Robert Thom (; 1807 – 14 September 1846) was an English nineteenth century

Chinese language Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the wor ...

translator and diplomat based in Canton (modern day Guangzhou) who worked for the trading house Jardine, Matheson & Co. and was seconded to the British armed forces during the

First Opium War The First Opium War (), also known as the Opium War or the Anglo-Sino War was a series of military engagements fought between Britain and the Qing dynasty of China between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of the ...

(1839 – 1842). For his literary works Thom used Sloth as a nom de plume.

Life

Thom worked in the piece goods department of Jardine, Matheson & Co. where he acquired a knowledge of the Chinese language. When hostilities began between the British and the ruling Chinese

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

in late 1839, Thom, along with other Chinese translators including

John Robert Morrison John Robert Morrison (; 17 April 1814 – 29 August 1843) was a British interpreter and colonial official in China. Born in Macau, his father was Robert Morrison, the first Protestant missionary in China. After his father's death in 1834, Morri ...

and

Karl Gützlaff Karl Friedrich August Gützlaff (8 July 1803 – 9 August 1851), anglicised as Charles Gutzlaff, was a German Lutheran missionary to the Far East, notable as one of the first Protestant missionaries in Bangkok, Thailand (1828) and in Korea (1 ...

provided the necessary language interface between the warring factions. In July 1840, during the

, Thom sailed north from Canton aboard HMS ''Blonde'' as translator to Captain Thomas Bourchier. The ship anchored outside Namoy (modern day

Kinmen Kinmen, alternatively known as Quemoy, is a group of islands governed as a county by the Republic of China (Taiwan), off the southeastern coast of mainland China. It lies roughly east of the city of Xiamen in Fujian, from which it is separate ...

, formerly also known as Quemoy) to deliver a letter from British Foreign Secretary

Lord Palmerston Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, (20 October 1784 – 18 October 1865) was a British statesman who was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century. Palmerston dominated British foreign policy during the period ...

laying out demands for the opening of China to foreign trade. After Bourchier noticed cannons being mounted on a nearby fort, Thom rowed towards the shore in a small boat carrying a placard warning that if the ship was fired on, Bourchier would retaliate. A number of Chinese from a mob gathered on the shore swam towards Thom's boat and he narrowly missed being hit by an arrow and musket fire as he shouted out the warning written on the placard. Bourchier made good on his promise and shelled the fort and nearby warships before eventually withdrawing. In 1841, Thom assisted the British during the expedition up the Broadway River from

Macao 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 ...

to Canton.Bernard, William Dallas; Hall, William Hutcheon (1847).
The Nemesis in China
' (3rd ed.). London: Henry Colburn. p. 139. He later served as British Consul in

Ningpo Ningbo (; Ningbonese: ''gnin² poq⁷'' , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly romanized as Ningpo, is a major sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises 6 urban districts, 2 sa ...

where he died on 14 September 1846.

Literary works

Thom produced an 1840 Chinese translation of

Aesop's Fables Aesop's Fables, or the Aesopica, is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and storyteller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 564 BCE. Of diverse origins, the stories associated with his name have descended to ...

and was said to be one of the very few westerners who spoke the

Beijing dialect The Beijing dialect (), also known as Pekingese and Beijingese, is the prestige dialect of Mandarin spoken in the urban area of Beijing, China. It is the phonological basis of Standard Chinese, the official language in the People's Republic of ...

of Mandarin Chinese very well. He also translated the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

Chinese story ''The Lasting resentment of Miss Keaou Lwan Wang, a Chinese Tale'' and wrote several text books for students of the Chinese language.

References

Bibliography

*
The Lasting Resentment of Miss Keaou Lwan Wang, a Chinese Tale
'. Canton Press Office. 1839. *
Esop's Fables Written in Chinese by the Learned Mun Mooy Seen-Shang
'. Canton Press Office. 1840. * ''Chinese and English Vocabulary, compiled chiefly with a view to facilitate intercourse in the Northern ports''
Part 1
Canton. 1843. *
The Chinese Speaker or Extracts from Works Written in the Mandarin Language, as Spoken at Peking
'. Ningpo: Presbyterian Mission Press. 1846. {{DEFAULTSORT:Thom, Robert 1807 births 1846 deaths 19th-century British translators British expatriates in China Chinese–English translators British diplomats English translators English–Chinese translators British people of the First Opium War