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Sir Robert Hart, 1st Baronet

January 01, 1970

Sir Robert Hart, 1st Baronet, GCMG (20 February 1835 – 20 September 1911) was a British diplomat and official in the Qing Chinese government, serving as the second Inspector-General of China's Imperial Maritime Custom Service (IMCS) from 1863 to 1911. Beginning as a student interpreter in the consular service, he arrived in China at the age of 19 and resided there for 54 years, except for two short leaves in 1866 and 1874.[1]

Sir Robert Hart
Bt GCMG
2nd Inspector-General of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service
In office
15 November 1863 – 20 September 1911
MonarchsTongzhi Emperor
Guangxu Emperor
Xuantong Emperor
Preceded byHoratio Nelson Lay
Succeeded byFrancis Aglen
Personal details
Born
Robert Walter Hart

20 February 1835
Portadown, County Armagh, Ulster, Ireland
Died20 September 1911(1911-09-20) (aged 76)
Great Marlow, Buckinghamshire, England
Resting placeBisham, Berkshire, England
NationalityBritish
Alma materQueen's College, Belfast

Hart was the most important and most influential Westerner in Qing dynasty China.[2][3] According to Jung Chang, he transformed Chinese Customs "from an antiquated set-up, anarchical and prone to corruption, into a well-regulated modern organisation, which contributed enormously to China's economy."[4] Professor Rana Mitter of the University of Oxford writes that Hart "was honest and helped to generate a great deal of income for China."[5] Sun Yat-sen described him as "the most trusted as he was the most efficient and influential of 'Chinese.'"[6]

Early life and education edit

Hart was born in a little house in Dungannon Street, Portadown, County Armagh, Ulster, Ireland. He was the eldest of 12 children of Henry Hart (1806–1875), who worked in the distilleries, and a daughter of John Edgar of Ballybreagh. Hart's father was a "man of forceful and picturesque character, of a somewhat unique strain, and a Wesleyan to the core." At the age of 12, Hart's family moved to Milltown (near Maghery), on the banks of the Lough Neagh, staying there for a year before moving on to Hillsborough, where he first attended school. He was sent for a year to a Wesleyan school in Taunton, England, where he learnt his first Latin. His father's anger that his son was allowed to return home unaccompanied at the end of the school year led him being sent to the Wesleyan Connexion School in Dublin (now Wesley College Dublin) instead.[7]

Hart studied hard at school. By the age of 15, he was ready to leave school, and his parents decided to send him to the newly founded Queen's College, Belfast. He easily passed the entrance exams and earned himself a scholarship (he earned a further scholarship in the second year, and another in the third). He found little time for sports, but was heavily influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson's Essays and had his first poem published in a Belfast newspaper. During his time at university, he became a favourite student of James McCosh, and they continued to correspond throughout the rest of their lives. In 1853, he took his degree examinations, and gained his B.A. at the age of 18. He also won medals in Literature as well as in Logic and Metaphysics, and left with the distinction of being a Senior Scholar. He decided to study for a master's degree but in spring 1854 was instead nominated by Queen's College for the Consular Service in China.[8][9]

Consular Service in China edit

Hart went down to the Foreign Office in London, where he met with the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Edmund Hammond, and left for China in May 1854.[10] Hart took a ship from Southampton to Alexandria, then travelled to Suez, then on to Galle and Bombay, before arriving in Hong Kong. He spent three months as a student interpreter at the Superintendency of Trade, before the return of John Bowring, the Governor of Hong Kong. On Bowring's return, Hart was assigned to the British Consulate in Ningbo. In 1855, following a dispute with his Portuguese colleague, the British Consul was suspended, with Hart taking over his duties for a few months. Hart's calmness and good judgement in the face of conflict between the Chinese and Portuguese earned him favourable recommendations. Hart returned to his duties following the appointment of a new Consul, and was still resident in Ningbo (Ningpo) during the Ningpo massacre on 26 June 1857.[11]

In March 1858, Hart was transferred to Canton to serve as the Secretary of the Allied Commission that governed the city. In this role, he served under Harry Smith Parkes, and found the work "exceedingly interesting": Parkes often took Hart on his trips around or outside Canton. In October 1858, Hart was made an interpreter at the British Consulate in Canton under Rutherford Alcock. In 1859, the Chinese viceroy Lao Tsung Kuang, a special friend of Hart's, invited him to set up a customs house in Canton similar to the one in Shanghai under Horatio Nelson Lay. In response, Hart said that he knew nothing of customs, but wrote to Lay to explore the possibility. Lay then offered him the role of Deputy Commissioner of Customs, which he accepted, and Hart asked the British government if they would allow him to resign from the consular service. They permitted this, but made clear that he would not be allowed to return whenever he pleased: he submitted his resignation in May 1859, and joined the customs service.[12]

Chinese customs edit

Upon entering the customs service, Hart began drawing up a series of regulations for the operation of the customs house in Canton. For two years, from 1859 to 1861, Hart worked hard in Canton, but never fell ill in the hot and damp climate. In 1861, facing the threat of the Taiping Rebellion marching on Shanghai, Horatio Nelson Lay sought leave to return to Britain to nurse his injuries sustained during an anti-British riot in 1859. Lay claimed that so serious were his injuries that he was forced to return to England for two years to recover. In his place, two officiating Inspectors-General were appointed: George Henry Fitzroy, a former private secretary to Lord Elgin, and Hart. Whilst Fitzroy was content to stay in Shanghai, Hart went around China establishing new customs offices. With the recent ratification of the Treaty of Tientsin, a number of new ports were opened to foreign trade, and so new customs structures had to be put in place.[13] In 1861, Hart recommended to the Zongli Yamen the purchase of the Osborn or "Vampire" Fleet. When the proposal was adopted, Lay, on leave in Britain, set out arranging the purchase of the ships and hiring of personnel.

