RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 213 FEARON, Charles Augustine 1854-1855 46 Arrived in China probably 1836; lived in Shanghai from 1846;44 at first partner in Fearon & Co.,* later in Aug. Heard & Co.; agent for Heard in London from August 1856. FORBES, Frank Blackwell 1864-1865 Born 1839, died 1908. Came to China as private secretary of the American envoy William Reed in 1857. 48 Partner in Russell & Co. from January 1, 1863. 49 Consul-General for Sweden and Norway from September 13, 1864.5 54 $1 Member of the Conseil Municipal of the French Concession 1868-1869, 1869-1870, 1870-1871, 1871-1872, 1872-1873. Trustee Recreation Fund;7 member of the NCBRAS 1864 until 1874 (as resident), until 1882 (as non-resident);53 Vice president NCBRAS 1872, president NCBRAS 1873 and 1874;5 member of a committee of the NCBRAS to study the "feasibility of establishing a Public Library", 1868;56 member of a committee of the NCBRAS “appointed for the consideration of the expediency of publishing a reprint of the Chinese Repository", 1868.7 Portraits.** Author of, among others, botanical works. GIBB, Hugh Bold 1857-1858, 1858-1859 $9 Authorized to sign for Gibb, Livingston & Co. from March 8, 1855;6 later he became a partner. 61 Trustee British Episcopal Church 1858.62 Unofficial member of the Legislative Council in Hong Kong 1860-1870, 1879.63 GRAY, George Griswold 1856-1857 64 Authorized to sign for Russell & Co. January 3, 1854, partner from January 1, 1855 till December 31, 1859.4 He took part in the Battle of Muddy Flat, April 4, 1854, and was reported wounded. 66 Portrait. 67 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 225 Adv. NCH 7.1.1854; according to Griffin, o.c., p. 306, n. 6 partner 1850-1859. 64 65 Adv. NCH 27.1.1855, 7.1.1860. 66 C.J. Dudgeon "The Battle of Muddy Flat" in United Empire, June 1914, p. 480; NCH 8.4.1854 only “Mr. Gray". 67 F.L. Hawks Pott: "A Short History of Shanghai”, (1928), fac. p. 81. 68 CR Jan. 1847. 69 NCH 3.8.1850; SA 1853, 1854, 1855. 70 Adv. NCH 24.4.1858. 71 Adv. NCH 20.11.1858. T2 Adv. NCH 12.1.1861. 73 Adv. NCH 7.1.1860; Griffin, o.c., p. 306, n. 6: till 1866. 74 Notification 6.4.1865; in NCH 15.4.1865. 75 CR Jan. 1844. 76 CR Jan. 1846, Jan. 1848. 77 CR Jan. 1849. Griffin, o.c., p. 306, n. 6; NCH 27.1.1855. 79 Adv, NCH 20.11.1858. 80 Adv. NCH 12.1.1861. 81 NCH 18.8.1860. 12 Obituary by Henri Cordier in T'oung Pao, Vol. VII (1907), p. 123-124. Adv. NCH 3.10.1857. 14 Adv. NCH 1.1.1859. 05 Maybon & Fredet, o.c., p. 289. 16 Ibid., p. 445. 17 JNCBRAS, Vol. 1 (1865), p. 146. 18 Cordier, Letter, (see n. 32) p. xvi and obituary (see note 82). 49 For Hanbury School see e.g. A. Wright: “Twentieth Century Impressions of Hong Kong, Shanghai and other Treaty Ports of China” (1908), p. 489. 90 BS IV, 2557. 91 Lockwood, o.c., p. S. 92 Adv. NCH 7.6.1862. 93 Adv. NCH 5.1.1856; see also Wright, o.c., p. 612. 94 NCH 31.12.1864, 8.7.1865. 95 NCH 3.8.1850. 96 Adv. NCH 5.8.1854. 97 Adv, NCH 19.1.1861. ** NCH 21.11.1863, 31.12.1863. 99 CR Jan. 1847. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 159 still more because of the unsettled conditions in China during the 1850s and 1860s. Internal dissent manifested itself through the Taiping rebellion, in which Shanghai was threatened. The native city was occupied by insurgents during 1853-1855 and in order to prevent Imperial troops from threatening the neutrality of the Settlement, the recently formed Shanghai Volunteer Corps (which later, in the 1860s, gave some amateur dramatic performances) fought the Battle of Muddy Flat on April 4, 1854, a skirmish about which some Shanghailanders still spoke with unreserved pride fifty years later, but for which a performance of the dramatic corps had to be postponed for more than a month. ― In the early sixties, tension heightened again; in August 1860, the Taipings threatened the Settlement; 1861 was relatively calm, but in January and August 1862, the town was once more the target of the rebels. Foreign, mainly British, troops, however, had been brought down to Shanghai from North China, where they had been fighting another war, and with the aid of the Shanghai Volunteer Corps, as well as mercenaries, all attacks could be staved off. Early in 1864, the Taiping insurrection was definitely quelled, All this was not without its consequences, of which only those pertaining to theatrical