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Translation and the British Colonial Mission: The Career of Samuel Turner Fearon and the Establishment of Chinese Studies at King's College, London*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 May 2014

UGANDA SZE PUI KWAN
UGANDA SZE PUI KWAN*
Affiliation:
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, ugandakwan@ntu.edu.sg
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Abstract

The University of London was the first institution in the United Kingdom to establish a professorship in Chinese. Within a decade of the first half of the nineteenth century, two professorships in Chinese were created at its two colleges: the first at University College in 1837 and the second at King's College in 1847. Previous studies of British sinology have devoted sufficient attention to the establishment of the programme and the first Chinese professorship. However, despite the latter professorship being established by the same patron (Sir George Thomas Staunton; 1781–1859) during the same era as the former, the institutionalisation of the Chinese programme at King's College London seems to have been completely overlooked. If we consider British colonial policy and the mission of the Empire in the early nineteenth century, we are able to understand the strategic purpose served by the Chinese studies programme at King's and the special reason for its establishment at a crucial moment in the history of Sino-British relations. Examining it from this perspective, we reveal unresolved doubts concerning the selection and appointment of King's first Chinese professor. Unlike other inaugural Chinese professors appointed during the nineteenth century at other universities in the United Kingdom, the first Chinese professor at King’s, Samuel Turner Fearon (1819–1854), was not a sinophile. He did not translate any Chinese classics or other works. His inaugural lecture has not even survived. This is why sinologists have failed to conduct an in-depth study on Fearon and the genealogy of the Chinese programme at King’s. Nevertheless, Samuel Fearon did indeed play a very significant role in Sino-British relations due to his ability as an interpreter and his knowledge of China. He was not only an interpreter in the first Opium War (1839–1842) but was also a colonial civil servant and senior government official in British Hong Kong when the colonial government started to take shape after the war. This paper both re-examines his contribution during this “period of conflict and difficulty” in Sino-British relations and demonstrates the very nature of British sinology.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 24 , Issue 4 , October 2014 , pp. 623 - 642
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 2014 

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Footnotes

*

The author owes many thanks to Prof. Theo Hermans and Prof. Bernard Fuehrer who gave invaluable comments on earlier drafts of this article. My gratitude also goes to Prof. Timothy Barrett who provided constant support when I was revising the article. The paper could not have been written without the benefit of the excellent preservation of the archival material at the university archives of King's College London. I wish to thank especially Ms Lianne Smith, the archive manager at King's College London for her help during different stages of research of this project.

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28 The author wishes to thank Robin Markbreiter, the Director/Executive of Arts of Asia and Dr Patrick Conner of Martyn Gregory Gallery, London for their help in getting the reprint permission. And sincere thanks goes to the private collector who is in possession of this portrait.

29 See above note 20.

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63 Ibid.

64 King's College London Council Minutes (Ref KA/C/M 1846–1852; 1/162) 13 Feb. 1846.

65 KCL Council Minutes (Ref KA/C/M 1846–1852; 3/166) 13 Mar. 1846.

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67 KCL Council Minutes (Ref KA/C/M 1846–1852; 3/166) 13 Mar. 1846.

68 KCL Council Minutes (Ref KA/C/M 1846–1852; 5/175) 12 Jun. 1846.

69 KCL Council Minutes (Ref KA/C/M 1846–1852; 5/175) 12 Jun. 1846.

70 KCL Secretary's Out Letter Books (Ref KA/OLB/103), Cunningham to Staunton, 13 May 1846; KCL Secretary's In-Correspondence (Ref KA/IC/29), Staunton to Cunningham [date unknown] Jun. 1846.

71 University College London, Council minutes, 22 Apr. 1837.

72 KCL Council Minutes (Ref KA/C/M 1846–1852; 4/192) 11 Dec. 1846.

73 Ibid.

74 Ibid.

75 University College London, Council minutes, 7 Aug. 1841.

76 KCL Council Minutes (Ref KA/C/M 1846–1852;3 and 4/195) 8 Jan. 1847.

77 KCL Council Minutes (Ref KA/C/M 1846–1852;4/200) 19 Feb. 1847.

78 KCL Council Minutes (Ref KA/C/M 1846–1852; 1/208) 13 Feb. 1846.

79 KCL Council Minutes (Ref KA/C/M 1846–1852; 5/210) 16 Apr. 1847.

80 CO 133/2/76 (Bluebook 1845).

81 KCL (Ref KA/IC/C31) [date unknown] May 1847. Fearon wrote the booklist in abbreviation, for instance, “Marshmman's Grammar £4.4”; “Premare's Notita Lingua Sinica £1.1.”

82 The Calendar of King's College London for 1847–8 (London, John W. Parker, 1847), p.41; The Calendar of King's College London for 1848–9; pp. 70–71; The Calendar of King's College London For 1850–51, pp. 70–71; The Calendar of King's College London for 1851–52, pp.71–72.

83 KCL (Ref KA/IC/S49) Staunton to Cunningham, 4 Mar. 1850; KCL (Ref KA/C/M 1846–1852; 2/95) 8 Mar. 1850.

84 KCL (Ref KA/IC/S49) Staunton to Cunningham, 4 Mar. 1850.

85 KCL (Ref KA/IC/S50) Staunton to Cunningham, including the extracts of the letters from the Rev Jacob Tomlin written on 20, 21, 26 Feb. 1850.

86 KCL Council Minutes (Ref KA/C/M 1846–1852; 1/95). 8 Mar. 1850.

87 KCL (Ref KA/OLB 3–4/238) Cunningham to Staunton, 23Feb. 1850. Back in 1849, the College wrote a letter to Fearon notifying him that “No student had yet entered for him, Mr. Cunningham (college secretary) will not fail to endeavor to make the arrangement he wishes in case any pupils come forward”. KCL (KA/OLB 3–4/188). Cunningham to Fearon, 8 Oct. 1849.

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89 KCL (KA/IC/S49) “Extract letter from Rev. Jacob Tomlin dated 20 Feb 1850”, Staunton to Cunningham, 4 Mar. 1850.

90 Medical Times, XXIII, 1851, p. 550; The Lancet, I, 1848, p. 513. Part of the information was provided by Mr. Wong Ho To, to whom I am indebted.

91 KCL (KA/IC/S50) Staunton to Cunningham, 23 Nov. 1852.

92 KCL (Ref KA/C/M 1846–1852) 23 Dec 1852.

93 KCL (KA/IC/S50) Vincent Stanton to Cunningham, 25 Nov 1852.

94 General Register Office, England, Death certificate, 1854. Quarter of registration, Jan–Feb–Mar; Pancras District (1837–1901), County London, Middlesex, vol. 1b, p. 24.

95 Timothy Barrett, Singular Listlessness, pp. 72–73.

96 CO 129/97/41–47 [1864-01-12]; see above note 2.

97 CO 133/3/98 (Bluebook 1846); see above note 2.