RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1961 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704 Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch RASHKB and author Vol. 1 (1961) ISSN 1991-7295 1 THE HONG KONG BRANCH OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY The Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society was originally founded in 1847, but it ceased to exist at the end of 1859. Exactly a century later, on December 28, 1959, it was resuscitated with the approval of the parent society in London - The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. The Royal Asiatic Society was founded in March 1823 "for the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encouragement of science, literature and the arts, in relation to Asia". It received its Charter of Incorporation as a royal society from George IV on August 11, 1824. The Royal Asiatic Society is the oldest and most important Society of its kind in Europe, and its standing as the doyen of Societies promoting the study of Asia has been maintained by the devotion of generations of eminent scholars, explorers and others who have contributed through its Journal, in public addresses and in many other ways, a rich harvest of knowledge, both academic and practical, in the service of Western understanding of the East. A large part of the Society's work has always been done through its branches and affiliated Societies in the East. Branches were formed at Bombay and at Madras about 1838, and in Ceylon in 1845. The Hong Kong Branch followed in 1847, the North China Branch at Shanghai in 1857, the Japanese in 1875, the Malayan in 1878, and the Korean in 1900, etc. etc. THE HONG KONG BRANCH grew out of a Medico-Chirurgical Society founded in 1845. This Society, however, in accord with the contemporary spirit of inquiry and the enthusiasm for better knowledge of Asia in general and China in particular, had contemplated setting up a Philosophical Society; but the movement ended in the establishment of the Asiatic Society with laws drafted by Andrew Shortrede, Editor of the China Mail, framed on the model of those of the Royal Asiatic Society. Sir John F. Davis, the Governor, by reason of his known literary and scientific acquirements rather than his official rank, was asked to be President. He suggested that the Society should seek to be admitted as a Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society with which, as a founder member, he was in close touch and with whose active President, the Earl of Auckland, he had discussions on these lines before he left England. So in January 1847 the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society was founded, and all the members of the Medico-Chirurgical Society who wished to join were admitted without ballot or entrance fee on condition of their Society's apparatus and books being handed over to the new body. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 4 trade and penetration to China and the Far East, and the Society was in part designed to bring together in London members of these societies who had returned to England and allow them to meet and continue publication of their work. It was founded in March 1823 and received its Royal Charter of Incorporation from George IV on 11th August, 1824. It is the oldest and most important Society of its kind in Europe, and its standing as the doyen of Societies promoting the study of Asia has been maintained by the devotion of generations of eminent scholars, explorers, and others who have contributed through its Journal, in public addresses and in many other ways, a rich harvest of knowledge, the practical uses of which serve to promote and aid our understanding of, and our relation with, the East. Before the acquisition of Hong Kong the movement had extended to the mercantile community in Canton, under the influence of Sir John Davis who had become a founder member of the Royal Asiatic Society in London, and of correspondents of the Society who included James Matheson. The Hong Kong Branch grew out of a Medico-Chirurgical Society founded in 1845. This Society, however, in accord with the contemporary spirit of inquiry, and the enthusiasm for better knowledge of Asia in general and of China in particular, had contemplated setting up a Philosophical Society under the leadership of Andrew Shortrede, Editor of the China Mail who drafted the Society's laws based on those of the Royal Asiatic Society. Sir John F. Davis, then Governor of the Colony, by reason of his known literary and scientific acquirements rather than his official rank, was asked to be President. He suggested that the Society should seek to be admitted as a Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society with which, as a founder member, he was in close touch and with whose active President, the Earl of Auckland, he had had discussions on these lines before he left England. So in January 1847 the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society