Inspector-General edit

 
Robert Hart, Defendant in von Gumpach v Hart
 
"Chinese Customs"
Hart as caricatured in Vanity Fair, December 1894

The good relations Hart established with the imperial authorities in Peking while deputising for Lay, and conflict between Lay and Prince Gong and the Zongli Yamen over the Osborn Fleet, led them to dismiss the difficult and haughty Lay upon his return from leave. Hart was appointed in his place in November 1863, with British approval. As Inspector-General of China's Imperial Maritime Custom Service (IMCS), Hart's main responsibilities included collecting custom duties for the Chinese government, as well as expanding the new system to more sea and river ports and some inland frontiers, standardising its operations, and insisting on high standards of efficiency and honesty.[14] The top echelon of the service was recruited from all the nations trading with China. Hart's advice led to the improvement of China's port and navigation facilities.

From the start, Hart was anxious to use such influence as he possessed in favour of other modernising steps. In October 1865 Hart submitted to Prince Gong a memorandum which caused some offence at the time. In it he advised that "[o]f all the countries in the world, none is weaker than China" and outlined his proposals.[15] A modern postal service and the supervision of internal taxes on trade were eventually added to the Service's responsibilities. Hart worked to persuade China to establish its own embassies in foreign countries. Earlier, in 1862, he had with the Manchu noble Prince Gong established the Tongwen Guan (School of Combined Learning) in Peking, with a branch in Canton, to enable educated Chinese to learn foreign languages, culture and science, for China's future diplomatic and other needs. (An early appointment to the school was the completely unsuitable 'Baron von Gumpach' (an assumed name) whose discharge led him to sue Hart in the British Supreme Court for China and Japan for defamation. In 1873, the case ultimately went to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Hart v Gumpach[16] which upheld Hart's right to make the decision.[17]) In 1902 the Tongwen Guan was absorbed into the Imperial University, now Peking University.

Hart was known for his diplomatic skills, and befriended many Chinese and Western officials. This aided him in directing customs operations without interruption even during periods of turmoil. His American Commissioner, Edward Drew, credited him with preventing a war with Britain in 1876 (via the Chefoo Convention), and he and his London representative, James Campbell, helped bring about peace after a French attack on the Chinese navy in Fuzhou in 1884. In 1885, Hart had also been asked to become Minister Plenipotentiary at Peking, upon the retirement of Sir Thomas Wade. He declined the honor after four months of hesitation, on the grounds that his work in the Customs Service was of certain benefit to both China and Britain, but that the outcome of a change of post was unclear.[18] In 1885, Hart wrote a letter to Lord Salisbury, strongly advocating an alliance with China as a preemptive defence of British India from the Russian Empire.[19]

 
Hart and the brass band of Chinese musicians that he formed in Peking, 23 October 1907

During Hart's tenure in the Maritime Customs, Prince Gong was head of the Zongli Yamen, the newly established Chinese equivalent of the British Foreign Office, and the two men held each other in high regard. Hart was so well known in the Zongli Yamen that he was affectionately nicknamed "our Hart" (wǒmen de Hèdé, 我們的赫德). He also often worked closely with the powerful Viceroy, Li Hongzhang and their final work together involved negotiating a settlement China could tolerate at the end of the Boxer Rebellion, when the Eight-Nation Alliance of Western forces took control of Peking to lift the Siege of the International Legations, after the Dowager Empress and her nephew the Guangxu Emperor had fled the city.

Hart held his post till his retirement in 1910, although he left China on leave in April 1908, and was succeeded temporarily by his brother-in-law, Sir Robert Bredon, and then formally by Sir Francis Aglen. Hart died on 20 September 1911 after a cardiac decline following a bout of pneumonia. He was buried on 25 September 1911 at Bisham, Berkshire, England.[9] His tombstone was restored in 2013.[20]

Personal life edit

In China, Hart purchased women for sex in order to always "have a girl in the room with me, to fondle when I please".[21]: 35  In October 1854, Hart noted following his purchase of a teenage sex servant that "some of the China women are very good-looking: you can make one your absolute possession for 50 to 100 dollars and support her at a cost of only 2 or 3 dollars per month."[21]: 35  His purchase of Chinese sex workers occurred over a 20 year period.[21]: 211 

Hart fathered three children with a Chinese sex servant.[21]: 211  He returned to England to configure a family with 18-year-old Hester Bredon.[21]: 211  They married in Dublin on 22 August and in September left for Peking.[22] Bredon lived with Hart in China and the two had children together.[21]: 211  After a decade, Bredon took the children she had with Hart and returned to England.[21]: 211  Hart resumed his purchases of Chinese sex workers for a time.[21]: 211  In 1883, Hart began living celibately.[21]: 211 

Hart was disappointed in the adult lives of his three legitimate children, but acknowledged in a letter to Campbell that he had been a neglectful father, not being present to set an example, but China was his priority.[23]

His diary records letters from her in 1870 and in May 1872 "Will this never end?".[24] While making no direct contact with them, Hart took an interest in the progress of his children with his sex servant, through his lawyer and soon also via Campbell, his friend and colleague in charge of the London office.[25] In his last decade, he was obliged to acknowledge them by legal declarations.[26]

He had deep friendships with many girls and women, amongst whom were three generations of the Carrall family.[23]

Many of his male staff felt he was a supportive friend as well as a demanding superior.[27]

Archives edit

 
Wikisource has original works by or about:
Sir Robert Hart, 1st Baronet

The papers and correspondence of Sir Robert Hart (MS 15) are held in the Special Collections & Archives of Queen's University, Belfast[28][29] and at (PP MS 67) in the Archives and Special Collections of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London.[30]

Awards and recognition edit

 
Sir Robert Hart Memorial School in Portadown, Northern Ireland.

