Sir John Francis Davis | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| 2nd Governor of Hong Kong | |||||||
| In office 8 May 1844 – 21 March 1848 | |||||||
| Monarch | Victoria | ||||||
| Lieutenant | Sir George D'Aguilar William Staveley | ||||||
| Preceded by | Sir Henry Pottinger | ||||||
| Succeeded by | Sir George Bonham | ||||||
| Chief Superintendent of British Trade in China | |||||||
| In office 8 May 1844 – 21 March 1848 | |||||||
| Preceded by | Sir Henry Pottinger | ||||||
| Succeeded by | Sir George Bonham | ||||||
| In office 11 October 1834 – 19 January 1835 | |||||||
| Preceded by | Lord Napier | ||||||
| Succeeded by | Sir George Robinson | ||||||
| Personal details | |||||||
| Born | (1795-07-16)16 July 1795 London, England | ||||||
| Died | 13 November 1890(1890-11-13) (aged 95) Henbury, United Kingdom | ||||||
| Resting place | All Saints Church,Compton Greenfield, England | ||||||
| Spouse(s) | Emily Humfrays (1822–1866) Lucy Locke (1867–1890) | ||||||
| Children | 6 daughters, 2 sons | ||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||
| Chinese | 戴維斯 | ||||||
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Sir John Francis Davis, 1st BaronetBt KCB FRS (16 July 1795 – 13 November 1890) was a British diplomat andsinologist who served as secondGovernor of Hong Kong from 1844 to 1848. Davis was the first President ofRoyal Asiatic Society Hong Kong.
Davis was the eldest son ofEast India Company director and amateur artistSamuel Davis while his mother was Henrietta Boileau, member of a refugee French noble family who had come to England in the early eighteenth century fromLanguedoc in the south of France.[1][2]
In 1813, Davis was appointed writer at theEast India Company'sfactory in Canton (nowGuangzhou), China, at the time the centre oftrade with China. Having demonstrated the depth of his learning in the Chinese language in his translation ofThe Three Dedicated Rooms ("San-Yu-Low") in 1815,[3] he was chosen to accompanyLord Amherst on his embassy toPeking in 1816.
On the mission's return Davis returned to his duties at the Canton factory, and was promoted to president in 1832. He was elected aFellow of the Royal Society the same year.[4]
Davis was appointed Second Superintendent of British Trade in China alongsideLord Napier in December 1833, supersedingWilliam Henry Chicheley Plowden in the latter's absence.[5] After Napier's death in 1834, Davis became Chief Superintendent then resigned his position in January 1835, to be replaced by SirGeorge Robinson.[6] Davis left Canton aboard theAsia on 12 January.[7]
In 1839, Davis purchased the Regency mansion Holly House, nearHenbury,Bristol, where he built an observatory tower built housing a clock installed byEdward John Dent, who would later be responsible for buildingBig Ben. It remained the Davis family home for seven decades thereafter.[8]
Having arrived from Bombay on HMSSpiteful on 7 May 1844, he was appointed governor and commander-in-chief of Hong Kong the next day.[9]: 47 During his tenure, Davis was unpopular with Hong Kong residents and British merchants due to the imposition of various taxes, which increased the burden of all citizens, and his abrasive treatment of his subordinates.[citation needed] Davis organised the firstHong Kong Census in 1844,[10] which recorded that there were 23,988 people living in Hong Kong.
In the same year, Davis exhorted China to abandon the prohibition on opium trade, on the basis of its counter productiveness, relating that, in England,
... the system of prohibitions and high duties ... only increased the extent of smuggling, together with crimes of violence, while they diminished the revenue; until it was a length found that the fruitless expense of a large preventive force absorbed much of the amount of duty that could be collected, while prohibited articles were consumed more than ever.[11]: 5
Weekend horse racing began during his tenure, which gradually evolved into aHong Kong institution. Davis founded the China Branch of theRoyal Asiatic Society in 1847[12] and he was its first president.[13]: 120
Davis left office on 21 March 1848, ending unrelenting tensions with local British merchants who saw him as a stingy, arrogant and obstinate snob. His early decision to exclude all but government officials from the Executive and Legislative Councils on the basis that "almost every person possessed of Capital, who is not connected with Government Employment, is employed in the Opium trade" could not have made co-operation any easier. He departed the colony on 30 March via theP&O steamerPekin.[14] He returned to England, where he rejoined Emily, who had stayed there throughout his governorship.[13]: 120
Davis married Emily, the daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Humfrays of theBengal Engineers in 1822. They had one son and six daughters:[2]
In 1867, a year after the death of his wife Emily, Davis married Lucy Ellen, eldest daughter of Reverend T. J. Locke, vicar ofExmouth, in 1867. A son, Francis Boileau, was born in 1871.[16]
He was a created abaronet on 9 July 1845[17] and appointed aKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) on 12 June 1854.[18][2] Having retired from government, Davis engaged in literary pursuits.[13]: 120 In 1876, he became aDoctor of Civil Law of theUniversity of Oxford after a donation of £1,666 in three per centconsol bonds to endow a scholarship in his name for the encouragement of the study of Chinese.[19]
Davis died on 13 November 1890 at his residence, Hollywood House in the Bristol suburb ofHenbury, England at the age of 95[19] and was interred in the graveyard ofCompton Greenfield Church on 18 November.[20] As his surviving son Francis Boileau left no surviving male heirs, the Davis baronetcy died with him.[15]
In 1829, Davis, a member of theRoyal Asiatic Society,[21] translated the 17th-century Chinese novelHaoqiu zhuan under the titleThe Fortunate Union.[22] This was translated into French by Guillard D'Arcy in 1842.[21]
Davis also wrote an account of the events surrounding the attack onhis father's house inBenares, India, inVizier Ali Khan or The Massacre of Benares, A Chapter in British Indian History, published in London in 1871.
Other works include:
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Resources from Wikiversity| Baronetage of the United Kingdom | ||
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| New title | Baronet (of Hollywood) 1845–1890 | Succeeded by Francis Boileau Davis |
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