Class, 2nd Division, 3rd Class, and 2nd Division, 2nd Class, and the Order of the Chia Ho, 3rd Class.
Stanley Vandeleur Mills was born on the 1st December 1882 at Lee in Kent, England. He joined the Marine Department of the Customs Service on the 22nd January 1904 as Third officer on probation and served for a couple of years on the cruiser Feihoo, after which he was transferred to the Coast Inspector’s Office, where he served successively as Assistant Surveyor, Surveyor, Cartographer, and Acting Deputy Coast Inspector, being finally promoted Deputy Coast Inspector on the 1st December 1921. He remained in this position till the 31st January 1930, when he was invalided from the Service, but remained with the Hydrographic Department of the Chinese Admiralty as Assistant Director. Mills holds the Order of the Chia Ho, 5th Class, and the Order of the Wên Hu, 3rd Class.
G.F. Montgomery, born at Grey Abbey, Ireland, 21st January 1861. Joined the Customs Service on the 1st July 1880 as 4th Assistant, B. Promoted to be Deputy Commissioner, Likin, at Hangchow, April 1898. Appointed Commissioner September 1901. Resigned 31st March 1909. Montgomery served at Peking, Chefoo, Amoy, Canton, Shanghai, (twice), Newchwang, Tientsin, Wuhu, Kowloon, Hangchow, Tengyueh, and Foochow. He held Civil Rank of the4th and the 3rd Classes; Order of the Double Dragon, 3rd Division, 1st Class.
William Robertson Myers was born on the 9th December 1883 at Takow, Formosa, and joined the Customs Service in November 1904 as 4th Assistant, C. He was promoted Deputy Commissioner in April 1924, having in the interim served at Foochow (three times), Swatow, Mengtsz, Harbin (twice), and Santuao. He served subsequently at Wuhu, where he was in charge of the Native Customs, and at Shanghai, where in April 1928 he was promoted Commissioner (additional), taking over charge of the port in January 1929 on the appointment of Sir Frederick Maze to the post of Inspector General. From May 1931 to April 1934 he was Commissioner in charge of Tsingtao, and on return from long leave was in charge of Hankow from April 1935 to September 1936, in which latter month he was transferred as Commissioner to Tientsin, a post he still (1939) holds in the face of unprecedented difficulties and sweeping political changes.
Moto Nakamura was born on the 5th February 1887 at Yanagawa, Japan, and, after graduating as Hogakuchi (Bachelor of Laws) at the Tokyo Imperial University in 1912, and gaining the qualifying certificate for the Higher Civil Service of Japan, joined the Customs Service on the 12th June 1913 as 4th Assistant, B, on probation. He served successively at Dairen, canton, Chefoo, Antung, Dairen again, Hunchun, Shanghai, Tsingtao, Dairen once more, Shanghai for a second time, and Dairen for the fourth time. On the 4th May 1933 his services were dispensed with.
E. Ohlmer was born on the 23rd March 1847 at Hildesheim, Hanover, and joined the Out-door Staff of the Customs Service on the 1st May 1868. Shortly afterwards he was transferred to the In-door staff as a Clerk. He served at Shanghai for a year and then for seven and a half years at the Inspectorate at Peking, where he was promoted to Deputy Commissioner on the 1st January 1877. He was again at Peking from May 1882 to November 1883, from July 1887 to March 1888, from May 1891 to September 1893, and from October 1893 to March 1894, chiefly in the capacity of Audit Secretary. He was promoted to be Commissioner on the 1st July 1887 and was in charge at Pakhoi, Foochow, Lappa, Ichang, and Kiaochow, at which latter port he remained from August 1898 to 31st May 1914. He reigned on the 31st May 1916. Ohlmer accompanied the Inspector General twice on tours of inspection, once in 1872 and again in 1877. He held Civil rank of the 4th, the 3d and the 2nd Classes; the Order of the Double Dragon, 3rd Division, 2nd Class, 3rd Division, 1st Class, 2nd Division, 2nd Class; Order of St. Stanislaus, 3rd Class; Officer of the Order of St. Maurice and St. Lazare, Italy; Order of the Red Eagle, 4th Class, Russia; Commander of the Order of Christ, Portugal; Officer of the Order of Henry the Lion, Brunswick; Order of the Crown, 2nd Class, Germany; and Order of the Chia Ho, 3rd Class.
Edward Joseph Ohrnberger was born on the 18th December 1889 at Odessa, Russia, and, after graduating from the Oriental Institute at Vladivostock, joined the Customs Service on the 15th April 1912 as 4th Assistant, B, on probation. From that date to December 1920 he was stationed at Harbin, and returned to this port in October 1922, having spent the interim at Shanghai. He left Harbin in October 1927 to proceed on long leave, after which he spent a further two years at Shanghai, to be followed by another term of service at Harbin, which place he finally left in June 1932. From September 1932 to October 1934 he was Deputy Commissioner in charge of the Postal Parcels Office, Shanghai, and on return from long leave served at Tientsin and Ichang, at which latter port he was Acting Commissioner for one and a half years. In April 1938 he was appointed Acting Commissioner at Chinkiang, and stationed temporarily at Shanghai on account of war conditions on the Yangtze.
C.H. Oliver was born on the 25th October 1857 at Dublin, Ireland, and was educated at Queen’s Collage, Belfast, from where he graduated B.A. and M.A. with high distinction in the old Queen’s University. He joined the Customs Service on the 23rd July 1879 as Professor of English in the Tung Wen Kuan at Peking, and became President of that institution in September 1895. He held the latter post till the 31st October 1902, when, on the merging of the Tung Wen Kuan in the National University of Peking, he was appointed Deputy Commissioner at Ningpo. On the 1st June 1904 he was promoted to be Commissioner and thereafter served at Nanking, Soochow, Newchwang, Moukden, and Peking. While at the Inspectorate at Peking he held the post of Chief Secretary, from which he resigned on the 31st March 1910. Oliver was an exceptionally proficient Chinese scholar, and it was largely on account of this that he was selected for duty at Moukden in connexion with the opening of Manchurian trade marts. He held Civil Rank of the 4th and the 3rd Classes and the Order of the Double Dragon, 3rd Division, 1st Class.
