William Woodville Rockhill (April 1, 1854 – December 8, 1914) was a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or interna ...

, best known as the author of the U.S.'s

Open Door Policy The Open Door Policy () is the United States diplomatic policy established in the late 19th and early 20th century that called for a system of equal trade and investment and to guarantee the territorial integrity of Qing China. The policy wa ...

for

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, the first American to learn to speak

Tibetan Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken diale ...

, and one of the West's leading experts on the modern political history of China.

Life and career

Rockhill was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

, the son of Thomas Cadwalader Rockhill and Dorothea Anne Woodville (1823–1913). His father died when he was 13 years old and his mother relocated the family to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

to escape the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

. While in his teens, Rockhill read Abbé Huc's account of his 1844-46 voyage to

Lhasa Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Region in Southwest China. The inner urban area of Lhasa ...

, which sparked young Rockhill's interest in

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

. Rockhill sought out the celebrated Orientalist

Léon Feer Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again fro ...

of the '' Bibliothèque Nationale'', who guided Rockhill's learning about the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The t ...

.Obituary Notice, ''The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland'' (1915), p. 24.
/ref> Rockhill attended the '' École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr'', where he studied

. After graduation, Rockhill joined the

French Foreign Legion The French Foreign Legion (french: Légion étrangère) is a corps of the French Army which comprises several specialties: infantry, cavalry, engineers, airborne troops. It was created in 1831 to allow foreign nationals into the French Army ...

, serving as an officer in

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques d ...

. In 1876, Rockhill returned to the United States, and on December 14, 1876, he married his childhood sweetheart, Caroline Tyson, daughter of J. Washington Tyson and Marie Louise (Hewling) Tyson of Philadelphia. The couple purchased a

cattle ranch A ranch (from es, rancho/Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of a farm. These terms are most often ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Albuquerque metropolitan area, Tiguex , Offi ...

, but Rockhill concluded that ranching was not to his liking. By 1880, he had completed a

French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in N ...

translation of the Tibetan version of the '' Udanavarga'', which was published in 1881.Karl E. Meyer, "Close Encounters of an American Kind", ''World Policy Journal'' (Dec. 22, 1998)
/ref> The Rockhills sold the ranch in 1881 and moved to

Montreux Montreux (, , ; frp, Montrolx) is a Swiss municipality and town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps. It belongs to the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, and has a population of approxima ...

, Switzerland, where William's mother lived. He spent the next three years in Europe studying Tibetan,

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

, and Chinese. During this period, he co-authored a biography of the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...

with Nanjo Bunyu and Ernst Leumann, and completed a

translation of the Prātimokṣa

sūtra ''Sutra'' ( sa, सूत्र, translit=sūtra, translit-std=IAST, translation=string, thread)Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an ap ...

, published in 1884 under the title ''Prâtimoksha sutra; ou, Le traité d'émancipation selon la version tibétaine: avec notes et extraits du Dulva (Vinaya)''. Missionaries tatsienlu Four Westerners in Tatsienlu, 1890, photographed by Prince Henri d’Orléans

Missionaries tatsienlu Four Westerners in Tatsienlu, 1890, photographed by Prince Henri d’Orléans

In 1883, Rockhill's wife came into a $70,000 inheritance on the death of a cousin, allowing Rockhill to take an unpaid position with the American

Legation A legation was a diplomatic representative office of lower rank than an embassy. Where an embassy was headed by an ambassador, a legation was headed by a minister. Ambassadors outranked ministers and had precedence at official events. Legations ...

in Peking. After perfecting his language skills, he was upgraded to a paid position. In the 1880s, he made two extended expeditions into

western China Western China (, or rarely ) is the west of China. In the definition of the Chinese government, Western China covers one municipality ( Chongqing), six provinces (Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Gansu, and Qinghai), and three autonomou ...

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million ...

and

. He sent an account of his travels to the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Found ...

for publication (as ''The Land of the Lamas'' (1891)), and in 1893, he was awarded the Patron's Medal of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

. Artifacts from Rockhill's expeditions are in the collections of the Department of Anthropology,

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7. ...

, and archival materials are in their associated archives, the National Anthropological Archives. Rockhill wrote a glossary of Salar in his 1894 book ''Diary of a Journey through Mongolia and Tibet in 1891 and 1892''. During the administration of

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...

, Rockhill served as Third Assistant Secretary of State from April 17, 1894, until February 13, 1896. He then served as United States Assistant Secretary of State under

United States Secretary of State The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...

Richard Olney from February 14, 1896, until May 10, 1897. In 1897, President

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in t ...

named Rockhill U.S. Minister to Greece, a position he held from September 25, 1897, to April 27, 1899. He concurrently served as Minister to Serbia from May 7, 1898, to April 27, 1899, and as Minister to Romania from May 18, 1898, to April 27, 1899. From 1899 to 1905, he served as Director-General of the International Union of American Republics. With the outbreak of the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an Xenophobia, anti-foreign, anti-colonialism, anti-colonial, and Persecution of Christians#China, anti-Christian uprising in China ...

