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Sir George Robinson, 2nd Baronet
Sir George Best Robinson, 2nd Baronet (14November 17971855) was a British colonial administrator who became Chief Superintendent of British trade in China. Family background Son of Sir George Robinson, 1st Baronet and Margaret Southwell, the natural daughter of Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Suffolk, he succeeded to the baronetcy on 13February 1832. Career Between 1818-19 he was employed as a supercargo by the East India Company in Canton, (now known as Guangzhou). He was appointed third Superintendent of British Trade in China alongside Lord Napier and John Francis Davis in December 1833. After Napier's death in 1834, Davis and Robinson moved up to become chief and second superintendents. Robinson became Chief Superintendent on 19January 1835 following the resignation of John Francis Davis with John Harvey Astell and Charles Elliot as second and third superintendents. He maintained a "perfectly quiescent line of policy" during his tenure and reported a "quiet and prospero ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Francis Davis
Sir John Francis Davis, 1st Baronet (16 July 179513 November 1890) was a British diplomat and sinologist who served as second Governor of Hong Kong from 1844 to 1848. Davis was the first President of Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong. Background Davis was the eldest son of East India Company director and amateur artist Samuel Davis while his mother was Henrietta Boileau, member of a refugee French noble family who had come to England in the early eighteenth century from Languedoc in the south of France. Career In 1813, Davis was appointed writer at the East India Company's factory in Canton (now Guangzhou), China, at the time the centre of trade with China. Having demonstrated the depth of his learning in the Chinese language in his translation of ''The Three Dedicated Rooms'' ("San-Yu-Low") in 1815, he was chosen to accompany Lord Amherst on his embassy to Peking in 1816. On the mission's return Davis returned to his duties at the Canton factory, and was promoted to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bocca Tigris
The Humen, also Bocca Tigris or Bogue, is a narrow strait in the Pearl River Delta that separates Shiziyang in the north and Lingdingyang in the south near Humen Town in China's Guangdong Province. It is the site of the Pearl River's discharge into the South China Sea. It contains the Port of Humen at Humen Town. The strait is formed by the islands of Chuenpi (, p ''Chuanbi'') and Anunghoy (, p ''Aniangxie''; also called , p ''Weiyuan'') on the eastern side, and Taikoktow (大角头, p ''Dajiaotou'') on the western side. Since 1997, the strait has been traversed by the Humen Pearl River Bridge. Bocca Tigris was the entry to China's only trading city, Kanton. Name The Latinate ' is derived from the Portuguese ', which is a calque of the Chinese and Cantonese name , literally meaning "The Tiger Gate".Taylor 1898, p. 70 The name ''Bogue'' is also a corruption of the Portuguese ''Boca''. The name comes from the impression given by Tiger Island, sit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1855 Deaths
Events January–March * January 1 – Ottawa, Ontario, is incorporated as a city. * January 5 – Ramón Castilla begins his third term as President of Peru. * January 23 ** The first bridge over the Mississippi River opens in modern-day Minneapolis, a predecessor of the Father Louis Hennepin Bridge. ** The 8.2–8.3 Wairarapa earthquake claims between five and nine lives near the Cook Strait area of New Zealand. * January 26 – The Point No Point Treaty is signed in the Washington Territory. * January 27 – The Panama Railway becomes the first railroad to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. * January 29 – Lord Aberdeen resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, over the management of the Crimean War. * February 5 – Lord Palmerston becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. * February 11 – Kassa Hailu is crowned Tewodros II, Emperor of Ethiopia. * February 12 – Michigan State University (the "pion ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1797 Births
Events January–March * January 3 – The Treaty of Tripoli, a peace treaty between the United States and Ottoman Tripolitania, is signed at Algiers (''see also'' 1796). * January 7 – The parliament of the Cisalpine Republic adopts the Italian green-white-red tricolour as the official flag (this is considered the birth of the flag of Italy). * January 13 – Action of 13 January 1797, part of the War of the First Coalition: Two British Royal Navy frigates, HMS ''Indefatigable'' and HMS ''Amazon'', drive the French 74-gun ship of the line '' Droits de l'Homme'' aground on the coast of Brittany, with over 900 deaths. * January 14 – War of the First Coalition – Battle of Rivoli: French forces under General Napoleon Bonaparte defeat an Austrian army of 28,000 men, under '' Feldzeugmeister'' József Alvinczi, near Rivoli (modern-day Italy), ending Austria's fourth and final attempt to relieve the fortress city of Mantua. * January 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Prideaux Lightfoot
John Prideaux Lightfoot (23 March 1803 – 23 March 1887) was an English clergyman who served as the rector of Exeter College, Oxford, from 18 March 1854 until his death and as vice-chancellor of Oxford University from 1862 to 1866. He was the president of the Oxford Architectural Society (later the Oxfordshire Architectural and Historical Society) from November 1854 to November 1855. John Prideaux Lightfoot was born on 23 March 1803 at Crediton, Devon, England. He was the eldest son of Nicholas Lightfoot (1772–1847) and his wife Bridget Prideaux. Lightfoot married Elizabeth Ann Le Blanc on 15 July 1835 at St Luke's Church, Chelsea; they had eight children. His first wife died 31 November 1860 at Oxford, aged 50. He was married a second time on 7January 1863 to Louisa, only daughter of Sir George Best Robinson, 2nd Baronet, widow of Capt. C. R. G. Douglas, B.N.I. They had one daughter. Lightfoot succeeded Joseph Loscombe Richards as rector of Exeter, or head of the college, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Newspaper Archive
