Henry McAleavy (1911/1912–1968) was an English sinologist, Reader in Oriental Laws at the

School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ar ...

.'Mr Henry McAleavy: Student of China', ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', 28 October 1968

Life

Henry McAleavy was born to an Irish Roman Catholic working-class family in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. His father died when he was a child, and his mother brought him up while working in a cotton mill. After leaving school he worked as a clerk in a solicitor's office before getting a place at

Manchester University , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

to read classics. He went on to study Chinese at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

. From 1935 he taught English in central China and Peking. In 1940 he joined the information department of the British Embassy 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 ...

. In 1941 he married Ayako, a writer for Japanese newspapers. After the war he joined the

. In 1960 he went to Japan on study leave, acquiring material on modern Japanese and Chinese history from the Japanese viewpoint.Yin C. Liu, 'Henry McAleavy: A Memorial', ''China Quarterly'', Vol. 36 (December 1968), pp.138-9. McAleavy recommended paying attention to the 'unofficial history' of attitudes revealed in popular novels and newspapers.

Works

* ''Wang Tʻao (1828?-1890) the life and writings of a displaced person'', 1953 * (tr.) ''That Chinese woman: the life of Sai-chin-hua'' by

Sai Jinhua Sai Jinhua (; "Prettier Than Golden Flower"; Chang, Jung. ''Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China'' (eBook). Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2013. eBook . p. 118. "Her minister to Berlin, Hung Jun, was quite the opposite of Guo ...

. London: Allen & Unwin, 1959 * ''Su Man-shu (1884-1913): a Sino-Japanese genius'', 1960 * (tr.) ''The Chinese bigamy of M. David Winterlea: a Manchu-Edwardian fantasy'', 1961 * ''A dream of Tartary; the origins and misfortunes of Henry P'u Yi'', 1963 * ''The modern history of China'', 1967 * ''Black flags in Vietnam: the story of a Chinese intervention'', 1968

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mcaleavy, Henry 1910s births Year of birth uncertain 1968 deaths Academics from Greater Manchester Alumni of the University of Manchester Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge British sinologists Scholars of Chinese law