David Haworth Bailey (September 27, 1830 – January 20, 1896) was an American

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

who served for 10 years in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

and

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 ...

Early life

Bailey was born September 27, 1830 in

Wilmington, Ohio Wilmington is a city in and the county seat of Clinton County, Ohio, United States. The population was 12,660 at the 2020 census. At city entrances from state routes, county roads, and U.S. highways, the city slogan of "We Honor Our Champions" is ...

, the son of Macajah Bailey and Phebe Haworth. He attended

Woodward College Woodward Career Technical High School is a public high school located in the Bond Hill neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It is part of the Cincinnati Public School District. It was founded as one of the first public schools in th ...

in Cincinnati for 2 years. He worked an attorney at law and as a newspaper editor in Cincinnati, Leavenworth, Kansas and Wilmington, Ohio. He was a Worthy Grand Master of th
American Protestant Association
of Ohio and a Right Worthy Grand Master of the national association from 1855 to 1857. He was a member of the

Kansas Legislature The Kansas Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kansas. It is a bicameral assembly, composed of the lower Kansas House of Representatives, with 125 state representatives, and the upper Kansas Senate, with 40 state senators. ...

from 1860 to 1861 and a

presidential elector The United States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of appointing the president and vice president. Each state and the District of Columbia appo ...

(

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...

and

Schuyler Colfax Schuyler Colfax Jr. (; March 23, 1823 – January 13, 1885) was an American journalist, businessman, and politician who served as the 17th vice president of the United States from 1869 to 1873, and prior to that as the 25th speaker of the House ...

) for the 6th Ohio District in 1868.Old Woodward : a memorial relating to Woodward High School, 1831–1836, and Woodward College, 1836–1851, in the city of Cincinnati
p. 131

Diplomatic career

In 1870, Bailey was appointed United States Consul in Hong Kong where he served until 1878. In that year he was appointed United States Consul General in Shanghai where he served until 1880. During that time, former President Grant visited Shanghai and Bailey was responsible for entertaining him.

John Singleton Mosby John Singleton Mosby (December 6, 1833 – May 30, 1916), also known by his nickname "Gray Ghost", was a Confederate army cavalry battalion commander in the American Civil War. His command, the 43rd Battalion, Virginia Cavalry, known as Mosby's ...

who succeeded Bailey in Hong Kong found discrepancies in his predecessor's recordkeeping, and believed Bailey had colluded with his vice-consul Loring (who Mosby fired), to bilk the government of thousands of dollars in fees. Mosby believed Bailey had pocketed fees charged Chinese emigrants sailing to the U.S. on foreign-flag ships (certifying that they emigrated voluntarily and were not part of notorious "

coolie A coolie (also spelled koelie, kuli, khuli, khulie, cooli, cooly, or quli) is a term for a low-wage labourer, typically of South Asian or East Asian descent. The word ''coolie'' was first popularized in the 16th century by European traders acros ...

traffic"), and claimed "expenses" for shipboard examinations (by the illiterate proprietor of a local boardinghouse frequented by sailors) of those emigrating on U.S.-flag ships equal to the fees charged. Mosby thought Bailey had almost doubled his salary over the previous eight years by embezzlement and kickbacks, and stopped charging for shipboard examinations (which he personally conducted). The investigations into allegation made by Mosby led to Bailey (and US Minister George Seward's) resignations. In 1884, Bailey was sued by the United States Government for $39,000 to recover fees collected by him but not accounted for. He made no defence. At the time he was reported to still be living in Hong Kong.

Family

Bailey married Clara Esther Harlan. They had three children: Barclay Bailey, Susannah Bailey who married E. Venable, and Harlan Bailey who married Merrie.

Death

Bailey died on January 20, 1896 in Wilmington Ohio. He was interred i
Sugar Grove Cemetery
in Wilmington

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, David 1830 births 1896 deaths American diplomats Consuls General of the United States in Shanghai Woodward High School (Cincinnati, Ohio) alumni