The British Newspaper Archive web site provides access to searchable digitized archives of British and Irish newspapers. It was launched in November 2011. History The British Library Newspapers section was based in Colindale in north London, until 2013, and is now divided between the St Pancras and Boston Spa sites. The library has an almost complete collection of British and Irish newspapers since 1840. This is partly because of the legal deposit legislation of 1869, which required newspapers to supply a copy of each edition of a newspaper to the library. London editions of national daily and Sunday newspapers are complete back to 1801. In total, the collection consists of 660,000 bound volumes and 370,000 reels of microfilm containing tens of millions of newspapers with 52,000 titles on 45 km of shelves. After the closure of Colindale in November 2013, access to the 750 million original printed pages was maintained via an automated and climate-controlled storage f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Axminster
Axminster is a market town and civil parish on the eastern border of the county of Devon in England. It is from the county town of Exeter. The town is built on a hill overlooking the River Axe which heads towards the English Channel at Axmouth, and is in the East Devon local government district. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 5,626, increasing to 5,761 at the 2011 census. The town contains two electoral wards (town and rural) the total sum of both wards being a population of 7,110. The market is still held every Thursday. Axminster gave its name to a type of carpet. An Axminster-type power loom is capable of weaving high quality carpets with many varying colours and patterns. While Axminster carpets are made in the town by Axminster Carpets Ltd, this type of carpet is now manufactured all over the world as well. History The town dates back to the Celtic times of around 300 BC. It lies on two major Roman roads: the Fosse Way from Lincoln to Seaton, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Morning Post
''The Morning Post'' was a conservative daily newspaper published in London from 1772 to 1937, when it was acquired by ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...''. History The paper was founded by John Bell (publisher), John Bell. According to historian Robert Darnton, ''The Morning Post'' scandal sheet consisted of paragraph-long news snippets, much of it false. Its original editor, the Reverend Sir Sir Henry Dudley, 1st Baronet, Henry Bate Dudley, earned himself nicknames such as "Reverend Bruiser" or "The Fighting Parson", and was soon replaced by an even more vitriolic editor, Reverend William Jackson, also known as "Dr. Viper". Originally a Whigs (British political party), Whig paper, it was purchased by Daniel Stuart in 1795, who made it into ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harriet Low
Harriett Low Hillard (1877) was an American woman of letters and diarist. From 1829 to 1833 she lived in the Portuguese colony of Macau on the South China coast and she and her sickly aunt became the first American women to go to China. During her stay from 1829 to 1833, she wrote a journal in the form of letters to her older sister Molly (Mary Ann, 1808–1851), and became acquainted with many of the influential individuals in the colony. After her return to the United States, she married and moved to London, returning to New York with her husband and five daughters in 1848. Her journal is now part of the Low-Mills collection in the Library of Congress. Biography She was born Harriet Low, the second of twelve children of Seth and Mary Porter Low, in Salem, Massachusetts.Lamas, ''Everything in Style'', p. 2. Her father was a well-to-do merchant and owner of a successful shipping business among the ports of Salem, New York, London, and Canton (modern-day Guangzhou). A leading citiz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Spectator
''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The Daily Telegraph'' newspaper, via Press Holdings. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture. It is politically conservative. Alongside columns and features on current affairs, the magazine also contains arts pages on books, music, opera, film and TV reviews. Editorship of ''The Spectator'' has often been a step on the ladder to high office in the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom. Past editors include Boris Johnson (1999–2005) and other former cabinet members Ian Gilmour (1954–1959), Iain Macleod (1963–1965), and Nigel Lawson (1966–1970). Since 2009, the magazine's editor has been journalist Fraser Nelson. ''The Spectator Australia'' offers 12 pages on Australian politics and affairs as well as the full UK ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount 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 1830 to 1865, when Britain stood at the height of its imperial power. He held office almost continuously from 1807 until his death in 1865. He began his parliamentary career as a Tory, defected to the Whigs in 1830, and became the first prime minister from the newly formed Liberal Party in 1859. He was highly popular with the British public. David Brown argues that "an important part of Palmerston's appeal lay in his dynamism and vigour". Henry Temple succeeded to his father's Irish peerage (which did not entitle him to a seat in the House of Lords, leaving him eligible to sit in the House of Commons) as the 3rd Viscount Palmerston in 1802. He became a Tory MP in 1807. From 1809 to 1828 he served as Secretary at War, organising t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
