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 3 THE NORTH CHINA BRANCH started in Shanghai in 1857 under the name of the Shanghai Literary and Scientific Society. Its first President was the Rev. E. C. Bridgman, D.D., the first American missionary in China and the founder and manager of the Chinese Repository. Its first Journal appeared in 1858 in the name of the Literary and Scientific Society, but in that year the Society became affiliated to the Royal Asiatic Society as its North China Branch. Except for a brief period between 1861, when Dr. Bridgman died, and 1864 when the Society was reanimated through the unremitting efforts of Sir Harry Parkes as President, the Society maintained for nearly 85 years—until the outbreak of the second world war in December 1941—almost an unbroken vigour and a high reputation as the principal centre of Oriental culture among the foreign and Chinese communities in Central China. It also kept up a high standard of scholarship and of cultural appeal in its Journal, which appeared unfailingly every year. After the war it continued its work until, after 1948, it was forced through political troubles to cease its activities. The last issues of the Journal had been published with the co-operation of the International Institute of China. The Society in Shanghai was from its early days fortunate in the support of a generous public and of the British Government, which in 1868 provided it with a site at a nominal rent for its own building, completed in 1871. Later the property was conveyed to the Society in perpetuity or for so long as it was used for the Society's purpose. Thus, in 1931 the Society was able, with the aid of public subscriptions and generous municipal grants, to build in Museum Road close to the British Consulate a commodious building of its own; it contained a lecture hall named after the late Dr. Wu Lien-teh, a floor to accommodate its Oriental Library of 12,000 volumes and adjacent reading rooms, as well as space for an excellent natural history museum and for the exhibition of Chinese paintings and other works of art. In 1941 the Society had nearly 800 members, including most of the leading Oriental scholars, explorers and travellers. Amongst the outstanding personalities who had been associated with the North China Branch a few may be mentioned—Dr. Joseph Edkins, Thomas W. Kingsmill, Dr. Emil Breitschneider, Henri Cordier (at one time the Society's Librarian), P. G. van Mollendorf, Sir Robert Hart, Sir Harry Parkes, Sir Byron Brennan, W. H. Medhurst, Sir Edmund Hornby (the first British Judge in China), Sir Rutherford Alcock, H. A. Giles, G. H. Parker, H. B. Morse, A. P. Parker, Alexander Hosie, Samuel Couling, Sir Sidney Barton and Dr. J. C. Ferguson, an American, former President of Nanking University and a man of profound learning and wisdom who, in the course of half a century, served the Society as President, Secretary and Editor of the Journal. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 217 LANGLEY, Edward 1851-1852 Manager of the Oriental Banking Co. LATIMER, Nichol 1865 Born 1830, died 1865. With Archibald Little and John Nutt he was the founder of a firm that operated in Shanghai under the name of Nichol Latimer & Co. in Kiukiang and Chinkiang as Latimer, Little & Co, from January 1, 1864, He was one of the managers of the Shanghai Steam Navigation Co. 1865.130 Member of the NCBRAS 1865.131 Publisher of the North China Herald 1863-1865, in the issue of which of September 30, 1865 his death (on Sept. 28), due to an overdose of morphia, was announced. He was buried at Shantung Road Cemetery. MACDUFF, Hector C.R. 1850-1851, (1854-1855) Mercantile assistant MacVicar & Co.133, later partner in Smith, Kennedy & Co. in which his interest ended June 30, 1855.134 Trustee British Episcopal Church 1854-1855. MAN, James Lawrence 1856-1857 At first lived in Canton.136 135 137 Authorized to sign for George Barnet & Co. March 31, 1865, the date on which that firm moved to Shanghai; partner from August 6, 1855;135 interest ended March 31, 1862.139 140 Trustee British Episcopal Church 1855-1856, 1856-1857 and 1857.141 Portrait. MEDHURST, Dr. Walter Henry 1854-1855 Born 1796, died 1857. Sent out by the London Missionary Society to the Far East, where he lived in Malacca and Batavia before taking up residence in ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 218 Shanghai in late 1843. J.H. HAAN Apart from general missionary duties he was mainly active as a printer and in this capacity he issued numerous tracts in several Oriental languages. Up to 1854 he was a vocal critic of the Committee of Roads and Jetties (the forerunner of the Municipal Council), especially with respect to the taxes it levied. A number of times he refused to pay them, among other reasons because he thought not enough was done to lay out a proper road to the L.M.S. compound. Trustee of the Shantung Road Cemetery. Portrait.1 Author of many works in English, Chinese and Malay. 146 144 143 Medhurst Road was named after him and his son, W.H. Medhurst Jr., British Consul. MICHIE, Alexander 1862-1863 Born 1833, died 1901.147 Arrived in Shanghai about 1854 in the employment of Lindsay & Co.;148 partner from January 1, 1861;149 later partner in Chapman, King & Co.;11 was also employed by Jardine, Matheson & Co.151 1886-1891 publisher and editor of the Chinese Times in Tien-tsin.152 150 Vice-president of the NCBRAS 1870,153 Member Committee III. 1873.154 Author among other works of a biography of Rutherford Alcock.155 MONCREIFF, Thomas 1849-1850 Arrival in Shanghai 1846;156 partner in Rathbones, Worthington & Co., from June 1, 1853 Moncreiff, Grove & Co.158 Trustee British Episcopal Church 1856 and subsequent years. Vice-president Shanghai Literary and Scientific Society 1857.159 Member Committee IV. Died in 1863(?).160 NYE, Clement Drew 1851-1852, 1855-1856, 1865-1866 Born 1821, died 1867. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q 186 collection of books, and also a repository of natural and scientific productions. In the Library, every valuable book extant in Chinese, and every foreign publication regarding China and its inhabitants, should have its appropriate place...3 Meetings followed at monthly intervals at which addresses were given on various aspects of Chinese history and culture by members of the local foreign community. Membership increased gradually and soon included many individuals whose names are remembered today as important figures in nineteenth century Chinese affairs, including Sir Robert Hart, Dr. S. Wells Williams, W. H. Medhurst, and Alexander Wylie. On July 20, 1858, the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland approved their request for affiliation. That same year the Journal of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society began its ninety-year publication span.4 However, Rev. Bridgman's health soon failed and he passed away in Shanghai in 1861. The society lost its momentum and passed through what one writer described later as a "period of suspended animation". It regrouped in 1864 under the presidency of Sir Harry Parkes who was followed two years later by George F. Stewart, U. S. Consul General in Shanghai. From the beginning the society accepted donations of books and journals, which were dutifully listed in the annual reports, but the lack of permanent facilities prevented the establishment of a formal library. At first, the society used the meeting rooms of the Shanghai Library which was housed in the Masonic Hall on Ningpo Road. From there it moved to the new Masonic Building (1869) and then the Commercial Bank Building on Nanking Road (1870), before finding a permanent home on Museum Road the next year.5 Alexander Wylie, the noted sinologist and supervisor of the London Missionary Society's printing office in Shanghai, amassed a personal collection of both Chinese language books and books in Western languages concerning China which he urged the Royal Asiatic Society to purchase, as he was returning to England for home leave. After much deliberation, a public appeal, and a generous donation from the Shanghai 17 Page 210 Page 211 ================================================================================