Mr. Oong Zur Tsung was born on the 12th April 1882 at Soochow, and joined the Customs Service on the 15th December 1899 at Shanghai as Candidate Clerk, C. He remained in Shanghai till the end of May 1915, being promoted to Assistantship rank in July 1912. He served at Chefoo for eight and a half years, and was then transferred to Tientsin, where he remained for two and a half years. From June 1926 to the end of April 1929 he was in charge of the Returns Office in the Shanghai Customs and while there on the 1st April 1928 was promoted Deputy Commissioner. While in charge of Soochow as Acting Commissioner he was detached in August 1929 by the Ministry of Finance to take control of the Yangyu Native Customs as Superintendent, at which post he remained for the rest of his Service career. He was promoted Commissioner on the 1st April 1930 and retired on the 31st August that year. Mr. Oong holds the 8th Class of the Order of the Chia Ho.
Palen, L.S.
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L.S. Palen was born on the 28th July 1878 at Monticello, New York, and was educated at Cornell University where he graduated A.B. in 1900. He joined the Customs Serice on the 1st October 1900 as 4th Assistant, B, but resigned on the 24th May 1902 in order to take up teaching and journalistic work. He was permitted to rejoin on the 13th June 1905 and was sent to Tientsin to compile the Decennial Report (1892-1901) for that district. On the 1st March 1907 he was appointed Acting Commissioner at Antung, where he remained till the 31st July 1910. He resigned from the Service on account of failing eyesight on the 12th January 1913, and devoted himself firstly to farming in Manchuria and latterly to the writing of novels. Palen holds Civil Rank of the 4th and 3rd Classes.
W. R. McD. Parr, born at Newtonards, Ireland, on the 7th May 1865. Joined the British Army and resigned from it as a Captain in the 3rd Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles. Joined the Customs Service on the 15th September 1887 as 4th Assistant, B, and in April 1898 was promoted to be Deputy Commissioner, Likin, at Ichang. Appointed Commissioner September 1908, and was invalided from the Service on 31st August 1924 while Commissioner at Canton. During his 37 years’ service Parr served at Newchwang (twice), Wuhu, Hankow, Tientsin, Ichang, Yatung (Tibet), Kowloon, Amoy, Chinkiang, Chunking, Kiukiang, and Canton. While on furlough from April 1900 to April 1902 he served in the South African campaign, and was awarded the South African Medal with four clasps. In May 1913 he was gazetted Major on resigning his commission on the Special Reserve of Officers. The Chinese Government conferred on him Civil Rank of the 3rd and of the 2nd Classes; the Order of the Double Dragon, 2nd Division, 3rd Class; and the Order of the Chia Ho, 3rd and 2nd Classes.
T. Piry joined the Customs Service in April 1874 as a 4th Assistant, B. After studying Chinese at Peking for two years he was transferred to Pakhoi, where he remained for three and a half years, acting during most of that time as Assistant in Charge. In 1880 he was again at the Inspectorate in Peking where he served as Acting Assistant Secretary for two years. After ten months at Ningpo in charge, he was transferred to the Korean Customs, acting as secretary to the Chief Commissioner there for over two years. On returning to china in 1888 he was once more stationed at the Inspectorate at Peking, in the capacity this time of Acting Chinese Secretary. He was promoted Deputy Commissioner in October 1889, and served as such at Canton in 1893. In April 1896 he was promoted Commissioner and appointed to Lappa, where he remained till May 1900. During the Boxer uprising he was again in Peking, and on the 14th November 1901 was appointed Postal Secretary, a position he held till the 30th May 1911, when, in accordance with the Imperial Edict on the 27th May that year, the Postal Department was separated from the Customs and became a separate service under the Board of Communications. From that date till his resignation in June 1917 he held the post of Postmaster General, and after his retirement was appointed Honorary Advisor to the Chinese Postal Administration. He died in France on the 28th June 1918. Piry held Civil Rank of the 5th, the 3rd, and the 2nd Classes; the Order of the Double Dragon, 3rd Division, 1st Class; Patent of 3rd Class Nobility, Korea; Chevalier of the Legion of Honour; Chevalier of the Order of Our Lady of Villa Viçosa, Portugal; Red Eagle of the 3rd Class, Russia; Commander of the Order of the Dragon of Annam; Order of St. Stanislaus, 2nd Class with Star, Russia; China Campaign Medal, France; and was Officier de l’Académie Française.
