Charles Denby Jr. (November 14, 1861 – February 15, 1938) was an American diplomat in China and later in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

and was known as one of the top scholars of

Chinese language Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the ...

and culture of his time.

Life

Charles Denby Jr. was born in

Evansville, Indiana Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in ...

, to Charles H. Denby, who served as US Minister to China for many years, and Martha Fitch. His maternal grandfather,

Graham N. Fitch Graham Newell Fitch (December 5, 1809November 29, 1892) was a United States representative and senator from Indiana, as well as a brigade commander in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Early life and career Born in Le Roy, New Y ...

was a

United States representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

and Senator. His brother, Edwin Denby, was a United States Representative and

United States Secretary of the Navy The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States Department of Defense. By law, the se ...

. Charles was educated by private tutors before receiving his B.A. from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

in 1882.

American National Biography The ''American National Biography'' (ANB) is a 24-volume biographical encyclopedia set that contains about 17,400 entries and 20 million words, first published in 1999 by Oxford University Press under the auspices of the American Council of Le ...

, Vol. 6. Ed. John A. Garraty and March C. Carnes. Oxford University Press, 1999.

Career

In 1885, Charles Jr. accompanied his father to China as second secretary to the US legation, and in 1894 he was promoted to first secretary. After increasing incidents of riots against missionaries in China (such as the ones in 1891 in

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

and

Yichang Yichang (), alternatively romanized as Ichang, is a prefecture-level city located in western Hubei province, China. It is the third largest city in the province after the capital, Wuhan and the prefecture-level city Xiangyang, by urban populati ...

and 1895 in Chengdu) he became a supporter of a stronger US government support of American missionaries in China (cf. Hunt, chapter 5). During the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the ...

, he mediated many of the negotiations between China and Japan, and was the chief draftsman of the

Treaty of Shimonoseki The , also known as the Treaty of Maguan () in China and in the period before and during World War II in Japan, was a treaty signed at the , Shimonoseki, Japan on April 17, 1895, between the Empire of Japan and Qing China, ending the Firs ...

that ended the war. In 1900, he was appointed as secretary general of the provisional government in

Tianjin, China Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popula ...

during the Boxer Rebellion, and then from 1902 to 1905 he served as the chief foreign adviser to the

Viceroy of Zhili The Viceroy of Zhili, fully referred to in Chinese as the Governor-General of Zhili and Surrounding Areas Overseeing Military Affairs and Food Production, Manager of Waterways, Director of Civil Affairs, was one of eight regional Viceroys during ...

Yuan Shikai Yuan Shikai (; 16 September 1859 – 6 June 1916) was a Chinese military and government official who rose to power during the late Qing dynasty and eventually ended the Qing dynasty rule of China in 1912, later becoming the Emperor of China. H ...

. In 1905, he returned to the United States to become chief clerk in the State Department. In 1907, he returned to China as United States Consul General in Shanghai and two years later in 1909 was made Consul General in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

where he served until 1915. From 1915 to 1917 he served as president of

Hupp Motor Car Company Hupmobile was an automobile built from 1909 through 1939 by the Hupp Motor Car Company of Detroit. The prototype was developed in 1908. History Founding In 1909, Bobby Hupp co-founded Hupp Motor Car Company, with Charles Hastings, f ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

. When America entered

WWI World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he re-joined the foreign service and became Director of the Bureau of Foreign Agents of the War Trade Board. In 1918 he went to China as a special agent of the State Department and was special representative of the

United States Shipping Board The United States Shipping Board (USSB) was established as an emergency agency by the 1916 Shipping Act (39 Stat. 729), on September 7, 1916. The United States Shipping Board's task was to increase the number of US ships supporting the World War ...

in China and Japan during 1922 to 1923.New York Times Obituary, February 15, 1938 Charles retired in 1923 to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, where he later died.

Marriage and children

Denby married Martha Dalzell Orr in 1895. They had three sons James Denby (also in the foreign service), Charles Denby, and Edwin Denby, a noted dance critic and poet.

References

External links

The Denby Family Papers at The Library of Congress
{{DEFAULTSORT:Denby, Charles Jr. 1861 births 1938 deaths Princeton University alumni Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States American diplomats People from Evansville, Indiana Consuls general of the United States in Shanghai American expatriates in Austria-Hungary

Life

Career

Marriage and children

See also

References

External links