Charles Lennox Richardson
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Charles Lennox Richardson (16 April 1834 – 14 September 1862) was a British merchant based in
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
who was killed in
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
during the
Namamugi Incident The , also known as the Kanagawa incident and Richardson affair, was a political crisis that occurred in the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the ''Bakumatsu'' on 14 September 1862. Charles Lennox Richardson, a British merchant, was killed by t ...
. His middle name is spelled ''Lenox'' in census and family documents.


Merchant

Richardson was born in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
in 1834. He relocated to Shanghai in 1853 to seek his fortune in the China trade. In 1862, Richardson announced his retirement, and was en route back to England when he stopped over at the
treaty port Treaty ports (; ja, 条約港) were the port cities in China and Japan that were opened to foreign trade mainly by the unequal treaties forced upon them by Western powers, as well as cities in Korea opened up similarly by the Japanese Empire. ...
of
Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...
in September 1862.


Namamugi Incident

After Richardson met Woodthorpe Charles Clarke, an old friend from Shanghai, they joined fellow merchant William Marshall, and Marshall's sister-in-law Margaret Watson Borradaile to go on a sightseeing ride via nearby Kanagawa town towards the temple of
Kawasaki Daishi is the popular name of , a Buddhist temple in Kawasaki, Japan. Founded in 1128, it is the headquarters of the Chizan sect of Shingon Buddhism. Kawasaki Daishi is a popular temple for ''hatsumōde'' (the first visit to a place of worship in ...
. While travelling on the Tōkaidō road – the Imperial highway – through the village of Namamugi (now part of Tsurumi ward,
Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...
), the party encountered the retinue of Satsuma regent ''
daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...
''
Shimazu Hisamitsu Prince , also known as , was a Japanese samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the ...
(otherwise Shimazu Saburō) heading in the opposite direction. When Richardson approached Shimazu's
palanquin The litter is a class of wheelless vehicles, a type of human-powered transport, for the transport of people. Smaller litters may take the form of open chairs or beds carried by two or more carriers, some being enclosed for protection from the el ...
too closely, the ''daimyō''s bodyguard attacked the Englishman. Marshall and Clarke were also severely wounded in the incident. Grievously wounded, Richardson fell from his horse a short distance from the attack and was killed with a
coup de grâce A coup de grâce (; 'blow of mercy') is a death blow to end the suffering of a severely wounded person or animal. It may be a mercy killing of mortally wounded civilians or soldiers, friends or enemies, with or without the sufferer's consent. ...
on the orders of Shimazu. The
British government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...
demanded reparations following the Namamugi Incident. But when Shimazu refused to pay the reparations, a squadron of
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
ships bombarded Kagoshima during the brief
Anglo-Satsuma War The Bombardment of Kagoshima, also known as the , was a military engagement fought between Britain and the Satsuma Domain in Kagoshima from 15 to 17 August 1863. The British were attempting to extract compensation and legal justice from ''daimyo ...
the following year.


Burial

Following an autopsy conducted by William Willis, who had joined the British mission in Japan in 1861, Richardson was buried in a private plot near the Yokohama Foreign Cemetery between the later graves of Marshall and Clarke.