Samuel Cornell Plant was born on the 8th August 1866 at Framlingham in Suffolk. Plant’s early life at sea was spent in sailing ships, and in time he drifted to Mesopotamia, where at an early age he had command of a small paddle steamer running on the Euphrates. It was here that he made his first study of the navigation of rapids and difficult rivers. Early in 1900 he met the late Mr. Archibald Little (antea, vol. I, p. 647) in London, who induced him to come to China to take command of the paddle steamer Pioneer, which had just been built for the Ichang-Chunking run. In June that year, under Plant’s command the Pioneer made her maiden trip from Ichang to Chunking successfully in seven days. The Boxer uprising intervened and the Pioneer was taken over by the British naval authorities and converted into the gunboat Kinsha. Plant, however, remained in China, building a Chinese-style houseboat with which, from 1901 to 1908 he traded successfully between Ichang and Chunking, all the time studying for himself the difficulties and dangers of that section of the Yangtze. With his knowledge and experience behind him he eventually persuaded the Chinese merchants and officials in Chengtu to attempt seriously the navigation of the Upper Yangtze by steam, and under his guidance the steamer Shuntung was built in 1908 fro the Szechuan Navigation Co., Ltd. The experience gained in navigating this invaluable, and, when profits began to show, the owners had a second steamer, the Shuhun, built by Yarrow’s, which began its career n 1914, also under Plant’s charge. By now it was clear that, thanks to Plant’s energy, determination, skill as a navigator, and tactfulness as a negotiator, the problem of steam navigation on the Upper Yangtze was to a large extent solved. To secure plant’s unique knowledge and experience for the benefit of all future navigators, he was offered the post of River Inspector on the Upper Yangtze, a post which he accepted from the 1st April 1915. Plant embodied the result of his many years’ experience and unique knowledge of the Upper Yangtze in his well-known “Handbook for the Guidance of Shipmasters on the Ichang-Chunking Section of the Yangtze River,” the first edition of which appeared in 1916. Early in February 1921 he proceeded on home leave, but died at sea on the 26th of that month. To Plant belongs the credit of having done more than any other man to make safe for steam navigation the dangerous upper reaches of the Yangtze. A lofty stone column at the Hsintan Rapid, where for many years he had his home, helps to promote his memory. Plant held the Order of the Chia Ho, 5th and 4th Classes.
John Victor Porter, whose father and grandfather had both been members of the Chinese Customs Service, was born on the 13th February 1904 at Shanghai, and joined the Service by competitive examination on the 8th January 1925 as 4th Assistant, B. He has served at Newchwang, Chefoo, Tientsin, Hankow, Dairen, the Inspectorate at shanghai, Tsingtao, Shanghai, Canton and Shanghai again.
Hugh Edward Prettejohn was born on the 7th October 1879 at Exmouth in Devon and joined the Customs Service on the 15th August 1903 as 4th Assistant, C. He was stationed at Chefoo for a year, then at Shasi for two and a half years, to be followed by a year at Shanghai and a few months postal work at Moukden, when he was transferred to the Inspectorate at Peking where he remained for two and a half years. On return from long leave at the end of April 1913 he served for nine months at Canton, and for five years and nine months at Harbin. He was promoted Deputy Commissioner on the 1st April 1921 while on long leave. After a short spell as Acting Commissioner at Shasi he was located at Shanghai from April 1922 to October 1926, at first on special duty, then as Deputy Commissioner in charge of the Appraising department, and finally as Director of that department. On return from his third long leave he was Commissioner at Hankow from October 1928 to November 1929, when he was transferred to the Inspectorate at Shanghai and appointed Staff Secretary, a post which he held till May 1931, when he was given charge of Harbin. From December 1932 to October 1933 he had charge of Chefoo, Lungkow, and Weihaiwei, and after a year’s leave retired on the 30th November 1934. Mr. Prettejohn holds the 3rd Class of the Order of the Chia Ho and the Order of the Brilliant Jade with White Cravat.
Edwin Alfred Pritchard was born on the 11th June 1893 at London and was educated at Charterhouse and Hertford College, Oxford. He joined the Customs Service on the 10th May 1913 as 4th Assistant, B. He was stationed first at Shanghai, then at Yochow, after which he was transferred in September 1914 to Moukden to study Chinese. During 1916 and 1917 he served at Mengtsz, and resigned in June of the latter year to join the British Forces. After being demobilised in January 1919 Mr. Pritchard rejoined the Service and was appointed to Tientsin Native Customs for a year, to be followed by two years and a half at Mengtsz. On return from long leave in the spring of 1924 he was appointed to the Inspectorate at Peking, where he acted as Assistant Chinese Secretary till the close of 1928, remaining at Peking in charge of Customs interests when the Inspectorate was moved to Shanghai. In December of the latter year he was promoted Deputy Commissioner. On return from long leave he was stationed at Swatow and Pakhoi before being moved to the Inspectorate at Shanghai to study preventive work and to help in organising the Preventive Secretariat. On the 1st April 1932 he was promoted Commissioner, and in the year following was appointed Preventive Secretary. In 1931 and again in 1932 he was selected to conduct oral tests completing the Inspectorate Chinese Examinations in for those years. On return from long leave in April 1939 he was again appointed Preventive Secretary, a post which he held till October 1938, when he was transferred to be Commissioner in charge of the Kowloon district. It was due largely to Mr. Pritchard’s energy and administrative ability that the preventive staff of the Customs reached that high standard of efficiency which characterised it before the outbreak of hostilities with Japan in 1937 put a temporary check on its activities.
Jules Léopold Rémusat was born on the 16th October 1852 at London and entered the Customs Service on the 1st July 1877 as an Assistant on probation. He served at Shanghai (four times), Amoy, Canton (four times), Tamsui, Chefoo, Soochow, Chinkiang, and Swatow. He was subsequently Deputy Commissioner in Charge at Lungchow, and was promoted Commissioner on the 1st November 1013 while on long leave. He was in charge of Shasi from the 1st January 1915 to 2nd November 1917, when he resigned. Rémusat held Civil Rank of the 4th Class, the Order of the Double Dragon, 2nd Class of the 3rd Division, and the Order of the Chia Ho, 3rd Class.
Stuart Rendel, born on the 2nd July 1834. Educated at Eton and Oriel College, Oxford where he graduated in 1856. Called to the Bar in 1861 but never practised. In 1870 joined the firm of Armstrong & Co., engineers, shipbuilders, and armament manufacturers. Became acquainted with J. D. Campbell through the building of the “alphabetical” gunboats, and revenue and other cruisers for China. In 1880 was elected M.P. for Montgomeryshire which he represented till 1894, when he was created a Baron on Gladstone’s retirement. He died on the 4th June 1913. Rendel had much influence in British Government circles, and was always willing to use it on behalf of the Chinese Customs Service.
