RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q 19 Agreement reached, Po-Kuei was formally installed on the ninth of January 1858. Unfortunately, he arrived a bit late for the ceremony having been somewhat tardily released from the allied stockade. For the allied commanders, the real goal now was to ensure that the new allied commission they had planned would be able to supervise Po-Kuei's administration of the city.   12 Having decided, despite reservations, to rely on the local mandarins to administer Canton, the military commanders, Sir Charles van Straubenzee and M. D'Abouville, the French commander, decided to appoint a mixed commission of military and consular officials to supervise the city's Chinese administration. The proposed commission was to have three members, two of whom would be military. They were to be assisted by an English language secretary and another proficient in Chinese. Additionally, the French commissioner was expected to be aided as well by at least one, perhaps two, French language secretaries. Provisions were made to hire a treasurer as well as various coolies, cooks, and jailers. They also hoped to hire three Chinese translators, though it would actually be some months before competent linguists, men like Robert Hart, later known for his leadership of the Chinese Customs, arrived to help. Salaries were set by the occupation council made up of the military commanders as well as the expedition's political leadership, Lord Elgin and Baron Gros. Moving to implement their plans, they went on to name three individuals to serve as commissioners. For the British, Harry Parkes, of the consular service, and Colonel Holloway were selected, while Captain Martineau de Chesnez was selected by the French. Parkes, although ostensibly equal in official duties, was the only one of the commissioners who actually spoke Chinese and thus had a clear advantage over his colleagues. The French, concerned as well that Captain de Chesnez's relatively low rank vis-à-vis his colleagues could be a problem, soon moved to have him promoted. The commission, as the next months would reveal, was to serve primarily as an intermediary between the local Chinese leadership and the allied military commanders who held the real power over the occupied city.   15 It should not be assumed, however, as some writers have, that the Chinese served as mere puppets under the foreigners. It is obvious from ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q 31 1 Elgin to Clarendon, 9 Jan. 1858, Accounts and Papers, XXXIII 257) p. 140 and Bowring to Malmesbury, 15 April, 1859 Confidential Print, FO 405: 6. fol. 2, no. 1. It is often said that Martineau des Chesnez (see for example Hurd, The Arrow War, p. 125) spoke Chinese as well. This seems a confusion based on the fact that Chesnez spoke English and thus was helpful as a French-English linguist. See for example, Gros to Walewski, 13 January 1858, p.s. of the 14th, CP 23, fol. 41, AE. 1 5 Wade to Elgin, 10 March, 1858, Accounts and Papers, XXXIII 2571, (1859), p. 226. See Steven A. Leibo, Transferring Technology to China: Prosper Giquel and the Self-strengthening Movement, (Berkeley, Institute of East Asian Studies, 1985), ch. 5. Bourboulon to Walewski, 5 October, 1858, CP, vol. 22, fol. 177-178, AE plus Leibo Transferring Technology To China, ch. 1. 7 Laurence Oliphant, Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission to China and Japan in the Years 1857, 58, '59 (London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1859), vol. I, 151. 10 Gros to Walewski, 3 January, 1858, CP, vol. 23, fol. 8, AE. Gros to Walewski, 3 January, 1858, CP vol. 23, fol. 8, AE. Gros to Walewski, 8 January, 1858, CP vol. 23, AE. Hurd, The Arrow War, p. 125. Bowring to Labouchere, 16 April 1858, FO 17 296, des. 49, fol. 117-118, PRO. and Stanley F. Wright, Hart and the Chinese Customs (Belfast: Wm. Mullan and Sons, 1950), p. 176. 13 Gros to Walewski, 8 February 1858, vol. 25, fol. 210, AE. Laurence Oliphant, Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission to China and Japan, P. 155. 15 Genouilly to Min. de la Marine, July 1, 1858, Dossier Individual Martineau des Chesnez, CC 7 2503, SHM. Elgin to Malmesbury, 5 November, 1858, Accounts and Papers, XXXIII 2571, (1859), p. 413. 17 Hsu, The Rise of Modern China 3 ed. p. 207. 19 Trenqualye to Walewski, 28 April 1859, CCC Canton, vol. 2, fol. 112 and D'Abouville to Min. de la Marine, 2 May 1859, BB 4 763, fol. 106-7, AN. 19 Laurence Oliphant, Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission to China and Japan, P. 155. 20 Gros to Walewski, 8 January 1858, CP vol. 23, fol. 23, AE, 21 Hurd, The Arrow War, p. 125. 