Robert Hart, was highly decorated, receiving four hereditary titles, fifteen orders of knighthood (of the first class) and many other honorary academic and civic awards.

His skills as Inspector-General were recognized by both Chinese and Western authorities, and he was awarded several honorific Chinese titles, including the Red Button, or button of the highest rank; a Peacock's Feather; the Order of the Double Dragon; the Ancestral Rank of the First Class of the First Order for Three Generations; and the title of Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent in December 1901.[31] He was also appointed a CMG, KCMG, and GCMG, and received a British baronetcy. In 1900, he was awarded the Prussian Order of the Crown (First Class), and received this in person the following year from the German Minister in China.[32] In 1906, he was awarded a Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog by the King of Denmark.

His name is still remembered through a street, Hart Avenue, in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong. There was also formerly a "Rue Hart " in the Beijing Legation Quarter[33] (now Taijichang First Street) and a Hart Road in Shanghai (now Changde Road).

In 1935, the "Sir Robert Hart Memorial Primary School" in Portadown, Northern Ireland, was established in his name.[34]

Hart is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of Chinese legless lizard, Dopasia harti.[35]

He was posthumously promoted to "Minister" rank and awarded the title of Senior Guardian of the Heir Apparent according to Chinese political tradition.

Honours list edit

Arms edit

Coat of arms of Sir Robert Hart, 1st Baronet
Notes
Granted 10 July 1893 by Arthur Edward Vicars, Ulster King of Arms.[36]
Crest
On a mount Vert a hart trippant Proper holding in the mouth a four-leaved shamrock slipped Or.
Escutcheon
Gules a bend between three fleurs-de-lis in chief and a four-leaved shamrock slipped in base all Or.
Supporters
Dexter a dragon (representing a Chinese dragon) Argent charged on the shoulder with a torteau, sinister a peacock close Proper.
Motto
Audacter Tolle[37]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ King, Frank H. H.. "Hart, Sir Robert, first baronet". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004 ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/33739.
  2. ^ Thompson, Larry Clinton (2009). William Scott Ament and the Boxer Rebellion. McFarland. p. 37. ISBN 9780786440085.
  3. ^ Heaver, Stuart (9 November 2013). "Affairs of Our Hart". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
  4. ^ Chang, p. 78
  5. ^ Mitter, Prof Rana (20 April 2018). "Five ways China's past has shaped its present". BBC News – via bbc.co.uk.
  6. ^ Cantlie, James; Jones, C. Sheridan (1912). Sun Yat Sen and the Awakening of China. New York: Fleming H. Revell Company. p. 248.
  7. ^ Bredon, pp. 9–14
  8. ^ Bredon, pp. 14–24
  9. ^ a b Drew, Edward B. (July 1913). "Sir Robert Hart and His Life Work in China". Journal of Race Development. 4 (1): 1–33. doi:10.2307/29737977. JSTOR 29737977.
  10. ^ Bredon, pp. 24–5
  11. ^ Bredon, pp. 31–42
  12. ^ Bredon, pp. 42–52
  13. ^ Bredon, pp. 55–60
  14. ^ E.B. Drew,1913
  15. ^ Jung Chang, 'Empress Dowager Cixi', Vintage Books, London 2013 pg. 80
  16. ^ "Hart v Van Gumpach (China and Japan) [1873] UKPC 9 (28 January 1873)".
  17. ^ Fairbank et al, comment pp. 14–15 and several of his contemporary letters to Campbell
  18. ^ Fairbank et al, 1975, letters to Campbell, many letters between 519 and 559. Letter 550 includes his letter of explanation to Lord Granville
  19. ^ Scott, David (2008). China and the international system, 1840-1949 : power, presence, and perceptions in a century of humiliation. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. p. 107. ISBN 978-1-4356-9559-7. OCLC 299175689.
  20. ^ "Remembering Sir Robert Hart | British Inter-University China Centre".
  21. ^ a b c d e f g h i Driscoll, Mark W. (2020). The Whites are Enemies of Heaven: Climate Caucasianism and Asian Ecological Protection. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-1-4780-1121-7.
  22. ^ Smith R.J. et al, 1978
  23. ^ a b Tiffen 2012
  24. ^ Smith et al 1991
  25. ^ Fairbank et.al
  26. ^ Li and Wildy,2003
  27. ^ 70th birthday tribute, Queen's University Belfast Hart archive, MS15.8,J.
  28. ^ "Special Collections – Information Services – Queen's University Belfast". 18 May 2016.
  29. ^ Edward LeFevour, "A Report on the Robert Hart Papers at Queen's University, Belfast NI." Journal of Asian Studies 33.3 (1974): 437–439 online.
  30. ^ "SOAS University of London". soas.ac.uk.
  31. ^ "Latest intelligence -China". The Times. No. 36637. London. 13 December 1901. p. 3.
  32. ^ "Court Circular". The Times. No. 36400. London. 12 March 1901. p. 10.
  33. ^ Rue Hart. drben.net.
  34. ^ "Hart Memorial Primary School". Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  35. ^ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Hart, p. 117).
  36. ^ "Grants and Confirmations of Arms, Vol. H". National Library of Ireland. 12 February 1880. p. 287. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  37. ^ Burke's Peerage. 1949.