John Walter Richardson was born on the 6th April 1867 at Swatow, China. After leaving Oxford he joined the Customs Service on the 1st September 1888 at Tientsin as a 4th Assistant, B. He was promoted Deputy Commissioner on the 1st April 1912, having in the interim served at Tientsin, Amoy, Canton, Peking (three times), Kiukiang, Amoy, and Swatow. From the 1st December 1900 to 30th September 1904 he held the post of Chief Accountant at the Inspectorate, first at Shanghai and later at Peking. During his third term of office at Peking- 1st September 1910 to 15th April 1915- he acted as Private Secretary to the Inspector General, and later as Staff Secretary. He was promoted Commissioner on the 1st November 1913. On return from long leave he served as Commissioner at Antung for three years and was again transferred to Peking, where he was Chief Secretary for 20 months, and Non-Departmental Secretary for nine months. From October 1922 to October 1924 he was Commissioner at Kiaochow, and was invalided on the 31st January 1925. Richardson holds Civil Rank of the 4th Class, the Order of the Chia ho, 3rd and 2nd Classes, and the China Expedition Medal of 1900, with clasp ‘Defence of Legations’.
L. Rocher was born on the 6th October 1849 at Vallerangue, Gard, France. Served on Hupeh Franco-Chinese Force as interpreter from the 11th March 1866 to 17th September 1868 and joined the Customs Service on the 12th October 1869 as 4th Class Clerk. After less than eight years’ service he was promoted to Deputy Commissioner and appointed Assistant Chinese Secretary at the Inspectorate in Peking. He was made Commissioner on the 1st June 1889. During his career of 38 years Rocher served at Ningpo (twice), Peking (twice), Tientsin, Foochow, Canton (twice), Hankow, Amoy, Tamsui, Chinkiang (twice), Shanghai, and Nanking. He resigned while in charge of the last named port on the 31st October 1907. From March 1880 to June 1881 he was detached for special duty to serve with Marquis Tseng as Secretary of the Legation in Paris. Rocher was recognised as a Commissioner of outstanding ability, initiative, and resourcefulness. He held Chinese Military rank of the 4th Class, Civil rank of the 4th, 3rd and 2nd Classes, and the Order of the Double Dragon, 3rd Division, 1st Class, and 2nd Division, 3rd Class.
C.F.W Schjöth was born on the 1st August 1846 at Christiania and joined the Customs Service on the 1st March 1868 as 4th Class Clerk, A. He was promoted Deputy Commissioner on the 1st September 1890 and Commissioner on the 1st April 1896. He served at Shanghai, Amoy (four times), Newchwang, Swatow, Canton, Kiungchow, Tamsui, Chinkiang, Pakhoi, Ichang, Chungking, and Ningpo. He resigned from the Service at the last-named port on the 31st March 1904, and retired to Christiania, or Oslo as it is now called, and died there in 1931. He held Civil Rank of the 3rd Class. Schjöth, who had always been a keen student of Chinese numismatics, published after his retirement a comprehensive study of ancient and modern Chinese coins.
Erik Theodor Schjöth, son of the late Mr. C. F. W. Schjöth, formerly Commissioner in the Chinese Customs Service, was born on the 25th August 1888 at Chinkiang and joined the Customs Service on the 3rd April 1909 as 4th Assistant, C. He served at Harbin (three times), Shanghai (twice), Nanning, the Inspectorate at Peking, Hunchun, Ningpo, Hankow, Chunking, Canton (where he was in charge of the Native Customs), Pakhoi (as Acting Commissioner), Kiukiang, and Mengtsz. He withdrew from the Service on the 30th June 1933, retiring to Oslo, Norway, where in the following year he was appointed Consul General for China, a post which he still holds.
Shaw, N.R.M.
V, 157
Norman Rymer Mackintosh Shaw was born on the 16th October 1878 at Tokyo, and, after graduation at Oxford in 1901, joined the Customs Service on the 1st February 1902 as 4th Assistant, C. He was first stationed at Nanking to study Chinese, after which he was at Canton for two and a half years. He resigned in January 1905, but was permitted to rejoin on the 1st April 1907. He served successively at Antung, Shanghai, and Dairen before being transferred in June 1912 to the Statistical Department at Shanghai, where he remained for seven years, with an interval of 18 months’ leave. He was promoted Deputy Commissioner in April 1925, having served in the meantime at Swatow, Canton Native Customs, Kowloon and Kiungchow. He was Acting Commissioner in charge of Kowloon from July 1925 to October 1926. On return from long leave he was Dean and Vice-President of the Customs College at Peking for six months. After brief spells of service at Dairen and Antung he was transferred to Shenyang (Moukden) as Deputy Commissioner in charge. From January o October 1932 he was Acting Commissioner at Newchwang, and after being on special duty at Shanghai for a short time was granted long leave. He retired from the Service on the 31st March 1934.
Simpson, C.L.
II, 317
C.L. Simpson was born on the 13th July 1843 at London, and joined the Customs Service on the 1st May 1861 as 4th Class Clerk, being one of H.N. Lay’s recruits. He was promoted Deputy Commissioner on the 1st March 1873 and Commissioner on the 1st October 1877. He spent the first 16 years of his career in the Shanghai office, and afterwards served at Chefoo, Kiukiang (twice), Swatow, Wuhu, Amoy, Ningpo, and Tientsin, at which latter place he died on the 28th January 1909. Simpson held Civil Rank of the 3rd Class, and the Order of the Double Dragon, 2nd Division, 3rd Class. His son, the late Mr. B.L. Simpson (Putnam Weale), the well-known author and publicist, was also at one time a member of the Customs Service.