, U.S. Secretary of State

John Hay John Milton Hay (October 8, 1838July 1, 1905) was an American statesman and official whose career in government stretched over almost half a century. Beginning as a private secretary and assistant to Abraham Lincoln, Hay's highest office was U ...

, who knew little of the Far East, turned to Rockhill for guidance. As such, Rockhill drafted a memorandum that spelled out the famous

towards China; this memorandum was circulated to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

, Britain,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

, and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and in March 1900, Secretary Hay announced that all the

Great Powers A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power in ...

had signed off on the Open Door Policy. Rockhill was then despatched as President McKinley's special envoy, where he represented the U.S. in the Conference of Ministers that followed the ending of the Boxer Rebellion. During the negotiations surrounding the

Boxer Protocol The Boxer Protocol was signed on September 7, 1901, between the Qing Empire of China and the Eight-Nation Alliance that had provided military forces (including Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the Un ...

, Rockhill argued against full war reparations, instead encouraging the Great Powers to settle for a lump sum of $333 million in reparations to be divided amongst the Powers in proportion to their expenses incurred in intervening in China. At Rockhill's urging, the American share of war reparations was used to fund student exchanges between China and the U.S.(a program known as the Boxer Indemnity Scholarship Program). Washington, D

In 1905, President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

appointed Rockhill U.S. Minister to China, a position he held from June 17, 1905, until June 1, 1909. This appointment came in the wake of the British Expedition to Tibet (1903–1904) that had forced Thubten Gyatso, 13th Dalai Lama into isolation. Learning that Rockhill spoke Tibetan, the Dalai Lama entered into a correspondence that was to last until Rockhill's death. In June 1908, Rockhill made a five-day on-foot trek to

Mount Wutai Mount Wutai, also known by its Chinese name Wutaishan and as is a sacred Buddhist site at the headwaters of the Qingshui in Shanxi Province, China. Its central area is surrounded by a cluster of flat-topped peaks roughly corresponding to the ...

to meet the Dalai Lama and successfully convinced the Dalai Lama to seek peace with China and Britain. In 1909, President

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...

named Rockhill Minister to Russia and Rockhill held this post from January 11, 1910, until June 17, 1911. President Taft then named him Minister to the Ottoman Empire, and he held this post from August 28, 1911, until November 20, 1913.

Death

Appointed Advisor to the President of China, Yuan Shi Kai, in 1914, Rockhill sailed from San Francisco for China via Japan aboard the SS ''Chiyo Maru''.''Sacramento Union'', No. 39, 9 Dec 1914. Afflicted by a severe cold he contracted in San Francisco, he developed pleurisy on the voyage, and had to leave the ship on arrival at

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the isla ...

for treatment. Four days later, the pleurisy overcome, the ordeal occasioned him heart failure and he died in hospital on 8 December 1914, aged 60. Rockhill is buried in the East Cemetery in

Litchfield, Connecticut Litchfield is a town in and former county seat of Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 8,192 at the 2020 census. The boroughs of Bantam and Litchfield are located within the town. There are also three unincorpora ...

Selected works

''Udânavarga: A Collection of Verses from the Buddhist Canon''
(1883)
''Prâtimoksha sutra; ou, Le traité d'émancipation selon la version tibétaine: avec notes et extraits du Dulva (Vinaya)'
(1884) * with Ernst Leumann and Nanjo Bunyu
''The Life of the Buddha: And the Early History of His Order'
(1884)
''The Land of the Lamas: Notes of a Journey Through China, Mongolia and Tibet''
(1891

''Explorations in Mongolia and Tibet''
(1893)
''Diary of a Journey Through Mongolia and Thibet in 1891 and 1892''
(1894

''Journey through Mongolia and Tibet, 1891 and 1892''
(1894)
''Notes on the Ethnology of Tibet: Based on the Collections in the U.S. National Museum''
(1895)
''The Journey of William of Rubruck to the Eastern Parts of the World''
(1900

* with Sarat Chandra Das
''Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet''
(1902)
''China's Intercourse with Korea from the XVth Century To 1895''
(1905)
''Diplomatic Audiences at the Court of China''
(1905)
''The Dalai Lamas of Lhasa and Their Relations with the Manchu Emperors of China. 1644-1908''
(1910)
"Diplomatic Missions to the Court of China: The Kotow Question I,"
''The American Historical Review,'' Vol. 2, No. 3 (Apr., 1897), pp. 427–442.
"Diplomatic Missions to the Court of China: The Kotow Question II,"
''The American Historical Review,'' Vol. 2, No. 4 (Jul., 1897), pp. 627–643.

Edited works

''Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet''
(1902)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rockhill, William Woodville 1854 births 1914 deaths United States Assistant Secretaries of State Officers of the French Foreign Legion Tibetologists Explorers of Tibet Ambassadors of the United States to Greece Ambassadors of the United States to Serbia Ambassadors of the United States to Romania Ambassadors of the United States to China Ambassadors of the United States to Russia Ambassadors of the United States to the Ottoman Empire 19th-century American writers 20th-century American writers 19th-century American diplomats 20th-century American diplomats