15 21 D'Abouville to Min. de la Marine, 12 December 1858, BB 4 763, fol. 20, AN. 11 January 1858, Accounts and Papers, XXXIII 2571 (1859), incl. 2 in no. 83 fol. 149. PRO. 24 Coupvent to Min. de la Marine, 20 June 1860, BB 4 787, fol. 11, AN, 25 Hurd, The Arrow War, pp. 124-126. 26 Laurence Oliphant, Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission to China and Japan, P. 169 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q 32 27 Parkes to Elgin, Accounts and Papers, XXXIII 2571 (1859) incl. 1 in no. 93 fol. 161. PRO and George Wingrove Cooke, China: Being “The Times" Special Correspondent from China in the Years 1857-1858. (London, 1858), p. 356. 28 Laurence Oliphant, Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission to China and Japan, p. 169. 19 Gros to Walewski, 13 January 1858, p.s. of the 14th, CP, vol. 23, fol. 41, AE. 30 32 Gros to Walewski, January 3, 1858, CP, vol. 23, fol. 8, AE. Trenqualye to Walewski, 24 March, 1858, CCC, Canton, vol. 2, fol. 62-65, AE. Bourboulon to Walewski, 5 April, 1858, CP, vol. 22, fol. 102-3, AE. Hong Kong Daily Press, 19 April, 1858, CP, vol. 2, fol. 44, AE. 34 Parkes Memorandum, April 21, 1858, incl. 2 in Bowring Dispatch no. 116 FO 17 296, 1858 PRO. 35 Bourboulon to Walewski, 26 October, 1858, CP, vol. 22, fol. 194, AE. 36 Proclamation of Huang Tsung-han, trans. by Parkes, CP, vol. 22, fol. 90, AE. 37 Bourboulon to Walewski, 18 June, 1858, CP, vol. 22, fol. 69-70, AE and D'Abouville to Min. de la Marine, 5 June, 1858, BB 4 763, SHM. Malmesbury to Cowley, 17 June, 1858, CP, vol. 24, fol. 340, AE. 39 Bourboulon to Walewski, 18 June, 1858, CP, vol. 22, fol. 69-70, AE. AD Bourboulon to Walewski, 1 July, 1858, ps. of 2 July, CP, vol. 22, fol. 86, AE. 41 Bourboulon to Walewski, 21 June, CP, vol. 22, fol. 103–104. AE. 42 Circular, 22 June, 1858, CP, vol. 22, fol. 94-95, AE. 41 Bourboulon to Walewski, 1 July, 1858, CP, vol. 22, fol. 86, AE. 44 Bourboulon to Walewski, 1 July, 1858, CP, vol. 22, fol. 84, AE. 45 Bourboulon to Walewski, 1 July, 1858, CP, vol. 22, fol. 84, AE. 47 48 49 Ibid., fol. 86. Gros to Imperial Commissioner, 5 July, 1858, CP, vol. 23, fol. 62-63, AE. Elgin to Foreign Office, no date, CP, vol. 25, fol. 154, AE. Elgin to Foreign Office, July, CP, vol. 25, fol. 155-157, AE. 50 Bourboulon to Walewski, 21 July, 1858, CP, vol. 22. fol. 103-104, AE, and D'Abouville to Min. de la Marine, 8 August, 1858, BB 4 763, AN. 51 Alcock to Acting French Consul Trenqualye, I August, 1858, CP, vol. 22, fol. 125 and Bourboulon to Walewski, 5 August, 1858, CP, vol. 22, fol. 101, AE. 52 Gros to Walewski, 10 August. 1858, CP, vol. 25, fol. 217-220. The second letter which lists 400 troops rather than the earlier 1000 is probably a correction of the total number of French soldiers. 53 Gros to Bourboulon, 14 August, 1858, CP, vol. 25, fol. 250, AE. 54 Gros to Walewski, 14 August, 1858, CP, vol. 25, fol. 216, AE. Bourboulon to Walewski, 20 August, 1858, CP, vol. 22, fol. 132, AE. 56 Bourboulon to Walewski, 2 September, 1858, CP, vol. 25, fol. 256, AE. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q 33 57 Bourboulon to Walewski, 6 September, 1858, CP, vol. 22, fol. 147, AE, and D'Abouville to Min. de la Marine, 27 November, 1858, BB4763, fol. 12, AN. 5# Alcock to Bowring, 12 April, 1859, Accounts and Papers, LXIX 2714 (1860) and Alcock to Bowring, 6 April, FO881894, p. 4, incl. 2 number 1, PRO. 50 Alcock to Bowring, 12 April, 1859, FO881894, Confidential Print, p. 1 in no incl. 1 in no. 1 no folio # PRO. Alcock to Bowring, 12 April, 1859, Accounts and Papers, LXIX 2761 (1860) PRO. Huang Proclamation, trans. by Parkes, 6 April, 1859, BB4763, fol. 93-100, Armee. 62 Proclamation of April 7, Accounts and Papers, LXIX 2714 (1860) p. 4, no. 1, PRO. 6.3 Prospectus stating the conditions on which the British Government is willing to engage **Emmigrants** for her West Indian Possessions," 13 October, 1859, CCC, Canton, vol. 2, fol. 148, AE. Lao to Allied Commission, 27 October, 1859, Accounts and Papers, LXIX 2714 (1860) fol. 16, PRO. D'Abouville to Min. de la Marine, 27 October, 1859, BB4763, fol. 288-91, AN. 66 Bruce to Russell, 5 December, 1859, Confidential Prints, FO405: 6, fol. 31 in no. 7 PRO. 47 Allied Commission Memorandum, 24 January, 1860, Accounts and Papers, LXIX 2714, (1860) fol. 30 and "Rules under which houses for the Reception of Chinese Emmigrants. no date, [prob. November 1859] Accounts and Papers, LXIX 2714 (1860), encl. 12 on no. 6, vol. 18, PRO. L ” Straubenzee & Hope to D'Abouville, 12 January, 1860, CCC, Canton, vol. 2, fol. 158-160, AE. Straubenzce to Sidney Herbert, 14 January, 1860, Accounts and Papers, LXIX 2714 (1860), PRO and D'Abouville, to Com. de Chef de Mers, 13 January, 1860, BB4763, fol. 344-45, AN. 70 Charles de Mutrecy, Journal de la Campaigne de Chine 1859-60, vol. 1. (Paris: Librairie Nouvelle, 1861) vol. 1, p. 225. 