Reception

Several accounts exist regarding the cause of the altercation in which Richardson was killed. Louis G. Perez, Ph.D, Professor of Japanese History at
Illinois State University Illinois State University (ISU) is a public university in Normal, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University, it is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teaching and is recognized as one of th ...
, in ''Japan at War: An Encyclopaedia'' (2013), presents the following: per one account, Lennox and his party were turning their horses around to yield the road when the Satsuma retainers attacked preemptively to maintain the order of the procession; this arose from "the language barrier and the retainers' anti-foreign zeal". Alternatively, it was claimed, Richardson and his cohort forced his way into the procession and were attacked by the retainers, outraged at the disrespect to their lord. In any case, the incident "reflects the widespread anti-foreign sentiment that had emerged among many Japanese people since the country was forced open in 1854." John W. Denney, in ''Respect and Consideration: Britain in Japan 1853-1868 and Beyond'' (2011), also emphasises the differing accounts, noting that "the incontestable points are that Shimazu Saburō's samurai killed Richardson and severely wounded Marshall and Clarke". The latter two men, at the official inquest, claimed that although they noticed samurai ahead, they did not know they were part of a daimyō's retinue; on turning a corner, they recognised they were "twelve men deep into the procession and close to the daimyō", but as "none of the party had shouted or gesticulated at the Japanese in front of them", they were "confident that no hostile moves would be made by the samurai." On attempting to turn around, a retainer struck Richardson with his sword, then inflicted a less severe wound on Marshall. Travelling at speed to escape the retinue, the men received further wounds. The accounts of the men and Mrs Borradaile were the only ones given until 1875, when American E. H. House, a campaigning journalist and writer, published a pamphlet giving the Satsuma version of the incident. House stated that Richardson was "notorious for his violent dealings with Chinese people during his residency in Shanghai", and his reputation had preceded him. He also claimed that, on passing Japanese acquaintances, Richardson's party had asked why they had dismounted (this being customary for the passing of the daimyō), but not taken note of the response. In light of the "inexorable regulation" that "no casual passenger should continue to ride, either upon his horse or in any conveyance, during the occupancy of the road by a dignitary of high station", the Satsuma people felt that Lennox and his companions ought to have observed this. No Japanese would have been permitted to ride through the procession; had Lennox and his companions given no "offence other than that which might have proceeded from ignorance", they would have been unmolested; Richardson "had continued to push his horse in and out of the groups forming the cortége", but had the party advanced in single file (rather than two abreast), "they could have passed uninjured, as others had done before them, and others did after". In a 2013 article, Historian claimed that according to Japanese reports at the time, he disrespectfully rode in the middle of the road and even tried to get between the regent's
litter Litter consists of waste products that have been discarded incorrectly, without consent, at an unsuitable location. Litter can also be used as a verb; to litter means to drop and leave objects, often man-made, such as aluminum cans, paper cups, ...
and his bodyguards. Per Reichert, just before the incident, after Mrs Borradaile, concerned by signs of hostility from the retinue, begged him not to provoke them, Richardson allegedly said, "I have lived for fourteen years in China. I know how to manage these people." (per Denney, this must have been "four years", as fourteen was not possible)Respect and Consideration: Britain in Japan 1853-1868 and Beyond, John W. Denney, Radiance Press, 2011, pp. 75-79 Richardson's uncle was reportedly not surprised about his nephew's demise and blamed him for being reckless and stubborn.
Frederick Wright-Bruce Sir Frederick William Adolphus Wright-Bruce, GCB (14 April 1814 – 19 September 1867) was a British diplomat. Early life Frederick Bruce was the youngest of the three sons of Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin and his second wife Elizabeth, yo ...
, the British envoy to China, remembered Richardson as an "arrogant adventurer".


See also

*
Namamugi Incident The , also known as the Kanagawa incident and Richardson affair, was a political crisis that occurred in the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the ''Bakumatsu'' on 14 September 1862. Charles Lennox Richardson, a British merchant, was killed by t ...
*
Anglo-Satsuma War The Bombardment of Kagoshima, also known as the , was a military engagement fought between Britain and the Satsuma Domain in Kagoshima from 15 to 17 August 1863. The British were attempting to extract compensation and legal justice from ''daimyo ...
*
Anglo-Japanese relations The Anglo-Japanese style developed in the United Kingdom through the Victorian period and early Edwardian period from approximately 1851 to the 1910s, when a new appreciation for Japanese design and culture influenced how designers and craftspe ...
*
Sakoku was the Isolationism, isolationist Foreign policy of Japan, foreign policy of the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate under which, for a period of 265 years during the Edo period (from 1603 to 1868), relations and trade between Japan and other countri ...
*
List of Westerners who visited Japan before 1868 This list contains notable Europeans and Americans who visited Japan before the Meiji Restoration. The name of each individual is followed by the year of the first visit, the country of origin, and a brief explanation. 16th century * Two Portugu ...


References

Notes General references * Satow, Ernest. ''A Diplomat in Japan'', Tuttle (1921). * Rennie, David. ''The British Arms in North China and Japan''. Adamant Media Corporation. (2001 reprint of 1864 edition) * Denney, John. ''Respect and Consideration: Britain in Japan 1853–1868 and Beyond''. Radiance Press (2011).


Further reading

* De Lange, William. ''The Namamugi Incident: The Murder that Sparked a War'', Toyo Press (2020).


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, Charles Lennox British expatriates in China 1834 births 1862 deaths People murdered in Japan Merchants from London English people murdered abroad English murder victims Deaths by stabbing in Japan 19th-century English businesspeople