RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r 12 W. C. HUNTER The Hunter Journal was presented to the Boston Athenaeum by Dr. Robert W. Hooper on March 27, 1858. Hooper was born in Marblehead, Massachusetts in 1810, graduated from Harvard College in 1830, received a medical degree from the same institution six years later, and thereafter became a prominent surgeon in Boston. Hooper was also a bibliophile and a trustee of the Boston Athenaeum who added substantially to its holdings by gifts. It is impossible to establish definitely how he obtained the Hunter Journal, but it seems probable that it came from his wife's family. In 1837 he married Ellen Sturgis, daughter of William Sturgis who was active in the Orient trade. Many Massachusetts men engaged in the China trade were related. In 1788 Thomas Handasyd Perkins went to China on the Astraea and launched a commercial venture with the aid of his elder brother James. 1803 their nephew J. P. Cushing also travelled there and managed the business until 1828. Other nephews of T. H. Perkins, James Sturgis, and Charles Bennet Forbes also prospered in the China trade. In 1833 the third generation of the family left Boston for the Orient and for the next decade divided his time between Manila and Canton. William Hunter was a business associate of both R. B. Forbes and Russell Sturgis and mentioned the latter in his Journal, Julian Sturgis, son of Russell had vivid memories of Hunter. In I remember Mr. Hunter visiting my parents at Walton (England) when I was a boy, a handsome, courteous man with a brown face and white moustache, like a fine type of Anglo-Indian, and speaking Chinese for our amusement with so soft a voice that I have often wondered how much of that soft musical quality was due to him and how much inherent in that unknown tongue.2 Hunter finally left Canton and closed Russell and Company in May 1841. This move was recorded in the letters of William Henry Low, a young man in his twenties who arrived in Canton in September 1839 and joined his brother A. A. Low in Russell and Company. 1 Russell Sturgis joined Baring Brothers and Co. of London after he ended his commercial ventures in China about 1849. He became senior partner of the English firm in 1873. 2 Julian Sturgis, From Books and Papers of Russell Sturgis (Oxford, 1893), p. 206. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r BOOK REVIEWS 131 artists. It is disturbing indeed to find that two of these previously published elsewhere as "attributed" — are promoted here to "full" Chinnery status without a word of explanation! 12 How does one reconcile the title "The Hong Merchant, Gou Qua" with the picture showing a man in the costume of a North China scholar? Anyone familiar with Chinese ship portraits and Chinese port scenes will question the two handsome Chinese Junk oils.13 The clue is the small British and American vessels in the lower corners of the "War Junk" — alluring to a prospective nautical purchaser, typical of many ship portraits, but so different in style and subject from other Chinnery marines. The time has come to bury forever that misused, euphonic term "School of Chinnery". Take port scenes. Mariners and merchants arrived in Canton centuries before Chinnery. Even my two great grandfathers14 had won their battle with the pirates off Macao nearly a generation before Chinnery's arrival. What is more natural than to take home a port scene oil to show one's family. These men were not art experts and Chinese representations were good enough for them. It is possible today to date port scenes definitely prior to Chinnery, proving that Chinnery had no influence on those Chinese artists. It is also possible to date similar port scenes after Chinnery's death that show no style change from the earlier representations. Why not be honest and call them "China Trade Port Scenes",15 which they are, instead of "School of Chinnery", which they are not? To all other port scenes such as St. Helena and the Cape of Good Hope16 “School of Chinnery”, verges on fantasy, particularly so when the text denies the existence of any Chinnery pictures made on his voyage to India.17 12 Plate 42 top. 13 Plate 73. 14 William Sturgis and Daniel C. Bacon. See R. B. Forbes — Personal Reminiscences. 15 It has taken many years to substitute the correct "China Trade Porcelain" for "Oriental Lowestoft". 16 Plate 55 bottom, Plate 56 top. 17 Page 59. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p 64 1862 (April) -- 1863 (April) › (31.3.1862) Henry Turner (Chairman) x J. H. HAAN Agra & United Service Bank British James Cock (Treasurer) x Watson & Co. British Andrew Brand Smith, Kennedy & Co. British Henry Sturgis Grew Russell & Co. American Alexander Michie x Lindsay & Co. British Note: In April 1863 only those members marked "x" were still in office (A. Brand had died). 1863 (April)- 1864 (April) (4.4.1863) Henry William Dent (Chairman) James Cock (Treasurer) Robert Brand David Reid J. Kearney Rodgers August Wieters George Fairley Heard 1864 (April) — 1865 (April) (16.4.1864) Henry William Dent (Chairman) x Robert Crawfurd Antrobus x James Cock Frank Blackwell Forbes x Rudolph Heinssen x Julius Kahn G. W. Talbot Dent & Co. British Lindsay & Co. British Watson & Co. British Russell & Co. American Siemssen & Co. German Reid & Co. (per 1.1.1864) British ? German Aug. Heard & Co. American Harkort & Co. ? Dent & Co. British Reiss & Co. British ? ? Note: In April 1865 only those members marked "x" were still in office, 1865 (April) — 1866 (March) William Keswick (Chairman) J. C. Coutts Thomas Hanbury James Hogg Nichol Latimer Clement D. Nye W. Probst Jardine, Matheson & Co. British ? ? ? ? Bower, Hanbury & Co. British Hogg Brothers British N. Latimer & Co. British Bull, Nye & Co (?). ? German Note: N. Latimer died during his term of office. As from April 1865 a different mode of electing a Municipal Council was followed (cf. main text). Source: North China Herald 1850-1866. ================================================================================