George Staunton Morrison (1830 – 20 August 1893) was a British diplomat in the 19th century.

Biography

Son of the British Missionary in China, Robert Morrison and Eliza Morrison, George Staunton Morrison was born in

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

.''UK, Foreign and Overseas Registers of British Subjects, 1628-1969'' His name was given in honor of Sir George Staunton, who was a long time friend since his father arrived in Macau. He was intended to be the first British

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

but was delayed in arriving for the opening of the

foreign settlement A foreign settlement ({{Lang-ja, 外国人居留地, pronounced "Gaikokujin kyoryūchi") was a special area in a treaty port, designated by the Japanese government in the second half of the nineteenth century, to allow foreigners to live and work. ...

on 1 July 1859 and so C. Pemberton Hodgson served in his stead until Morrison's arrival on 6 August 1859. Morrison served as British Consul until December 1863. During Morrison's initial two-year term he established regulations for British citizens in Nagasaki, negotiated living and conditions trade between the foreign settlement and Japanese officials, made plans for an enlarged British Consulate, and generally established guidelines for the treaty port at Nagasaki based upon previous experience in China. BritishLegationAttack1861

Morrison's term in Nagasaki was cut short when he and other British officials were attacked by samurai from the

Mito Mito may refer to: Places *Mito, Ibaraki, capital city of Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan *Mito, Aichi, a Japanese town *Mito, Shimane, a Japanese town * Mitō, Yamaguchi, a Japanese town * Mito District, a district in the province of Concepción, Per ...

domain on the night of 5 July 1861 at the British Legation in

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

. Morrison and the First Secretary Laurence Oliphant were severely wounded in the attack and left for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

that autumn to recuperate. Morrison returned to Nagasaki in April 1863, at a time when conditions for foreigners in the region were particularly dangerous.

Satsuma Satsuma may refer to: * Satsuma (fruit), a citrus fruit * ''Satsuma'' (gastropod), a genus of land snails Places Japan * Satsuma, Kagoshima, a Japanese town * Satsuma District, Kagoshima, a district in Kagoshima Prefecture * Satsuma Domain, a sout ...

and Chōshū officials were challenging the '' bakufu'' and threatening to kill foreigners in the

treaty ports 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. ...

. Morrison requested British ships for protection and the situation seemed to be escalating towards war, though open conflict was, for the meantime, avoided. Morrison decided to leave his position for health reasons, returning once and for all to England. Allegations of a plot to assassinate him probably affected his decision to leave as well. George Staunton Morrison died in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

, aged 63.

References

Nagasaki Foreign Settlement Research Group; The People of the Nagasaki Foreign Settlement; British Consulate
. Accessed 13 October 2006. 1830 births 1893 deaths British diplomats in East Asia British expatriates in Japan 19th-century Macau people {{UK-diplomat-stub