Further reading edit

  • Bell, S. Hart of Lisburn. Lisburn Historical Press, 1985.
  • Bickers, Robert. "Revisiting the Chinese maritime customs service, 1854–1950." Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 36.2 (2008): 221–226.
  • Bickers, Robert. "Purloined Letters: History and the Chinese Maritime Customs Service." Modern Asian Studies 40.3 (2006): 691–723. online
  • Bickers, Robert A. (2011). The scramble for China: foreign devils in the Qing empire, 1800–1914. London: Allen Lane. ISBN 9780713997491.
  • Bredon, Juliet. Sir Robert Hart: The Romance of a Great Career (1st ed.). London: Hutchinson & Co., 1909.
    • Bredon, Juliet. Sir Robert Hart: The Romance of a Great Career (2nd ed.). London: Hutchinson & Co., 1910.
  • Broomhall A. J., Hudson Taylor & China's Open Century Volume Three: If I Had a Thousand Lives; Hodder and Stoughton and Overseas Missionary Fellowship, 1982.
  • Brunero, Donna Maree. Britain's Imperial Cornerstone in China: The Chinese Maritime Customs Service, 1854–1949 (Routledge, 2006).
  • Chang, Jung. Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China. Vintage Books, 2014.
  • Chang, Chihyun. "Sir Robert Hart and the Writing of Modern Chinese History." International Journal of Asian Studies 17.2 (2020): 109–126.
  • Drew, Edward B. "Sir Robert Hart and His Life Work in China." The Journal of Race Development (1913): 1–33 online.
  • Eberhard-Bréard, Andrea. "Robert Hart and China's statistical revolution." Modern Asian Studies 40.3 (2006): 605–629. online
  • Horowitz, Richard S. "Politics, power and the Chinese maritime customs: The Qing restoration and the ascent of Robert Hart." Modern Asian Studies 40.3 (2006): 549–581 online[dead link].
  • King, Frank H.H. "The Boxer Indemnity—'Nothing but Bad'." Modern Asian Studies 40.3 (2006): 663–689.
  • Li, L. and Wildy, D. "A New Discovery and its Significance: The Statutory Declarations made by Sir Robert Hart concerning his Secret Domestic Life in 19th century China," Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 13. 2003.
  • Morse, Hosea Ballou. International Relations of the Chinese Empire: The Period of Submission: 1861–1893. (1918) online; based in part on Hart's papers
    • Morse, Hosea Ballou. International Relations of the Chinese Empire: The Period of Subjection: 1894–1911 (1918) online; based in part on Hart's papers.
  • O'Leary, Richard. "Robert Hart in China: The significance of his Irish roots." Modern Asian Studies 40.3 (2006): 583–604. online
  • Spence, Jonathan D. To Change China: Western Advisers in China, 1620–1960. Harmondsworth and New York: Penguin Books, 1980.
  • Tiffen, Mary, Friends of Sir Robert Hart: Three Generations of Carrall women in China. Tiffania Books, 2012.
  • Van de Ven, Hans. "Robert Hart and Gustav Detring during the Boxer Rebellion." Modern Asian Studies 40.3 (2006): 631–662 online.
  • Vynckier, Henk and Chihyun Chang, "'Imperium in Imperio': Robert Hart, the Chinese Maritime Customs Service, and its (Self-)Representations," Biography 37#1 (2014), pp. 69–92 online
  • Wright, S.F. Hart and the Chinese Customs, William Mullen and Son for Queen's University, Belfast, 1952; a scholarly biography.

Primary sources edit

  • Bruner, K. F., Fairbank, J. K., and Smith, R. J. Entering China's Service: Robert Hart's Journals, 1854–1863. Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University, 1986.
  • Fairbank J. K., Bruner, K. F., Matheson, E. M., ed. The I.G. in Peking: Letters of Robert Hart, Chinese Maritime Customs, 1868–1907. (2 vol. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1975) vol 2 online
  • Smith, R. J., Fairbank, J. K., & Bruner, K. F. Robert Hart and China's Early Modernization: His Journals, 1863–66. Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University, 1991.
  • Smith, Richard, John K. Fairbank, and Katherine Bruner, eds. Robert Hart and China’s Early Modernization: His Journals, 1863–1866 (BRILL, 2020).