71 Charner to Min. de la Marine, 13 November, 1861, CP, vol. 37, fol. 10, AE, and **Account of Evacuation of Canton on 21 October 1861**" Accounts and Papers, LXII 2919, (1862), p. 3-4, PRO. 72 Steven A. Leibo, "The Sino-European Educational Missions, 1875 to 1886," Asian Profiles [TBA]. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1995 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g 199 # THE CHINESE LABOUR CORPS IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR LABOURERS BURIED IN FRANCE DAN WATERS This article complements the piece by Keith Stevens (RAS Journal No. 29), about Chinese Labour Corps members buried in England during or just after the First World War (1914-18).' By 1916 there was a shortage of manpower in Britain. Conscription was introduced into the armed services and more men were recruited from various parts of the British Empire. These included Chinese who actually mostly came from Shan Tung (Shandong), but some were recruited from Honan (Hunan) Province. Together with British missionary and sinologue officers, many labourers were shipped from Weihaiwei (now called Weihai). This was British Territory and served as a naval base from 1898 until the Union Flag was lowered in 1930.3 Serving under British military discipline, in the region of 100,000 Chinese were shipped to France to dig trenches and construct fortifications for the allies. About 2,000 died from illness, wounds, or injuries sustained during or just after the war. Some were blown up by mines as they cleared battlefields after hostilities had ceased. Others succumbed to the influenza epidemic that swept Europe in 1919. A handful were shot dead in a mutiny near Boulogne. Those that did not return to China lie far from their native soil, in such places as Abbeville Communal Cemetery Extension, Albert French National Cemetery, Arques-La-Bataille British Cemetery, Asco Communal Cemetery, and Ayette British Cemetery, in France. The largest and most decorative is the Noyelles-sur-Mer Cemetery, which has a portico built in Chinese style. One September morning in 1995, my son, Barry, and I drove from Brussels to Foncquevillers, a village situated in the fertile, undulating French countryside between the Arras-Doullens and the Arras-Amiens roads. There are a total of 645 graves in this military cemetery, which is bounded by a brick wall and a hornbeam hedge. It is planted with catalpa and other trees. Many of the graves here are seldom or never visited by outsiders. In this well-cared-for tranquil spot, there are two graves of Chinese Labour Corps labourers, one of a French civilian. Page 225 Page 226 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 127 Mongolia during the next few years, the last being in 1915 and then wrote his book Fur and Feather in North China. In the autumn of 1915 he went over to meet his brother and sister, both missionaries in Sian, and took the opportunity to seek more specimens in the Ch'ingling range to the south of the city. During this period President Yuan Shih-kai's soldiers mutinied in Peking, and there was talk of Chinese troops in the Chinese city of Tientsin being in an ugly mood. Sowerby, having learned of the potential for trouble, went to discuss the matter with the Military Intelligence Officer of the British Garrison in Tientsin who then ensured that the Garrison was alert and properly guarded. Although expatriates were safe in the European quarters of the city the Chinese city of Tientsin suffered that night from mutineers on the rampage. The rioting was brought under control by the police together with the soldiers who did not mutiny and Sowerby, who had gone with a friend to see what was going on, watched something, he later wrote, that he could never forget. RR Sowerby [possibly a relative] explained in his short biography of Arthur Sowerby that Arthur travelled back to England during the first World War with the intention of joining the forces. He had already been told while still in China that his chronic arthritis, caused by exposure during expeditions to Manchuria, gave him no chance of success but despite this he went and "to his disgust he was immediately posted to the Chinese Labour Corps [CLC] as there was urgent need of officers who could speak the language." As this Corps was not formed until 1917 and did not reach France until late that year it would seem that Arthur did not make his way to England until 1917 or even 1918. It would also appear from correspondence that he had already been involved with the Corps before, in Shantung, again from R R Sowerby: "He had been anxious to avoid the CLC, having already had all he wanted of it, recruiting coolies in Shantung..." He was posted to the Staff of the CLC base at Noyelles near Abbeville where he was involved in court-martial, criminal investigations and other similar duties but was soon struck down by another attack of arthritis and sent to hospital where he met up with his brother, now a major with the Royal Army Medical Corps. Some time later Sowerby heard that his brother had been gassed at Passchendaele and unlikely to live. In the event he recovered but his lungs were permanently damaged. Arthur was demobilised in 1919 and for one whole year settled down in England. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2000 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n 63 from October 1914 and closed to British burials in May 1919. His grave is amongst those saved for officers who had died in early 1915. [see photograph] My wife and I visited St. Etienne-au-Mont cemetery and amongst the graves is that of Cheng Shun Kung (Zheng Shungong), [53497], of the 60th Company CLC, who died on 23rd July 1918 after being convicted of the murder of a fellow countryman. On his grave is carved ‘A Good Reputation lives Forever.' The date of his death, as shown at the Public Records Office, is 27th July 1918. The CWGC, in a letter to the author, state that their records cannot be amended until such time as they have written authorised confirmation. The CWGC also state that the British Library, Oriental and Indian Office and Army Records, Hayes, hold no records for the CLC. In this cemetery is a large memorial, with inscriptions in Chinese, French and English, stating that it was erected by comrades of the CLC. Close-by, it has four small white magnolia trees, in bloom at the time of our visit in April. We also visited the cemetery at Abbeville, in which there are the graves of expatriates who served with the CLC. Sgt. E.J. Collins served with the 43 Company CLC and died on 7th November 1918. Staff QMS (WO II) George William Bashford was with the RASC before transferring to the Labour Corps attached to the 91a Company CLC. He drowned on 18th November 1919. 2/Lt. Henry Elderfield of the Northumberland Fusiliers was attached to the 163rd Company CLC and died on 11th November 1918 [Armistice Day]. Sgt. T. F. Murphy of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers transferred to the 135th Company CLC and died on 26th March 1920. Cpl R H Smith of the 2nd Bn. Cameronians [Scottish Rifles] transferred to the Base Depôt, CLC and died on the 27 November 1918. Cpl. Robert Whittaker of the Royal Welch Fusiliers also transferred to the Base Depôt CLC and died on 3rd November 1918. Cpl. J. Wilkie from the Durham Light Infantry was another who transferred to the Base Depôt CLC and died on 19th September 1919. There are no Chinese buried in this cemetery. St. Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen, amongst others, holds the graves of 44 members of the CLC and four British attached to the CLC. For the most part, graves in this cemetery are laid head to head. Lt. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2000 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n Abbeville Communal Extension, Somme Albert French National, Somme Arques-La-Bataille British, Seine-Maritime Ascq Communal, Nord Auberchicourt British, Nord * Ayette British, Pas de Calais Ayette Indian and Chinese, Pas de Calais Bagneux British, Gezaincourt, Somme Bailleul Communal Extension, Nord 1 71 4 3 I 34 2 31 Beaulencourt British, Ligny-Thilloy, Pas de Calais 14 Bellicourt British, Aisne Blargies Communal Extension, Oise Bourlon Wood, Pas de Calais Caudry British, Nord Charmes Military, Essegney, Vosges Chocques Military, Pas de Calais 7 3 21 1 3 19 4 1 16 Croisilles British, Pas de Calais Cross Roads, Nord 2 2 Daours Communal Extension, Somme Dernancourt Communal Extension, Somme 6 3 Don Communal, Annoeullin, Nord 2 Douai British, Cuincy, Nord 3 Doullens Communal Extension No2, Somme 1 Duisans British, Etrun, Pas de Calais 2 Ebblinghem Military, Nord 1 Etaples Military, Pas de Calais 1 4 Foncquevillers Military, Pas de Calais 2 Hazebrouck Communal, Nord Fosse No 10 Communal Extension, Sains-en-Gohelle, Pas de Calais Gezaincourt Communal Extension, Somme Haute-Avesnes British, Pas de Calais Huby-St Leu British, Pas de Calais Lapugnoy Military, Pas de Calais Le Fermont Military, Pas de Calais 49 4 12 1 5 2 Le Portel Communal, Pas de Calais 1 Le Quesnoy Communal Extension, Nord 2 Les Baraques Military, Sangatte, Pas de Calais 197 4 Les Rues-des-Vignes Communal, Nord 1 Lille Southern, Nord 2 2 89 ================================================================================