Sir William Henry Wilkinson (
traditional Chinese
A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...
: 務謹順,
simplified Chinese
Simplification, Simplify, or Simplified may refer to:
Mathematics
Simplification is the process of replacing a mathematical expression by an equivalent one, that is simpler (usually shorter), for example
* Simplification of algebraic expressions, ...
: 务谨顺; May 10, 1858
[The Foreign Office list and diplomatic and consular year book for 1917, Foreign Office, Great Britain.] - 1930) was a
British Sinologist
Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to the ex ...
who served as Consul-General for the United Kingdom 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 ...
and
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
. He was also a playing card collector and card game enthusiast.
British Diplomatic Service
Books
*''Where Chineses Drive: English Student-Life at Peking (London, 1885)''
"Those Foreign Devils!" A Celestial on England and Englishmen by Hsiang-fu Yuan (translated by Wilkinson; London and New York, 1891)
*''
The Game of Khanhoo'' (London, 1891)
*''A Manual of Chinese Chess'' (Shanghai, 1893)
*''
Chinese Origin of Playing Cards
A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a fi ...
'' (1895)
*''The Corean government: constitutional changes, July 1894 to October 1895. With an appendix on subsequent enactments to 30th June 1896'' (1896)
*''Bridge Maxims'' (1918)
*''Mah-Jongg: a memorandum'' (1925)
His Collection of Playing Cards
Cards from Wilkinson's collection are now in the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
, and are referred to in
Catalogue of the collection of playing cards bequeathed to the Trustees of the British museum by the late Lady Charlotte Schreiber by British Museum'' by Freeman M. O'Donoghue (1901), pp. 184–185: "Chinese - Collection of modern packs acquired by the testator from Mr. W.H. Wilkinson of H.M. Consular Service, who has kindly furnished the following information: 'The packs contained in this collection were procured during the year 1889-90 from
Canton
Canton may refer to:
Administrative division terminology
* Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland
* Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French
Arts and ent ...
,
Swatow, and
Foochow in South China, from
Ningbo
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 sate ...
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 ...
on the central sea-board, from
Peking in the north, from
Kiukiang and
Yichang in mid- China, and from
Chungking in the far west....''"
[Catalogue of the collection of playing cards bequeathed to the Trustees of the British museum by the late Lady Charlotte Schreiber by British Museum. Dept. of prints and drawings; O'Donoghue, Freeman M. (Freeman Marius) (1901), pp. 184-194.]
References
External links
*Elliot Avedon Virtual Museum of Games
W.H. Wilkinson University of Waterloo
1858 births
1930 deaths
British diplomats
19th-century English people
British sinologists
Tabletop game writers
Chess historians
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