Harold John Timperley (1898–1954) was an Australian journalist, known for his reporting in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
in the 1930s and for authoring the book ''What War Means'' (1938) based on it. Historian
Hora Tomio described ''What War Means'' as "a book which shocked awake Western intellectuals".
Life
He started his newspaperman career in China in 1921 and reported for the ''
Manchester Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' from 1928, based in
Beiping
"Beijing" is from pinyin ''Běijīng,'' which is romanized from , the Chinese name for this city. The pinyin system of transliteration was approved by the Chinese government in 1958, but little used until 1979. It was gradually adopted by various ...
(1921–1936),
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 ...
(1936 – Apr? 1937, Sep 1937 – Apr 1938) and
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 ...
(May? – Sep 1937). He became an advisory editor of ASIA magazine in 1934 (see ASIA of November, 1938). He married Elizabeth Chambers in Nanjing in August 1937.
![Nanking telegram Harold John Timperley](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Nanking_telegram_Harold_John_Timperley.gif)
After the Japanese invasion, his accounts for the ''Guardian'' were some of the firsthand information most easily available in the West. His cables from Shanghai, although at times censored, formed the basis for some early writing on the
Nanjing massacre
The Nanjing Massacre (, ja, 南京大虐殺, Nankin Daigyakusatsu) or the Rape of Nanjing (formerly romanized as ''Nanking'') was the mass murder of Chinese civilians in Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China, immediately after the Ba ...
from 1937 to 1938.
Timperley left Shanghai for
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 ...
early April 1938. There, he published the book ''What War Means'', edited by him, which contains direct testimony as well as official documents. It received great attention, being published in the US under the title ''The Japanese Terror in China''. Its content has been contested by Japanese historians, including
Minoru Kitamura. Minoru Kitamura proposed a view that Timperley did not appear as a witness in
Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal
The Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal was established in 1946 by the government of Chiang Kai-shek to judge Imperial Japanese Army officers accused of crimes committed during the Second Sino-Japanese War. It was one of ten tribunals established by the ...
and
International Military Tribunal for the Far East
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), also known as the Tokyo Trial or the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, was a military trial convened on April 29, 1946 to try leaders of the Empire of Japan for crimes against peace, conven ...
because he might have been a spin doctor.
Timperley became involved in an attempt to stir the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
to act on behalf of China. He was close to the Nationalists and
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...
; it is a matter of some dispute to what extent he was supported by them, or was engaged in propaganda work on their behalf. It is not contested that he took a strongly anti-war line, and on a personal level was friendly with Japanese including the Shanghai
Domei News Agency chief Matsumoto Shigeharu. Some of the statistics Timperley used have been mis-employed by subsequent writers taking ''What War Means'' as a source.
In 1939, he gave up journalism and served for the Chinese
Ministry of Information, as an advisor. He continued to write on topics connected with Japan, including the nationalist thinker
Yoshida Shoin, until the end of the
Pacific War
The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...
. From 1943, he worked for the
Information Office of
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
(
Allied Powers). From 1946, he worked for
UNRRA
United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) was an international relief agency, largely dominated by the United States but representing 44 nations. Founded in November 1943, it was dissolved in September 1948. it became part o ...
at its Shanghai office. In 1947, the
United Nations Security Council
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the Organs of the United Nations, six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international security, international peace and security, recommending the admi ...
established the Good Offices Committee for
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
to sponsor negotiations between the country and the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, and Timperley was assigned as Deputy Principal Secretary (later to an Acting Principal Secretary) of the committee (from May 1948?) until 20 October 1948. Afterward, he worked for
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
.
Leaving UNESCO in 1950, Timperley went to Indonesia as a technical advisor to the Indonesian
Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...
. However a
tropical disease
Tropical diseases are Infectious disease, diseases that are prevalent in or unique to tropics, tropical and subtropics, subtropical regions. The diseases are less prevalent in temperate climates, due in part to the occurrence of a cold season, whic ...
forced him to leave
Jakarta
Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...
for London in 1951. Not long after his arrival in London, he came in touch with the
Religious Society of Friends
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...
and was admitted to the membership in 1952. From January 1954, he threw himself into supporting the
War on Want campaign and acted as full-time voluntary office worker. He organized the first War on Want Conference in May 1954.
On 25 November 1954, he was found unconscious in bed and taken to a
Cuckfield
Cuckfield ( ) is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Mid Sussex District, Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England, on the southern slopes of the Weald. It lies south of London, north of Brighton, and east northeas ...
hospital, but died the following day (26 November 1954).
Relation with publicity department of Chinese Nationalist Party
In "An Overview of Propaganda Operations of the International Information Division of the Central Propaganda Bureau of the Nationalist Party from 1938 to April 1941" held in the Guomindang Historical Documents Archive in Taipei, it is clearly mentioned that "What War Means" was a propaganda book written to fight against the enemy, edited and printed by this organization. From this fact,
Shudo Higashinakano Shudo may refer to
*Shudo (surname)
*A term related to homosexuality in Japan
*Hiroshima Shudo University in Japan
*Shudo Junior and Senior High School Shudo may refer to
* Shudo (surname)
*A term related to homosexuality in Japan
Records of men ...
agrees with the view of
Minoru Kitamura and
Akira Suzuki, that Timperley's book was a propaganda of Chinese Nationalist Party. On the other hand, Hisashi Watanabe claims that Timperley had yet no connection with Chinese Nationalist Party at the time, criticizing Minoru Kitamura. On 16 April 2015, Sankei Shimbun reported the discovery of documents detailing Timperley's activities as the head of the UK Branch of the International Information Division (London), which strongly supports his involvement in the propaganda operation.
Works
* ''What War Means: The Japanese Terror in China'', London,
Victor Gollancz Ltd
Victor Gollancz Ltd () was a major British book publishing house of the twentieth century and continues to publish science fiction and fantasy titles as an imprint of Orion Publishing Group.
Gollancz was founded in 1927 by Victor Gollancz, an ...
,1938. (There are two editions,
Left Book Club
The Left Book Club was a publishing group that exerted a strong left-wing influence in Great Britain from 1936 to 1948.
Pioneered by Victor Gollancz, it offered a monthly book choice, for sale to members only, as well as a newsletter that acqui ...
and non LBC editions.)
* ''The Japanese Terror in China'', New York, Modern Age Books, 1938.
*''Japan: A World Problem'', New York, The John Day Company, 1942.
*''Australia and the Australians'', New York, Oxford University Press, 1942.
*''Some Contrast Between China and Japan in The Light of History'' /10-page leaflet, London, The China Society, publication date unknown.
*''The
War on Want'' /5-page leaflet, London, Gledhill & Ballinger Ltd., 1953.
References
External links
Guardian story from 2002
{{DEFAULTSORT:Timperley, HJ
1898 births
1954 deaths
20th-century Australian journalists
The Guardian journalists
People from Western Australia
UNESCO officials
Australian expatriates in the United Kingdom
Australian expatriates in China