Frank James Smith was born on the 6th November 1857 at Bromley, Kent, and entered the Customs Service on the 1st June 1876 as an Assistant on probation. He was promoted Deputy Commissioner on the 1st May 1898, having served as Assistant in various ranks at Shanghai (twice), Ningpo (twice), Tientsin, Kiukiang, Chefoo and Hankow. He remained at the last named port from the 1st November 1892 to 31st March 1899. He officiated for six months as Assistant Statistical Secretary, and was then transferred to Amoy, where he was Deputy Commissioner for two and a half years. From the 1st October 1903 to 31st March 1907 he was Acting Commissioner at Swatow, and later at Wenchow, at which latter port he was promoted Commissioner on the 1st May 1908. He served subsequently at Soochow, Santuao, Kongmoon, and Lappa, and resigned from this last named port on the 15th April 1917. Smith held Civil Rank of the 3rd Class; the Order of the Double Dragon, 2nd Class of the 3rd Division, and the 1st Class of the 3rd Division; and the Order of the Chia ho, 3rd Class.
Joseph William Stephenson was born on the 20th September 1874 at Belfast, Northern Ireland, and joined the Customs Service on the 27th March 1899 as 4th Assistant, B. After a few months at Foochow he was transferred to Nanking to study Chinese, where he remained for a year before being moved on to Shanghai. From August 1901 to the end of April 1906 he was stationed at Ichang, and this was followed by six months’ stay at Chungking. On return from long leave he was at Tientsin for two years, at Kowloon for two and a half years, and at Tengyueh as Assistant-in-Charge for over two and a half years. He was then moved to the London Office where, with the exception of six months’ service in the British Army, he remained from June 1916 to June 1920. He was promoted Deputy Commissioner in October that year while stationed at Shanghai, and in the following year was transferred to the Inspectorate at Peking, where he filled the posts first of Revenue Chief Accountant and then of Personal Secretary to the Inspector General. In April 1922 he was promoted Commissioner, and after officiating for over two years as Chief Secretary was appointed in March 1925 Officiating Inspector General ad interim. On Sir Francis Aglen’s return to duty in November 1925 Mr Stephenson held the post of Chief Secretary till April 1926. On the expiry of his leave in October 1926 he was appointed Non-Resident Secretary in the London Office, a post which he held till the 31st January 1931 when he returned to China and was appointed Commissioner in charge of Kowloon, where he remained till October 1931. After a period of six months’ leave he retired on the 26th March 1932. He was subsequently, on the 21st April 1933, re appointed Non-Resident Secretary (Commissioner, retired), and held this post till his death on the 1st November 1933. Mr. Stephenson held the Order of the Chia Ho, 4th, 3rd, and 2nd Classes.
E.C. Taintor (American) joined the Service as 4th Class Clerk on the 15th August 1865, served as Acting Commissioner at Tamsui from May 1868 to March 1870, as Acting Deputy Commissioner in charge of the Returns Department at Shanghai from November 1871 to March 1872, and as Acting Commissioner at Newchwang from April 1872 to October 1873, when he was appointed Statistical Secretary, a post which he filled with distinction till his death on the 16th May 1878.
Roy Maxwell Talbot was born on the 2nd December 1881 at Shabbona, Illinois, U.S.A., and was educated at the University of Wisconsin, where he graduated A.B. in 1908. He joined the Customs Service on 27th July that year as 4th Assistant, C, on probation. He was promoted Deputy Commissioner on the 1st October 1931, having in the meantime served at Canton, the Inspectorate at Peking, Ichang, Nanking, Shanghai (twice), Harbin, Swatow Native Customs, Canton (twice), Kongmoon, Aigun(where he was in charge from September 1926 to the end of November 1929), and at Antung. After the seizure of this latter port by the “Manchukuo” authorities in June 1932, Mr. Talbot was on special duty in Shanghai for a short time, following which he was in charge first at Changsha and subsequently at Mengtsz, where he was promoted Commissioner on the 1st April 1934. On return from long leave he served as Commissioner at Amoy from April 1937 to April 1938 before being transferred to the Inspectorate at Shanghai as Audit Secretary. Mr. Talbot holds the 3rd Class of the Order of the Chia Ho and the 1st Class Medal of Merit of the Yunnan Provincial Government. He received a special promotion in July 1925 in recognition of highly meritorious services rendered in connexion with the re-establishment of the Canton Customs after the Shameen incident that year.
Ting Kwei Tang, a native of Haichêng, in Fêngtien, was born on the 18th December 1891, entered the Customs College in 1912, and graduated in 1916. He served first at Antung for three years before being transferred to the Inspectorate at Peking, where he remained from the 1st July 1919 to 30th April 1927, when he was transferred to Shanghai to take over the work of Commissioner’s Chinese Secretary. On the transfer of the Inspectorate to Shanghai Mr. Ting became Acting Assistant Chinese Secretary (Additional), and on the 1st April 1929was promoted Deputy Commissioner, and appointed Acting Chinese Secretary. A year later he was made full Commissioner with the post of Chinese Secretary. During the Inspector General’s short leave Mr. Ting acted as Chief Secretary from the 1st April 1934 to 4th February 1935, after which he was detached to proceed abroad on special duty. After studying Customs services in many foreign States, Mr. Ting returned to China and resumed duty on the 10th September 1935 as Chinese Secretary at the Inspectorate, a post which he still (May 1938) holds. In August 1930 Mr. Ting was entrusted with a secret mission to Marshal Chang Hsüeh-liang in connexion with Simpson’s seizure of the Tientsin Customs. In January 1937 he was appointed by the Ministry of Finance as one of their two representatives to the Commission for the Control of Aids to Navigation in time of War. Mr. Ting was also a member of the Inspectorate Emergency Committee to deal with all confidential matters of national importance during the crisis of July and August 1938, pending the return from Europe of the Inspector General, Sir Frederick Maze, who accompanied Dr. Kung, Minister of Finance, to attend the Coronation of King George VI.
