Austin Francis Harrison Coates (16 April 1922 – 16 March 1997) was a Britishcivil servant and writer. Coates was aRAF Intelligence officer inWorld War II, and his service inBurma,India,Singapore andMalaysia was his first time in theFar East. In 1949, he joined theColonial Service and occupied civil positions inHong Kong and Malaysia before retiring in 1962 to become a full-time writer. Coates wrote prolifically onOriental studies and travel, especially on Hong Kong andMacau. His best-known book isMyself a Mandarin (1968), a memoir about his tenure in Hong Kong. In thePhilippines, Coates is best known forRizal: Philippine Nationalist and Martyr (1968), which is still considered one of the best biographies ofthede facto national hero.
Austin Francis Harrison Coates was born on 16 April 1922 inLondon, the only child ofEric Coates, a noted composer, and Phyllis Black, an actress.[1][2] Coates later said that his birth "wreck[ed]" his mother's acting career. He was a nuisance to his parents, especially to his father, who he said was averse to "the prospect of a squalling infant in the house whilst he was trying to write music". The family moved toHampstead because they felt it would be more suitable for the child. His father's career meant that, except on holidays, Coates would only see him for half an hour every day. When he had the time, Eric taught him the basics of cartography and astronomy.[2]
Coates' first aspirations were towards acting, much like his mother, and he spent two years training at theRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art.[3] Through hisWorld War II service inRAF Intelligence, Coates went toBurma,India,Singapore andMalaysia. That was his first time inthe Far East; when he visitedBombay (Mumbai), Coates said that he had felt at home from the moment he arrived.[4] In 1949, Coates joined theColonial Service and began his tenure as Assistant Colonial Secretary inHong Kong. He disapproved of thedouble standard the colonial authorities opposed on its subjects.[4][5] He requested a transfer toSarawak, Malaysia, in 1957,[4] partly to avoid the tribulations of his superior, K.M.A. Barnett, whosehomophobic "hounding" of Coates caused anervous breakdown.[6] He served as the Chinese magistrate in Sarawak before becoming the governor's secretary and adviser on Chinese affairs.[3] Coates was the First Secretary of the British High Commission,Kuala Lumpur andPenang from 1959 to 1962.[citation needed]
Coates, aged 40, left the Colonial Service in 1962 to become a full-time writer. He wrote extensively on topics related to the Asia-Pacific region, particularlyHong Kong andMacau. In 1965, he settled in Hong Kong and continued travelling and writing extensively.[3][4]
Coates' best-known work isMyself a Mandarin, a memoir about his tenure in Hong Kong. In its final pages, he wrote, "For a Westerner - or for the West - to believe it is possible in any way to influence China is chimerical. When a Westerner comes to China, no matter how high his rank or how great his influence all that he can achieve - all that he will ever achieve - is to add a grain of salt to sea-water since China, like the sea, is adamantine and of unchanging substance."[3]
In 1968,Oxford University Press publishedRizal: Philippine Nationalist and Martyr, Coates' biography ofJosé Rizal.[7] It was the second written by a foreigner, and the ninth overall.[5][7] Unlike the previous biographies, Coates aimed to show how Rizal's life would be of interest to non-Filipino readers.[8] Casting Rizal as equal toMahatma Gandhi,Rabindranath Tagore, andSun Yat-sen, he emphasized the moral purpose which guided Rizal and his martyrdom.[7] It was the work Coates put the most effort into. The book is still considered one of the best biographies of the Filipinonational hero, but received little attention outside the Philippines.[3][5] The Filipino writerF. Sionil José declared it the best,[5] while the public historianAmbeth Ocampo wrote that it "is cited for its readability and insight into Rizal that eluded earlier biographers."[8]
Coates was the guest of many prominent Asians, among them theTagore family, the Indian painterJamini Roy andMahatma Gandhi. After his visit with Gandhi, he decided that understanding between East and West was one of the most important goals in the world.[citation needed]
His book,City of Broken Promises was made into an extremely successful musical for the Hong Kong Art Festival in 1978. The show was also staged inSan Jose in 1979, starringTeresa Carpio.[citation needed]
In 1993, Coates moved to a villa inLisbon. He died there on the night of 16 March 1997 after a lengthy fight with cancer. He never married.[3][4]