External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sir Robert Hart, 1st Baronet.
Government offices
Preceded by Inspector-General of the Imperial Maritime Customs Service
1863–1911 		Succeeded by
Baronetage of the United Kingdom
New title Baronet
(of Kilmoriarty in the County of Armagh)
1893–1911 		Succeeded by
Edgar Bruce Hart

January 01, 1970
robert, hart, baronet, gcmg, february, 1835, september, 1911, british, diplomat, official, qing, chinese, government, serving, second, inspector, general, china, imperial, maritime, custom, service, imcs, from, 1863, 1911, beginning, student, interpreter, cons. Sir Robert Hart 1st Baronet GCMG 20 February 1835 20 September 1911 was a British diplomat and official in the Qing Chinese government serving as the second Inspector General of China s Imperial Maritime Custom Service IMCS from 1863 to 1911 Beginning as a student interpreter in the consular service he arrived in China at the age of 19 and resided there for 54 years except for two short leaves in 1866 and 1874 1 Sir Robert HartBt GCMG2nd Inspector General of the Chinese Maritime Customs ServiceIn office 15 November 1863 20 September 1911MonarchsTongzhi EmperorGuangxu EmperorXuantong EmperorPreceded byHoratio Nelson LaySucceeded byFrancis AglenPersonal detailsBornRobert Walter Hart20 February 1835Portadown County Armagh Ulster IrelandDied20 September 1911 1911 09 20 aged 76 Great Marlow Buckinghamshire EnglandResting placeBisham Berkshire EnglandNationalityBritishAlma materQueen s College Belfast Hart was the most important and most influential Westerner in Qing dynasty China 2 3 According to Jung Chang he transformed Chinese Customs from an antiquated set up anarchical and prone to corruption into a well regulated modern organisation which contributed enormously to China s economy 4 Professor Rana Mitter of the University of Oxford writes that Hart was honest and helped to generate a great deal of income for China 5 Sun Yat sen described him as the most trusted as he was the most efficient and influential of Chinese 6 Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Consular Service in China 3 Chinese customs 4 Inspector General 5 Personal life 6 Archives 7 Awards and recognition 7 1 Honours list 8 Arms 9 See also 10 References 11 Further reading 11 1 Primary sources 12 External linksEarly life and education editHart was born in a little house in Dungannon Street Portadown County Armagh Ulster Ireland He was the eldest of 12 children of Henry Hart 1806 1875 who worked in the distilleries and a daughter of John Edgar of Ballybreagh Hart s father was a man of forceful and picturesque character of a somewhat unique strain and a Wesleyan to the core At the age of 12 Hart s family moved to Milltown near Maghery on the banks of the Lough Neagh staying there for a year before moving on to Hillsborough where he first attended school He was sent for a year to a Wesleyan school in Taunton England where he learnt his first Latin His father s anger that his son was allowed to return home unaccompanied at the end of the school year led him being sent to the Wesleyan Connexion School in Dublin now Wesley College Dublin instead 7 Hart studied hard at school By the age of 15 he was ready to leave school and his parents decided to send him to the newly founded Queen s College Belfast He easily passed the entrance exams and earned himself a scholarship he earned a further scholarship in the second year and another in the third He found little time for sports but was heavily influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson s Essays and had his first poem published in a Belfast newspaper During his time at university he became a favourite student of James McCosh and they continued to correspond throughout the rest of their lives In 1853 he took his degree examinations and gained his B A at the age of 18 He also won medals in Literature as well as in Logic and Metaphysics and left with the distinction of being a Senior Scholar He decided to study for a master s degree but in spring 1854 was instead nominated by Queen s College for the Consular Service in China 8 9 Consular Service in China editHart went down to the Foreign Office in London where he met with the Permanent Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Edmund Hammond and left for China in May 1854 10 Hart took a ship from Southampton to Alexandria then travelled to Suez then on to Galle and Bombay before arriving in Hong Kong He spent three months as a student interpreter at the Superintendency of Trade before the return of John Bowring the Governor of Hong Kong On Bowring s return Hart was assigned to the British Consulate in Ningbo In 1855 following a dispute with his Portuguese colleague the British Consul was suspended with Hart taking over his duties for a few months Hart s calmness and good judgement in the face of conflict between the Chinese and Portuguese earned him favourable recommendations Hart returned to his duties following the appointment of a new Consul and was still resident in Ningbo Ningpo during the Ningpo massacre on 26 June 1857 11 In March 1858 Hart was transferred to Canton to serve as the Secretary of the Allied Commission that governed the city In this role he served under Harry Smith Parkes and found the work exceedingly interesting Parkes often took Hart on his trips around or outside Canton In October 1858 Hart was made an interpreter at the British Consulate in Canton under Rutherford Alcock In 1859 the Chinese viceroy Lao Tsung Kuang a special friend of Hart s invited him to set up a customs house in Canton similar to the one in Shanghai under Horatio Nelson Lay In response Hart said that he knew nothing of customs but wrote to Lay to explore the possibility Lay then offered him the role of Deputy Commissioner of Customs which he accepted and Hart asked the British government if they would allow him to resign from the consular service They permitted this but made clear that he would not be allowed to return whenever he pleased he submitted his resignation in May 1859 and joined the customs service 12 Chinese customs editUpon entering the customs service Hart began drawing up a series of