Tsao Lin, a native of Peking was born on the 23rd March 1889, entered the Customs College in 1909, and graduated in 1913. He was appointed first to Tientsin, where he remained for a little over four years, after which he was transferred to the Inspectorate at Peking, where he remained for nine and a half years. He served again at Tientsin for six and a half years and at Tsingtao for a year and a half. He was invalided on the 5th January 1935.
Lawrence Tweedie-Stodart was born on the 26th September 1876 at Oliver, Tweedsmuir, Scotland, and was educated at Heriot-Watt College and Edinburgh University. After four years’ pupilage with Messrs. D. & C. Stevenson, Engineers to the Scottish Lighthouse Board, he served for a year as assistant to that firm, gaining experience in harbour, river and lighthouse work. The next six years were spent under the British Admiralty Naval Works Loan Department, being engaged on the Devonport Dockyard and Naval Base and subsequently on the Gibraltar Harbour, Dockyard and Naval Base Construction Scheme. On completion of the latter scheme Mr Tweedie-Stodart on the 20th May 1907 joined the Engineer’s Staff of the Marine Department of the Customs Service as Assistant Engineer. On the death of Mr. (D.C.) Dick he was appointed Engineer-in-Chief from the 1st June 1919, and this post he held till the date of his retirement on the 25th September 1936. In August 1930 Mr. Tweedie-Stodart was appointed as China’s representative to the Lisbon Conference on the unification of buoyage and the lighting of coasts summoned by the League of Nations (vide I.G. Cirs. Nos. 4114 and 4177, postea, vol. iv, p.372). He was also selected to attend the Lighthouse Conference, held at Paris in 1933, and was appointed Technical Advisor to the Chinese delegation to the International Lighthouse Conference held at Berlin in July 1937. During Mr. Tweedie-Stodart’s tenure of office as Engineer-in-Chief the work of modernising the lights on China’s coast was continues: new improved optical apparatus with modern revolving machinery and burners was installed at Dodd Island and North-east Shantung Promontory in 1921, at Howki in 1922, and at Lamocks and Turnabout in 1924. New light-stations were established in 1923 at Ki Au in the Canton delta, at Antung in 1925, and at Tsaofeitien in the same year. Between the years 1920 to 1932 no fewer than 16 improved modern optical apparatuses were installed in the more important lighthouses along China’s coast. It was during his time, too, that wireless signal stations were introduced, the first being erected at North Saddle Island in 1928. Mr Tweedie-Stodart holds the 5th and 3rd Classes of the Order of the Chia Ho and the 6th Class of the Order of the Brilliant Jade.
William Ferdinand Tyler was born on the 11th December, 1865, at Dinder in Somerset. After two years education on the training ship Worcester he had three years experience in sailing ships, after which he joined H.M.S. Leander as Sub-Lieutenant, R.N.R., then on the China Station. After a year’s service in the British Navy he joined, on the 11th March 1889, the Chinese Customs Service as a 3rd Officer in the Marine Department. From that date till the 31st August 1894 he served in the Customs cruisers Likin, Kaipan, and Pingching in various capacities, rising to be Acting 1st Officer on the last named. From the 1st September 1894 to the 15th March 1895 he served with distinction with the Chinese Navy during the hostilities against Japan, and was present at the battle of the Yalu and through the siege of Weihaiwei. From the 15th June 1896 to 11th July 1903 he was stationed at Shanghai, serving first as Assistant in the Harbour Office, then as Deputy Coast Inspector and Harbour Master, and finally as Coast Inspector, a post to which he was appointed in the 1st July 1903. He held this post with great ability to the 30th September 1918, when he resigned at the invitation of the Government to take up the position of Advisor to the Ministry of Communications and to the Ministry of the Navy. As Advisor he was concerned mostly with conservancy matters and in the drafting of a shipping law for China. He resigned in 1920 after attending the Barcelona Conference on Transit and Communications. Four times during his term as Coast Inspector Tyler was detached for special duty: first, in 1903, when he helped to survey the Yellow River from Tsinan to the sea; the second time from the 1st February to 20th December 1906, when he acted as Secretary to the Chinese Navy; the third time, from the 24th July to 3rd September 1913, when he was again engaged on special work for the Chinese Navy; and the fourth time, from the 1st July to 30th September 1918, when he was detached for special duty in connexion with the study of the Chihli River Commission (established 1917 on the recommendation of Mr.-afterwards Sir Frederick- Maze, then Commissioner in Tientsin, for the study of the Chihli river system with a view to finding a solution to the complex problem of improving the navigability of the Taku Bar). Tyler holds Civil Rank of the 3rd Class; the Order of the Double Dragon, 1st Class of the 3rd Division and 3rd Class of the 2nd Division; the Peacock’s Feather; the Order of the Wên Hu, 2nd Class; and the Gold Medal of Honour from the French Government. He has written a most interesting account of his colourful career in ‘Pulling Strings in China’ (London, 1929).
Francis Skipton Unwin was born on the 3rd September 1849 at Tunbridge Wells, and joined the Customs Service as a 4th Class Clerk on the 1st September 1868. He served at Foochow, Shanghai (three times), Swatow, Takow, Amoy, Chefoo, Newchwang, and Canton before being promoted deputy Commissioner on the 1st July 1890. He was in charge at Canton from April 1891 to April 1893, after which he was Acting Commissioner at Kiungchow, Amoy, and Ningpo, at which last-named port he was promoted Commissioner on the 20th February 1897. Thereafter he served as Commissioner at Chinkiang, Soochow (twice), Kiungchow, Ichang, Chefoo, Shanghai, and Hankow. On the 1st November 1919 he was appointed Statistical Secretary, a post which he held for only six months, resigning on the 30th April 1920 after a career of over 51 years in the Customs Service. During the Boxer trouble Unwin was called to the provisional Inspectorate at Shanghai, where he served as Chinese Secretary and Acting Chief Secretary. Unwin holds decorations of the Order of the Chia ho, 3rd and 2nd Classes.
