Sir George Leonard Staunton, 1st Baronet (10 April 1737 – 14 January 1801) was an Anglo-Irish physician, judge and diplomat best known for his participation in the

Macartney Embassy The Macartney Embassy ( zh, t=馬加爾尼使團), also called the Macartney Mission, was the first British diplomatic mission to China, which took place in 1793. It is named for its leader, George Macartney, Great Britain's first envoy to Ch ...

Life

George Leonard Staunton was born in Cargin,

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

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, the son of Col. George Staunton. He was educated at the Jesuit College in

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

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, obtaining an

M.D. A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of physician. This ge ...

in 1758, and subsequently studied at the

School of Medicine A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, professional school, or forms a part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, ...

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

. He was awarded a DCL by the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

in 1790. Staunton initially worked as a physician in the

British West Indies The British West Indies (BWI) were the territories in the West Indies under British Empire, British rule, including Anguilla, the Cayman Islands, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Antigua and Barb ...

, where he acquired

slave plantation A slave plantation is an agricultural farm that uses enslaved people for labour. The practice was abolished in most places during the 19th century. Slavery Planters embraced the use of slaves mainly because indentured labor became expensive ...

s on

Grenada Grenada is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The southernmost of the Windward Islands, Grenada is directly south of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and about north of Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and the So ...

and

Dominica Dominica, officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. It is part of the Windward Islands chain in the Lesser Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of t ...

. He then switched to law and was made Attorney-General in Grenada in 1779. In 1784, he accompanied his lifelong friend

George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney :''George Macartney should not be confused with Sir George Macartney, a later British statesman.'' George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney, (14 May 1737 – 31 May 1806) was a British diplomat, politician and colonial administrator who served as ...

, whom he first met in the West Indies, to

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

to negotiate peace with

Tipu Sultan Tipu Sultan (, , ''Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu''; 1 December 1751 – 4 May 1799) commonly referred to as Sher-e-Mysore or "Tiger of Mysore", was a ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India. He was a pioneer of rocket artillery ...

, for which service Staunton was created a baronet of Ireland, on 31 October 1785. He was elected in February 1787 a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

. In 1793, Staunton was named Secretary of the British

to the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

of China, which was headed by Lord Macartney. While the embassy returned to London without obtaining any concession from China, the mission brought back detailed observations. Staunton died at his London house, 17 Devonshire Street, on 14 January 1801 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, where a monument by Sir Francis Chantrey was erected to his memory around 1808. The baronetcy, Staunton's estate at Clydagh, County Galway and his London townhouse were all inherited by his only son, George Thomas Staunton.

Works

Staunton was charged with producing the official account of the Macartney Embassy, after their return. It was published 1797 under the title '' An Authentic Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China''. This multi-volume work was taken chiefly from papers of Lord Macartney and Sir

Erasmus Gower Admiral Sir Erasmus Gower (3 December 1742 – 21 June 1814) was a Royal Navy officer and colonial governor. Naval career Gower, aged 13, joined the Royal Navy in 1755 under the patronage of his uncle, Captain John Donkley. He was present at t ...

, Commander of the expedition. Sir

Joseph Banks Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English Natural history, naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the European and American voyages of scientific exploration, 1766 natural-history ...

, the

President of the Royal Society The president of the Royal Society (PRS), also known as the Royal Society of London, is the elected Head of the Royal Society who presides over meetings of the society's council. After an informal meeting (a lecture) by Christopher Wren at Gres ...

, was responsible for selecting and arranging engraving of the illustrations in this official record.Banks, Joseph. Papers of Sir Joseph Banks; Section 12: Lord Macartney’s embassy to China
Series 62: Papers concerning publication of the account of Lord Macartney's Embassy to China, ca 1797.
State Library of New South Wales.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * Barrow, John. (1807)
''Some Account of the Public Life, and a Selection from the Unpublished Writings, of the Earl of Macartney,''
2 vols. London: T. Cadell and W. Davies. * Cranmer-Byng, J. L. "Lord Macartney’s Embassy to Peking in 1793." ''Journal of Oriental Studies.'' Vol. 4, Nos. 1,2 (1957–58): 117–187. * Esherick, Joseph W. "Cherishing Sources from Afar." ''Modern China'' Vol. 24, No. 2 (1998): 135–61. * Hevia, James Louis. (1995)
''Cherishing Men from Afar: Qing Guest Ritual and the Macartney Embassy of 1793.''
Durham:

Duke University Press Duke University Press is an academic publisher and university press affiliated with Duke University. It was founded in 1921 by William T. Laprade as The Trinity College Press. (Duke University was initially called Trinity College). In 1926 ...

. * Peyrefitte, Alain. (1992). ''

The Immobile Empire ''The Immobile Empire'' is the English translation of ''L'empire Immobile, Ou, Le Choc Des Mondes: Récit Historique'', a book of history published in French 1989 by the French politician and writer Alain Peyrefitte and translated into English in 1 ...

'' (Jon Rotschild, translator). New York:

Alfred A. Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Blanche Knopf and Alfred A. Knopf Sr. in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers ...

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

.
''Google Books
* Peyrefitte, Alain. (1990). ''Images de l'Empire immobile ou le choc des mondes. Récit historique.'' Paris:

Fayard Fayard (complete name: ''Librairie Arthème Fayard'') is a French Paris-based publishing house established in 1857. Fayard is controlled by Hachette Livre. In 1999, Éditions Pauvert became part of Fayard. Claude Durand was director of Fayar ...

. (paper) * Robbins, Helen Henrietta Macartney (1908)
''Our First Ambassador to China: An Account of the Life of George, Earl of Macartney with Extracts from His Letters, and the Narrative of His Experiences in China, as Told by Himself, 1737-1806, from Hitherto Unpublished Correspondence and Documents.''
London : John Murray. igitized by University of Hong Kong University of Hong Kong#Libraries and museums">Libraries A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...