regulations for the operation of the customs house in Canton For two years from 1859 to 1861 Hart worked hard in Canton but never fell ill in the hot and damp climate In 1861 facing the threat of the Taiping Rebellion marching on Shanghai Horatio Nelson Lay sought leave to return to Britain to nurse his injuries sustained during an anti British riot in 1859 Lay claimed that so serious were his injuries that he was forced to return to England for two years to recover In his place two officiating Inspectors General were appointed George Henry Fitzroy a former private secretary to Lord Elgin and Hart Whilst Fitzroy was content to stay in Shanghai Hart went around China establishing new customs offices With the recent ratification of the Treaty of Tientsin a number of new ports were opened to foreign trade and so new customs structures had to be put in place 13 In 1861 Hart recommended to the Zongli Yamen the purchase of the Osborn or Vampire Fleet When the proposal was adopted Lay on leave in Britain set out arranging the purchase of the ships and hiring of personnel Inspector General edit nbsp Robert Hart Defendant in von Gumpach v Hart nbsp Chinese Customs Hart as caricatured in Vanity Fair December 1894 The good relations Hart established with the imperial authorities in Peking while deputising for Lay and conflict between Lay and Prince Gong and the Zongli Yamen over the Osborn Fleet led them to dismiss the difficult and haughty Lay upon his return from leave Hart was appointed in his place in November 1863 with British approval As Inspector General of China s Imperial Maritime Custom Service IMCS Hart s main responsibilities included collecting custom duties for the Chinese government as well as expanding the new system to more sea and river ports and some inland frontiers standardising its operations and insisting on high standards of efficiency and honesty 14 The top echelon of the service was recruited from all the nations trading with China Hart s advice led to the improvement of China s port and navigation facilities From the start Hart was anxious to use such influence as he possessed in favour of other modernising steps In October 1865 Hart submitted to Prince Gong a memorandum which caused some offence at the time In it he advised that o f all the countries in the world none is weaker than China and outlined his proposals 15 A modern postal service and the supervision of internal taxes on trade were eventually added to the Service s responsibilities Hart worked to persuade China to establish its own embassies in foreign countries Earlier in 1862 he had with the Manchu noble Prince Gong established the Tongwen Guan School of Combined Learning in Peking with a branch in Canton to enable educated Chinese to learn foreign languages culture and science for China s future diplomatic and other needs An early appointment to the school was the completely unsuitable Baron von Gumpach an assumed name whose discharge led him to sue Hart in the British Supreme Court for China and Japan for defamation In 1873 the case ultimately went to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Hart v Gumpach 16 which upheld Hart s right to make the decision 17 In 1902 the Tongwen Guan was absorbed into the Imperial University now Peking University Hart was known for his diplomatic skills and befriended many Chinese and Western officials This aided him in directing customs operations without interruption even during periods of turmoil His American Commissioner Edward Drew credited him with preventing a war with Britain in 1876 via the Chefoo Convention and he and his London representative James Campbell helped bring about peace after a French attack on the Chinese navy in Fuzhou in 1884 In 1885 Hart had also been asked to become Minister Plenipotentiary at Peking upon the retirement of Sir Thomas Wade He declined the honor after four months of hesitation on the grounds that his work in the Customs Service was of certain benefit to both China and Britain but that the outcome of a change of post was unclear 18 In 1885 Hart wrote a letter to Lord Salisbury strongly advocating an alliance with China as a preemptive defence of British India from the Russian Empire 19 nbsp Hart and the brass band of Chinese musicians that he formed in Peking 23 October 1907 During Hart s tenure in the Maritime Customs Prince Gong was head of the Zongli Yamen the newly established Chinese equivalent of the British Foreign Office and the two men held each other in high regard Hart was so well known in the Zongli Yamen that he was affectionately nicknamed our Hart wǒmen de Hede 我們的赫德 He also often worked closely with the powerful Viceroy Li Hongzhang and their final work together involved negotiating a settlement China could tolerate at the end of the Boxer Rebellion when the Eight Nation Alliance of Western forces took control of Peking to lift the Siege of the International Legations after the Dowager Empress and her nephew the Guangxu Emperor had fled the city Hart held his post till his retirement in 1910 although he left China on leave in April 1908 and was succeeded temporarily by his brother in law Sir Robert Bredon and then formally by Sir Francis Aglen Hart died on 20 September 1911 after a cardiac decline following a bout of pneumonia He was buried on 25 September 1911 at Bisham Berkshire England 9 His tombstone was restored in 2013 20 Personal life editIn China Hart purchased women for sex in order to always have a girl in the room with me to fondle when I please 21 35 In October 1854 Hart noted following his purchase of a teenage sex servant that some of the China women are very good looking you can make one your absolute possession for 50 to 100 dollars and support her at a cost of only 2 or 3 dollars per month 21 35 His purchase of Chinese sex workers occurred over a 20 year period 21 211 Hart fathered three children with a Chinese sex servant 21 211 He returned to England to configure a family with 18 year old Hester Bredon 21 211 They married in Dublin on 22 August and in September left for Peking 22 Bredon lived with Hart in China and the two had children together 21 211 After a decade Bredon took the children she had with