Alexander Graham Wallas was born on the 8th September 1883 at London, and, after some business experience in that city, passed the competitive examination for entrance to the Customs Service, which he joined on the 15th October 1906 as 4th Assistant, C. He served at Canton, Chungking, Hunchun, Lappa, Wuhu Native Customs, and at the Inspectorate, Peking, before being transferred to the London Office, where he was stationed for two years- April 1920 to April 1922. He subsequently served at Tientsin, Shanghai (three times), Wuhu Native Customs for a second time, Canton again, Antung, and once more at Hunchun (Lungchingtsun), where he was promoted Deputy Commissioner on the 1st April 1929 and where he was in charge from that month till the end of June 1932. On return from long leave he was for a few months Officiating Commissioner in charge of Changsha, where he was stationed from October 1935 to October 1936, in which latter month he retired. Mr. Wallas holds the 5th Class Order of the Chia Ho.
II, 318 P.R. Walsham, son of the late Sir John Walsham, Bart., sometime H.B.M. Minister at Peking, was born on the 2nd March 1871 at London and was educated at Eton. He joined the Customs Service on the 16th May 1894 as 4th Assistant, B. He served at Amoy, Shanghai (twice), Newchwang, Peking, Ningpo, and Santuao before being promoted on the 1st November 1912 to be Deputy Commissioner in charge of the Native Customs at Tientsin. He was subsequently Commissioner at Foochow, Mengtsz and Kiaochow. On the 1st May 1929 he was appointed Chief Secretary, a post which he held with distinction till the 31st March 1931, vacating this post to take up that of Non-Resident Secretary in London, where he remained till his death on the 22nd April 1933. Walsham held Civil Rank of the 4th Class and Order of the Chia Ho, 4th Class, 3rd Class and 3rd Class with Brilliants. IV, 207 Percey Romilly Walsham, son of the late Sir John Walsham, Bart., sometime H.B.M. Minister at Peking, 1885-92, was born on the 2nd March 1871, and after leaving Eton College was appointed on the 16th May 1894 to the Customs Service as 4th Assistant, B. He served first at Amoy, Shanghai, and Newchwang before being transferred to Peking, where from May 1896 to June 1899 he acted as Private Secretary to Sir Robert Hart. From July 1899 to April 1903 he was stationed at Kiukiang, and while there acted for some months as Assistant-in-Charge and later as Acting Deputy Commissioner in charge of the likin collectorate. He served subsequently at Ningpo for three years, at Santuao, where he was in charge for three and a half years, at Shanghai for a year, and at Tientsin Native Customs, of which office he was in charge, for four and a half years. While at Tientsin he was promoted Deputy Commissioner in November 1913. He remained on at Tientsin till the 15th October 1919, serving as Deputy Commissioner at the Maritime Customs. On return from long leave he had charge of Foochow for five years- October 1920 to October 1925. For six months he was Commissioner at Mengtsz, after which he held the Tsingtao Commissionership for two years. In April 1929 he was appointed to be Chief Secretary at the Inspectorate in Shanghai, a post which he held till the 31st March 1931. From the 1st April 1931 to March 1933 he held the post of Non-Resident Secretary in the London Office. His formal retirement from the Service had taken place on the 31st December 1929 but his services were specially retained. He died in London on the 22nd April 1933. Mr Walsham held Civil Rank of the 4th Class and the Order of the Chia Ho, 4th Class, 3rd Class and 3rd Class with Brilliants.
Wang Yü Lin, a native of Shantung, was born on the 23rd July 1892, entered the Customs College in 1912 and graduated in 1916, after which he served at Tientsin for five months. He was transferred on the 1st December 1916 to the Inspectorate at Peking, where he remained for till the 18th October 1923. He subsequently served for six and a half years at Chefoo, and was invalided from that port on the 31st August 1929, having reached the rank of 2nd Assistant, B.
Edward Thrasher Williams was born on the 22nd October 1885 at Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A. After graduating B.S. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, he joined the Customs Service on the 1st June 1910, and was appointed as 4th Assistant, C, to Nanking, whence, after a stay of three months, he was transferred to Newchwang, where he remained for a year. The following three years were spent at the Inspectorate, Peking, to be followed by two years at Shanghai. On return from long leave Mr. Williams served in turn at Chungking, Tientsin, Swatow, and again at Tientsin. During his third period of service he was stationed successively at Shanghai, Kiukiang, the Inspectorate at Peking on special duty with the Commission for the Compilation of Values, and at the Statistical Department of the Inspectorate at Shanghai. He was promoted Deputy Commissioner on the 1st April 1931 and Commissioner on the 1st April 1936. From April 1932 to April 1937 he was in charge of Foochow, and on return from long leave in April of the following year was appointed to Kongmoon.
H.E. Wolf born at Stuttgart, Germany, on the 6th September 1866. Joined the Customs Service on the 1st April 1888 as 4th Assistant, B, and 10 years later was appointed Deputy Commissioner, Likin, at Wuhu (Tatung). In November 1906 he was promoted to be Postal Commissioner at Hankow and remained in the Postal Service till June 1911, after which he returned to the Customs Service as Commissioner. He served at the following places, Peking (twice), Foochow, Shanghai, Pakhoi, Wuhu (Tatung), Ichang, Hankow, Canton, Kongmoon, Santuao, and was for a few months in 1914 Statistical Secretary at Shanghai. On China’s declaration of war on Germany and Austria-Hungary 16th August 1917, Wolf’s name was removed from the “Service List.” Wolf held Civil Rank of the 4th Class; Order of the Double Dragon, 3rd Division, 1s Class; and Order of the Chia Ho, 3rd Class.
