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some of the vagueness that has been apparent in previous research on Hart's secret domestic life.
Discovery and transcription of the statutory declarations
The statutory declarations written by Sir Robert Hart were discovered in 2002 in the Special Collections, Queen's University Belfast (QUB). They are part of Hart's papers, which were donated to Queen's University Belfast by Hart's great-grandson, the last Sir Robert who died in 1970 without an heir.
One of the statutory declarations was produced by Hart on 19th August 1905 when he was in China; it details his previous non-marital relationship with the Chinese girl Ayaou and the three children from that relationship, and his marital relationship with Hester (Hessie) Jane Bredon and his son, Edgar Bruce from their marriage (this shall be known as "Declaration 1"). The other two statutory declarations were written by Hart at a later date on 20th December 1910 - exactly nine months before he died - at his London home (38 Cadogan Place). The content of one of these declarations is similar to that of Declaration 1, but this time Hart changes the way he describes the relationships (this shall be known as "Declaration 2"). A third statutory declaration details his marital relationship with Hester Jane Bredon, his three children from their marriage, and their subsequent marriages (this shall be known as "Declaration 3"). Four documents are attached to Declaration 2 and 3, marked "A", "B", "C", and "D" respectively. The document marked "A" is the marriage certificate of Hart and Hester Jane Bredon, and the documents marked respectively "B", "C", and "D" are birth certificates for the children from Hart's marriage to Hester Jane Bredon.
To give readers a clearer and more general idea about the contents of the declarations, we have transcribed the relevant items as follows.
Declaration 1:
When I arrived in China in 1854, I found that any acquaintance I made kept his Chinese girl, and in 1857 I fell into the habit myself. The girl kept by me was a Cantonese named Ayaou. She was with me at Ningpo during 1857 and went with me when transferred to Canton in February 1858; I left her then at Macao, and, although