Hart and returned to England 21 211 Hart resumed his purchases of Chinese sex workers for a time 21 211 In 1883 Hart began living celibately 21 211 Hart was disappointed in the adult lives of his three legitimate children but acknowledged in a letter to Campbell that he had been a neglectful father not being present to set an example but China was his priority 23 His diary records letters from her in 1870 and in May 1872 Will this never end 24 While making no direct contact with them Hart took an interest in the progress of his children with his sex servant through his lawyer and soon also via Campbell his friend and colleague in charge of the London office 25 In his last decade he was obliged to acknowledge them by legal declarations 26 He had deep friendships with many girls and women amongst whom were three generations of the Carrall family 23 Many of his male staff felt he was a supportive friend as well as a demanding superior 27 Archives edit nbsp Wikisource has original works by or about Sir Robert Hart 1st Baronet The papers and correspondence of Sir Robert Hart MS 15 are held in the Special Collections amp Archives of Queen s University Belfast 28 29 and at PP MS 67 in the Archives and Special Collections of the School of Oriental and African Studies London 30 Awards and recognition edit nbsp Sir Robert Hart Memorial School in Portadown Northern Ireland Robert Hart was highly decorated receiving four hereditary titles fifteen orders of knighthood of the first class and many other honorary academic and civic awards His skills as Inspector General were recognized by both Chinese and Western authorities and he was awarded several honorific Chinese titles including the Red Button or button of the highest rank a Peacock s Feather the Order of the Double Dragon the Ancestral Rank of the First Class of the First Order for Three Generations and the title of Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent in December 1901 31 He was also appointed a CMG KCMG and GCMG and received a British baronetcy In 1900 he was awarded the Prussian Order of the Crown First Class and received this in person the following year from the German Minister in China 32 In 1906 he was awarded a Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog by the King of Denmark His name is still remembered through a street Hart Avenue in Tsim Sha Tsui Hong Kong There was also formerly a Rue Hart in the Beijing Legation Quarter 33 now Taijichang First Street and a Hart Road in Shanghai now Changde Road In 1935 the Sir Robert Hart Memorial Primary School in Portadown Northern Ireland was established in his name 34 Hart is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of Chinese legless lizard Dopasia harti 35 He was posthumously promoted to Minister rank and awarded the title of Senior Guardian of the Heir Apparent according to Chinese political tradition Honours list edit nbsp 1870 Chevalier of the Order of Vasa Sweden nbsp 1873 Grand Cross of the Order of Franz Joseph Austria Hungary Commander 1870 nbsp 1875 Honorary Master of Arts Queen s College Belfast nbsp 1881 Red Button of the First Class China nbsp 1882 Honorary Doctor of Laws Queen s College Belfast nbsp 1885 Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour France Commander 1878 nbsp 1885 First Class Second Grade of the Order of the Double Dragon China nbsp 1885 The Peacock s Feather China nbsp 1885 Knight Commander of the Order of Pius IX Holy See nbsp 1886 Honorary Doctor of Laws University of Michigan nbsp 1888 Grand Cross of the Order of Christ Portugal nbsp 1889 Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Great Britain KCMG 1882 CMG 1879 nbsp 1889 Ancestral rank of the First Class of the First order for three generations China nbsp 1893 Baronet of Kilmoriarty in the County of Armagh nbsp 1894 Commander Grand Cross of the Order of the Polar Star Sweden nbsp 1897 Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Orange Nassau Netherlands nbsp 1900 First Class of the Order of the Crown Prussia nbsp 1901 Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent China nbsp 1906 Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown Italy Grand Officer 1884 nbsp 1906 First Class of the Order of the Rising Sun Japan nbsp 1906 Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold Belgium Grand Officer 1893 Commander 1869 nbsp 1907 First Class of the Order of St Anna Russia nbsp 1907 Grand Cross of the Order of the Dragon of Annam France nbsp 1907 Grand Cross of the Order of St Olav Norway Arms editCoat of arms of Sir Robert Hart 1st Baronet Notes Granted 10 July 1893 by Arthur Edward Vicars Ulster King of Arms 36 Crest On a mount Vert a hart trippant Proper holding in the mouth a four leaved shamrock slipped Or Escutcheon Gules a bend between three fleurs de lis in chief and a four leaved shamrock slipped in base all Or Supporters Dexter a dragon representing a Chinese dragon Argent charged on the shoulder with a torteau sinister a peacock close Proper Motto Audacter Tolle 37 See also editHistory of foreign relations of China Ernest Mason Satow who met Hart many times while he was British Minister in China 1900 1906 See Satow s diary References edit King Frank H H Hart Sir Robert first baronet Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 2004 ed Oxford University Press doi 10 1093 ref odnb 33739 Thompson Larry Clinton 2009 William Scott Ament and the Boxer Rebellion McFarland p 37 ISBN 9780786440085 Heaver Stuart 9 November 2013 Affairs of Our Hart South China Morning Post Retrieved 27 June 2018 Chang p 78 Mitter Prof Rana 20 April 2018 Five ways China s past has shaped its present BBC News via bbc co uk Cantlie James Jones C Sheridan 1912 Sun Yat Sen and the Awakening of China New York Fleming H Revell Company p 248 Bredon pp 9 14 Bredon pp 14 24 a b Drew Edward B July 1913 Sir Robert Hart and His Life Work in China Journal of Race Development 4 1 1 33 doi 10 2307 29737977 JSTOR 29737977 Bredon pp 24 5 Bredon pp 31 42 Bredon pp 42 52 Bredon pp 55 60 E B Drew 1913 Jung Chang Empress Dowager Cixi Vintage Books London 2013 pg 80 Hart v Van Gumpach China and Japan 1873 UKPC 9 28 January 1873 Fairbank et al comment pp 14 15 and