life need detain us here. It was not to be wondered that, as long as the Settlement was under the threat of attack, its foreign population had other matters to attend to than mere amusement, so in these years (1861-1862), there is an almost total eclipse of entertainment. Yet, no sooner had tensions eased somewhat than "nightlife" again appeared in full swing. The thousands of soldiers and marines had swelled the originally small population; as a result, this led, on the one hand, to amateur dramatics by the garrison forces; on the other, to an increased audience for travelling companies, which gave, for the first time in Shanghai's history, rather lengthy seasons. As was mentioned above, the resident foreign population was fairly small, and this should not be forgotten during any discussion of cultural life in the Settlement. In 1846, the total number of foreigners was given as 120; five years later, the British census showed 256, of whom 38 were females; in December 1859, there were 495 male and 74 female westerners, whereas the census of March 1865, which incorporated the results of events in recent years, showed a total of about 2100 resident foreigners, increased by 1850 military (a number which had no doubt been still higher in 1863 and 1864) --- 160 women again formed a tiny ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 196 22.3.1854 (Wedn) J.V. BRIDGEMAN: "I've Eaten My Friend!" (1851) T: Farce (1 act) J.M. MORTON: "A Most Unwarrantable Intrusion" (1849) T: Farce (1 act) J.M. MORTON: "The Two Bonny Castles" (1851) T: Farce (1 act) C: Amateurs F: Music Th: Tac Ming Theatre (C) R: Was the new member perhaps "Mr Mercury WARREN" who scored such a great success in I've Eaten My Friend! as Hezekiah Jellytop? "The refined sensibility of the character was portrayed with a power and intensity which mark Mr. Warren as one of the true sons of Thespis. How shall we describe the horror when the internal evidence of a pie revealed a clue to the whereabouts of his departed friend". In the second piece, An Unwarrantable Intrusion "the part of Ashplant was performed by a gentleman whose via comica and power of communication were unmistakable. He completely embodied the character and infused life and vigour into his conception of it**. Until now, even the stage names of the actors had scarcely been mentioned in the reviews, but tonight we learn that in The Two Bonny Castles Messrs Bravo ROUSE, Mercury WARREN, and Horatio BUSKIN excelled as well as the ladies who acted with great spirit and sustained the dignity and elegance of the sex with most admirable effect" (Bravo ROUSE was a borrowed alias). + Among the musicians was again "Herr KOENIG" who "brilliantly executed" on, presumably, the violin. (NCH 25.3.1854). 15.5.1854 (Mon) C.W.S. BROOKS: "Anything for a Change" (1848) T: Comedietta (1 act) J.M. MORTON: "Box and Cox" (1847) T: Farce (1 act) C: Amateurs F: "A Grand Ethiopian Entertainment" with the "Virginian Minstrels" Th: Tac Ming Theatre (C) N: These performances, the last of the season, had originally been announced for April 5; on that date would also have been played J.T.G. Rodwell's farce A Race for Dinner. The evening was postponed, however, because of the Battle of Muddy Flat on April 4, 1854. R: Some of the local celebrities definitely could not go wrong, witness the following remark in the Herald: "As we dropped in for half an hour we cannot speak of the concluding (Box and Cox) but, as our favourite Mr. VERDENT and the clever Mr. WARREN enacted parts in it, we have no doubt it must have told on the audience". Earlier that night Mr. Bravo ROUSE and Mr. WARREN had starred in Anything for a Change (probably as Swoppington and Honeyball). 19.5.1855 (Sat) A "Soirée Musicale Dansante" by officers of the U.S.S. "Powhatan" with an "Ethiopian Concert by the Minstrels of the Powhatan" and a burlesque on Bulwer-Lytton's The Lady of Lyons. H.J. Byron wrote a burlesque with the same title, but according to HED, the first performance took place on February 1, 1858. R: In the Survey, it was pointed out that the officers of naval vessels sometimes entertained the local foreign residents. The first of these occasions occurred on board the Powhatan, an American warship that took part in the Japan expedition, on the eve of her departure. ================================================================================