was founded and all the members of the Medico-Chirurgical Society who wished to join were admitted on condition of their Society's library being handed over to the new body. Besides the Governor as President, and Andrew Shortrede as General Secretary and Major General D'Aguilar as Vice President, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1973 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r CHINA MEDICO-CHIRURGICAL SOCIETY 21 Duggan and Francis Dill had died (the Dr. Dill mentioned in the last paragraph as present at the meeting on 5th January 1847 was R. Dill), Dr. Hobson was in England, and J. H. Young and Dr. Gilbert had resigned. At least nine members were not resident in Hong Kong, in addition to the two honorary members, the Earl of Auckland and Rutherford Alcock. Several of the remainder were naval or military men who had quite likely been posted elsewhere. In such circumstances it would indeed have been difficult to keep the society going. The meetings recorded in the Transactions were held on the following dates: 1845. May 13. Preliminary meeting. May 16. Committee meeting. June 3. President's introductory address. July 1. Business meeting, followed by Dr. Little's paper. July 8. Special meeting on Dr. Hobson's proposal to establish a medical school. July 15. Committee meeting. Aug. 6. Dr. Dill's paper. Sept. 9. Oct. 7. Nov. 4. Special meeting on a proposed building fund. Dr. Barton's paper on diseases of the liver. Various matters, including Alcock's letter, and clinical discussion. Dec. 2. Letter from the Earl of Auckland, case studies and clinical discussion. 1846. Jan. 6. Dr. McGowan's letter on a Philosophical Society, and discussion of the analysis of the mineral waters from Foochow. Feb. 6. Case studies by Dr. Dill, Mar. 6. Dr. Barton's paper on Varolous. April 7. Clinical discussion. In the Friend of China, later meetings were announced for May 5, August 4 and Nov. 3, 1846. Thus the frequency dropped from the initial monthly (plus Committee and special meetings) to quarterly, so the statement in the "Journal of Proceedings" regarding the setting up of the "Philosophical Society of China" because of the difficulties of obtaining frequent meetings of the earlier society was justified. The successor society, on the other hand, was able to hold monthly meetings during its first year. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 15 has not materialized is a testimony to the fact that the present and the future in Hong Kong have always been more important than the past, with the result that the recovery of information on Hong Kong's history is now very difficult. CHRIST'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE NOTES See C. Blake, Charles Elliot R. N., 1801-1875 (London, 1960). 2. W. D. Bernard, Narrative of the Voyages and Services of the Nemesis from 1840 to 1843, I (London, 1844), p. 304. 3. When the British flag was hoisted on Chusan on 5 July 1840, the name of the person responsible for hoisting the flag also went unrecorded as it was considered unimportant. See G. Graham, The China Station (Oxford, 1978), pp. 127-8. I am grateful to Alan Reid for this reference. 4. Captain Sir Edward Belcher, RN, Narrative of a Voyage round the world performed in HM's Ship Sulphur, during the years 1836-1842 (London, 1843). 6. J. Elliot Bingham, Narrative of the Expedition to China (London, 1842). Bernard, Narrative, op. cit. Bernard wrote the book from the notes of W. H. Hall who had commanded the Nemesis, and included his own observations. 7. Bernard, Narrative, op. cit. I, p. 291. 8. Elliot Bingham, Narrative, op. cit. II, p. 120. In the text 26 January is misprinted for 25 January. 19. Belcher, Narrative, op. cit. p. 148. This account is the one usually quoted in an account of the cession of Hong Kong. See for example G. R. Sayer, Hong Kong: Birth, Adolescence and Coming of Age (London, 1937), p. 93 and J. R. Jones, “Who Hoisted the Union Jack?“, Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 12 (1972), p. 196. || Supplement to The Times of 12 June 1841. This expression appears to be formulaic as Bremer uses identical words in a letter to the Earl of Auckland who was Governor General of India of 10 March 1841. See Duncan McPherson, Two years in China (London, 1842), p. 274. 12. The Times of 9 April 1841. The editorial went on to say: 'the recognition of a territorial right in the British crown, as well as the terror of the British name, will give our countrymen advantages which were never possessed by the Portuguese in China'. 13. The Times of 10 April 1841. E. Jardine Matheson Archives, Cambridge University Library (hereinafter JMA), C5/6, James Matheson's private letter book, 54. 15. Ibid., C5/6, 60, 22 January 1841. The Times of 15 April 1841. 17. JMA, C5/6, 69. 18. The Times of 13 April 1841. McPherson, Two Years in China, p. 76 and W. W. Mundy, Canton and the Bogue: ================================================================================