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Sir Rutherford Alcock : First British Minister to Japan (1859-1865), Consul (1844-1859) and Minister (1865-1870) to China / Robert Morton.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Amsterdam : Amsterdam University Press, [2024]Copyright date: 2024Description: 1 online resource (314 p.)Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9789048557653
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 952/.025092 23/eng/20240916
LOC classification:
  • DS881.5.A43 M67 2024
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources:
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Table of Contents -- Introduction -- 1. ‘A Young Man in a Hurry’ -- 2. ‘Perseverance, Courage, and Fortitude of Conduct’ -- 3. ‘Highly Qualified for Any Professional Situation’ -- 4. ‘The Most Able of Our Consuls in China’ -- 5. ‘Acting with Promptness and Decision’ -- 6. ‘Desolation around and about Me’ -- 7. ‘I Can Hardly Say I Am Disappointed’ -- 8. ‘The Scum of the Earth’ -- 9. ‘A Hundred Petty Acts of Annoyance’ -- 10. ‘Sir Rutherford’ -- 11. ‘My Service in the East Thus Terminates’ -- 12. ‘There is So Much to Fear and So Little to Hope’ -- 13. ‘A Distinct and Disastrous Sacrifice of British Interests’ -- 14. ‘Savourer the Dignity of His Position’ -- Afterword: The Reaction to Alcock’s Death—A Comparison with Parkes—Summing up -- Bibliography -- Acknowledgements -- Index
Summary: The son of a village doctor, Rutherford Alcock trained in medicine and became a battlefield surgeon, working in Portugal and Spain during the civil wars there in the 1830s. In a major career shift, he entered the consular service, went to China, and ended up as British Minister (the equivalent of today’s ambassador) to Japan and then China. This progression was unique, indeed bizarre, especially as every senior position he got was one he specifically said he did not want. Nonetheless, he was the man who commenced Britain’s relations with Japan and introduced Japan’s arts and crafts to the UK, in addition to playing a central role in Britain’s relationship with China. He was no rampant imperialist and expressed ambivalence about Britain’s position in East Asia as he contended with intractable issues like the opium trade and how to punish attacks on British interests without starting a war. This book fills a major gap in the study of Japan’s opening to the West from a British perspective, as well as Britain’s relationship with East Asia as a whole, through the eyes of a brilliant, but complicated and contradictory figure.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9789048557653

Frontmatter -- Table of Contents -- Introduction -- 1. ‘A Young Man in a Hurry’ -- 2. ‘Perseverance, Courage, and Fortitude of Conduct’ -- 3. ‘Highly Qualified for Any Professional Situation’ -- 4. ‘The Most Able of Our Consuls in China’ -- 5. ‘Acting with Promptness and Decision’ -- 6. ‘Desolation around and about Me’ -- 7. ‘I Can Hardly Say I Am Disappointed’ -- 8. ‘The Scum of the Earth’ -- 9. ‘A Hundred Petty Acts of Annoyance’ -- 10. ‘Sir Rutherford’ -- 11. ‘My Service in the East Thus Terminates’ -- 12. ‘There is So Much to Fear and So Little to Hope’ -- 13. ‘A Distinct and Disastrous Sacrifice of British Interests’ -- 14. ‘Savourer the Dignity of His Position’ -- Afterword: The Reaction to Alcock’s Death—A Comparison with Parkes—Summing up -- Bibliography -- Acknowledgements -- Index

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http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

The son of a village doctor, Rutherford Alcock trained in medicine and became a battlefield surgeon, working in Portugal and Spain during the civil wars there in the 1830s. In a major career shift, he entered the consular service, went to China, and ended up as British Minister (the equivalent of today’s ambassador) to Japan and then China. This progression was unique, indeed bizarre, especially as every senior position he got was one he specifically said he did not want. Nonetheless, he was the man who commenced Britain’s relations with Japan and introduced Japan’s arts and crafts to the UK, in addition to playing a central role in Britain’s relationship with China. He was no rampant imperialist and expressed ambivalence about Britain’s position in East Asia as he contended with intractable issues like the opium trade and how to punish attacks on British interests without starting a war. This book fills a major gap in the study of Japan’s opening to the West from a British perspective, as well as Britain’s relationship with East Asia as a whole, through the eyes of a brilliant, but complicated and contradictory figure.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 20. Nov 2024)