Wong Haiu Sing, a native of Fukien, was born on the 9th December 1883, and joined the Customs Service on the 25th September 1902. He served at Foochow for six years, and on the 1st September 1908 was detached for service at the Shui-wu Ch’u, where he remained till the 30th June 1928, after which he served for two years at Chefoo Native Customs. From the 12th May to the 31st December 1930 he was at the Inspectorate at Shanghai in charge of the Department of Chinese Studies under the direction of the Chinese Secretary, Mr. Ting Kwei Tang. He was subsequently in charge of Soochow till the 15th October 1932, and ended his carer as Acting Commissioner at Santuao, from which port he retired on the 1st March 1934. Mr. Wong had been promoted to Assistantship rank on the 1st June 1911 and became Deputy Commissioner on the 1st October 1931. While on duty at Peking with the Shui-wu Ch’u he acted also for several years as Dean of the Customs College. Mr. Wong holds the Order of the Chia Ho, 5th, 4th,and 2nd Classes; the Order of Wên Hu, 5th and 4th Classes; and the Gilt Medal, 2nd Class conferred by the Nung-shang Pu
F.E. Wright (British) joined the Customs Service on the 1st October 1859 under H.N. Lay. He was in charge at Shanghai in 1866 and in the year following served as Chinese Secretary. From April 1868 to June 1871 he was Commissioner at Chefoo, and a Foochow from November 1873 to November 1874. In the latter month he was appointed Audit Secretary, a post which he held for four years, during which time he devised and put in operation the system of Service accounts which held good up to recent times. As Audit Secretary he toured the ports, and on two such occasions he took over charge- at Canton from March to August 1875 and at Shanghai from March to July 1878. He served again as Audit Secretary from the 1st December 1880 to the 1st April 1881, when he resigned. He died in England on the 20th October 1889. Wright, S.F. IV, 509 Stanley Fowler Wright was born on the 27th October 1873 at Belfast, Northern Ireland. He had a distinguished university career in his home town; was Senior Scholar and Prizeman at Queen’s College (1895)- incidentally winning the same scholarship as previously held by Sir Robert Hart; graduated B.A. from Royal University of Ireland (1896) and later (1911)- during his first long leave- received his B.A. ad eundem and M.A. (Econ.) degrees in the Queen’s University. He joined the Customs Service on the 22nd June 1903 and was stationed successively for short periods at Shanghai, Tientsin, Hankow, and Amoy, after which he served for more than three years at Newchwang (two years with the Native Customs) and was subsequently Acting Deputy Commissioner in charge of the Native Customs both at Kiukiang and at Shanghai. He was first appointed to the Inspectorate General (then in Peking) in 1920, serving as Acting Service Chief Accountant, Assistant Audit Secretary, and from March 1922 to October 1924 as revenue Chief Accountant. He was promoted Deputy Commissioner in March 1921 and Commissioner in October 1924, when he was appointed Personal Secretary to the Inspector General, a position which he held continuously, except for two periods of home leave, until October 1933. He was compulsorily retired in 1933 on reaching the maximum age limit, but his services were retained for special duty at the Inspectorate until he finally went home in April 1938. He was subsequently appointed Non-Resident Secretary in London in January 1939. In addition to the above appointments he was concurrently Acting Vive-President and Acting Dean of the Customs College from April to October 1927, and in 1937 was appointed secretary to Mr. D.H. Kung, Minister of \Finance, to accompany him while on his special mission as delegate to the Coronation of King George VI of England. He is the author of the work “China’s Customs Revenue since the Revolution of 1911,” being assisted by Mr. J.H. Cubbon (S/O Cir. No. 99, postea, vol. V) for the third edition (1935); and he also compiled and edited- together with Mr. A.C.E, Braud (S/O Cir. No. 88, postea, vol. V)- the handbook “Code of Customs Regulations and Procedure.” He published the scholarly work “China’s Struggle for Tariff Autonomy,” in July 1938; and was largely concerned with the establishment of the Customs Reference Library at Shanghai. Mr. Wright received many distinctions and decorations, including Civil Rank of the 4th Class, China, February 1908; Order of the Pao Kuang Chia Ho, 3rd Class, China, October 1927; Customs Gold Medal for Meritorious Service conferred by the Chinese Government, 1933; Order of the Brilliant Jade with Red Cravat (4th Class), China m June 1937; Commander of the 2nd Class of the Order of St. Olaf, Norway, September 1937. He is a fellow of the Royal Economic Society, London, 1920. -(F.W.M
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Ying Hsin Tsi, a native of Ningpo, was born on the 24th April 1893, entered the Customs College in 1913, and graduated in 1917. After graduation he served for a year and a half at Ningpo, and in April 1919 was transferred to the Inspectorate at Peking where he served till the 31st October 1921, when he was re-transferred to Ningpo, at which port he remained till the 31st March 1930. He was then He was then appointed to the Shanghai Office, where he served till the 29th February 1932, with an interval of two and a half months- 1st February to 15th April 1931- at the Shanghai Inspectorate. On the 1st March 1932 Mr. Ying was transferred to Nanking, where on two occasions he acted as Assistant-in-Charge. From the 15th October 1934 to 15th October 1937 he was once more on duty at the Shanghai Office, where he served as Commissioner’s Chinese Secretary. On the latter date he was moved to the Inspectorate and appointed Acting Assistant Chinese Secretary (Additional) with the rank of Acting Deputy Commissioner.