several of his contemporary letters to Campbell Fairbank et al 1975 letters to Campbell many letters between 519 and 559 Letter 550 includes his letter of explanation to Lord Granville Scott David 2008 China and the international system 1840 1949 power presence and perceptions in a century of humiliation Albany NY State University of New York Press p 107 ISBN 978 1 4356 9559 7 OCLC 299175689 Remembering Sir Robert Hart British Inter University China Centre a b c d e f g h i Driscoll Mark W 2020 The Whites are Enemies of Heaven Climate Caucasianism and Asian Ecological Protection Durham Duke University Press ISBN 978 1 4780 1121 7 Smith R J et al 1978 a b Tiffen 2012 Smith et al 1991 Fairbank et al Li and Wildy 2003 70th birthday tribute Queen s University Belfast Hart archive MS15 8 J Special Collections Information Services Queen s University Belfast 18 May 2016 Edward LeFevour A Report on the Robert Hart Papers at Queen s University Belfast NI Journal of Asian Studies 33 3 1974 437 439 online SOAS University of London soas ac uk Latest intelligence China The Times No 36637 London 13 December 1901 p 3 Court Circular The Times No 36400 London 12 March 1901 p 10 Rue Hart drben net Hart Memorial Primary School Retrieved 29 September 2014 Beolens Bo Watkins Michael Grayson Michael 2011 The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles Baltimore Johns Hopkins University Press xiii 296 pp ISBN 978 1 4214 0135 5 Hart p 117 Grants and Confirmations of Arms Vol H National Library of Ireland 12 February 1880 p 287 Retrieved 19 August 2022 Burke s Peerage 1949 Further reading editBell S Hart of Lisburn Lisburn Historical Press 1985 Bickers Robert Revisiting the Chinese maritime customs service 1854 1950 Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 36 2 2008 221 226 Bickers Robert Purloined Letters History and the Chinese Maritime Customs Service Modern Asian Studies 40 3 2006 691 723 online Bickers Robert A 2011 The scramble for China foreign devils in the Qing empire 1800 1914 London Allen Lane ISBN 9780713997491 Bredon Juliet Sir Robert Hart The Romance of a Great Career 1st ed London Hutchinson amp Co 1909 Bredon Juliet Sir Robert Hart The Romance of a Great Career 2nd ed London Hutchinson amp Co 1910 Broomhall A J Hudson Taylor amp China s Open Century Volume Three If I Had a Thousand Lives Hodder and Stoughton and Overseas Missionary Fellowship 1982 Brunero Donna Maree Britain s Imperial Cornerstone in China The Chinese Maritime Customs Service 1854 1949 Routledge 2006 Chang Jung Empress Dowager Cixi The Concubine Who Launched Modern China Vintage Books 2014 Chang Chihyun Sir Robert Hart and the Writing of Modern Chinese History International Journal of Asian Studies 17 2 2020 109 126 Drew Edward B Sir Robert Hart and His Life Work in China The Journal of Race Development 1913 1 33 online Eberhard Breard Andrea Robert Hart and China s statistical revolution Modern Asian Studies 40 3 2006 605 629 online Horowitz Richard S Politics power and the Chinese maritime customs The Qing restoration and the ascent of Robert Hart Modern Asian Studies 40 3 2006 549 581 online dead link King Frank H H The Boxer Indemnity Nothing but Bad Modern Asian Studies 40 3 2006 663 689 Li L and Wildy D A New Discovery and its Significance The Statutory Declarations made by Sir Robert Hart concerning his Secret Domestic Life in 19th century China Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 13 2003 Morse Hosea Ballou International Relations of the Chinese Empire The Period of Submission 1861 1893 1918 online based in part on Hart s papers Morse Hosea Ballou International Relations of the Chinese Empire The Period of Subjection 1894 1911 1918 online based in part on Hart s papers O Leary Richard Robert Hart in China The significance of his Irish roots Modern Asian Studies 40 3 2006 583 604 online Spence Jonathan D To Change China Western Advisers in China 1620 1960 Harmondsworth and New York Penguin Books 1980 Tiffen Mary Friends of Sir Robert Hart Three Generations of Carrall women in China Tiffania Books 2012 Van de Ven Hans Robert Hart and Gustav Detring during the Boxer Rebellion Modern Asian Studies 40 3 2006 631 662 online Vynckier Henk and Chihyun Chang Imperium in Imperio Robert Hart the Chinese Maritime Customs Service and its Self Representations Biography 37 1 2014 pp 69 92 online Wright S F Hart and the Chinese Customs William Mullen and Son for Queen s University Belfast 1952 a scholarly biography Primary sources edit Bruner K F Fairbank J K and Smith R J Entering China s Service Robert Hart s Journals 1854 1863 Council on East Asian Studies Harvard University 1986 Fairbank J K Bruner K F Matheson E M ed The I G in Peking Letters of Robert Hart Chinese Maritime Customs 1868 1907 2 vol Belknap Press of Harvard University Press 1975 vol 2 online Smith R J Fairbank J K amp Bruner K F Robert Hart and China s Early Modernization His Journals 1863 66 Council on East Asian Studies Harvard University 1991 Smith Richard John K Fairbank and Katherine Bruner eds Robert Hart and China s Early Modernization His Journals 1863 1866 BRILL 2020 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sir Robert Hart 1st Baronet The Irish Contribution to Joseon Korea OhmyNews International Archived 16 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine at English ohmynews com Sir Robert Hart Collection at Queen s University Belfast Chinese Maritime Customs project at the University of Bristol Sir Robert Hart Memorial Primary School Sir Robert Hart at Bumali Broject tiffaniabooks com Archived 9 May 2021 at the Wayback Machine Newspaper clippings about Sir Robert Hart 1st Baronet in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW Government offices Preceded byHoratio Nelson Lay Inspector General of the Imperial Maritime Customs Service1863 1911 Succeeded bySir Francis Aglen Baronetage of the United Kingdom New title Baronet of Kilmoriarty in the County of Armagh 1893 1911 Succeeded byEdgar Bruce Hart Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Sir Robert Hart 1st Baronet amp oldid 1206698398, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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