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John Francis Davis

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Preceded by
  
Lord Napier

Name
  
John Davis

Preceded by
  
Sir Henry Pottinger

Parents
  
Samuel Davis

Nationality
  
British

Education
  
University of Oxford

Children
  
6 daughters, 2 sons


John Francis Davis httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Full Name
  
John Francis Davis

Born
  
16 July 1795London, England, Great Britain (
1795-07-16
)

Spouse(s)
  
1. Emily Hurnfrays1822-1866 (her death)2. Lucy Ellen Locke1866-1890 (his death)

Relations
  
Samuel Davis (father)William Thomas Mercer (uncle)

Died
  
November 13, 1890, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

Succeeded by
  
Sir George Robinson, 2nd Baronet

Books
  
Chinese Novels Translate, Chinese Moral Maxims, Chinese Miscellanies: A Collecti, Chinese novels: transl fro

Sir John Francis Davis, 1st Baronet KCB (Chinese: 戴維斯; Sidney Lau: Daai3 Wai4 Si1) (16 July 1795 – 13 November 1890) was a British diplomat and sinologist who served as second Governor of Hong Kong from 1844 to 1848.

Contents

John Francis Davis John Francis Davis Wikipedia

Background

John Francis Davis Portrait of John Francis Davis Royal Society Picture Library

Davis was the eldest son of East India Company (EIC) director and amateur artist Samuel Davis while his mother was Henrietta Boileau, member of a refugee French noble family who had come to England in the early eighteenth century from Languedoc in the south of France.

Early career

In 1813, Davis was appointed writer at the East India Company's factory in Canton (now Guangzhou), China, at the time the centre of trade with China. Having demonstrated the depth of his learning in the Chinese language in his translation of The Three Dedicated Rooms ("San-Yu-Low") in 1815, he was chosen to accompany Lord Amherst on his embassy to Peking 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 a Fellow of the Royal Society the same year.

He was appointed Second Superintendent of British Trade in China alongside Lord Napier in December 1833, superseding William Henry Chicheley Plowden in the latter's absence. After Napier's death in 1834, Davis became Chief Superintendent then resigned his position in January 1835, to be replaced by Sir George Robinson. Davis left Canton aboard the Asia on 12 January.

Governor of Hong Kong

Having arrived from Bombay on the HMS Spiteful on 7 May 1844, he was appointed governor and commander-in-chief of Hong Kong the next day. During his tenure, Davis was much hated by 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. Davis organized the first Hong Kong Census in 1844, which recorded that there were 23,988 people living in Hong Kong.

Weekend horse racing began during his tenure, which gradually evolved into a Hong Kong institution.

Davis resigned his commission and left Hong Kong on 21 March 1848, after disagreements with local British merchants escalated.

Personal life

Davis married Emily, the daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Humfrays of the Bengal Engineers in 1822. They had one son, Sulivan Francis (born 13 January 1827, died in Bengal in 1862) and six daughters as follows:

  • Henrietta Anne
  • Emily Nowell, who married the Reverend D. A. Beaufort in 1851, eldest son of Francis Beaufort, inventor of the eponymous wind scale.
  • Julia Sullivan, who married Robert Cann Lippincott in 1854
  • Helen Marian (died 31 January 1859)
  • Florence
  • Eliza (died 20 October 1855)

    • In 1867, the year after the death of his first wife Emily, Davis married for a second time, to Lucy Ellen, eldest daughter of the Reverend T. J. Locke, vicar of Exmouth, in 1867. A son, Francis Boileau Davis was born in 1871.

    He was a created a baronet on 9 July 1845 and appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) on 12 June 1854. In 1876 Davis became a Doctor of Civil Law of the University of Oxford after a donation of £1,666 in three percent consol bonds to endow a scholarship in his name for the encouragement of the study of Chinese.

    Death

    Davis died on 13 November 1890 at his residence, Hollywood House in the Bristol suburb of Henbury at the age of 95 and was interred in the graveyard of Compton Greenfield Church on 18 November. As his surviving son Francis Boileau Davis left no surviving male heirs the Davis baronetcy died with him.

    Namesakes

  • Mount Davis, Hong Kong
  • Mount Davis Path, Hong Kong
  • Mount Davis Road, Hong Kong
  • Davis Street, Hong Kong; extends from the praya, New Praya, Kennedy Town, across Catchick Street, Hau Wo Street and Belcher's Street, to Forbes Street

    • Works

    In 1829 Davis, a member of the Royal Asiatic Society, translated the 17th century Chinese novel Haoqiu zhuan under the title The Fortunate Union. A French translation of the Davis English version was created by Guillard D'Arcy and published in 1842. He also wrote an account of the events surrounding the attack on his father's house in Benares, India in Vizier Ali Khan or The Massacre of Benares, A Chapter in British Indian History published in London in 1871. Other works:

  • Morrison, Robert; Davis, John Francis (1815). Translations from the Original Chinese, with Notes. Canton: Select Committee, Honourable East Asia Company. 
  • John Francis Davis. Chinese Novels, translated from the Originals, etc. (London: John Murray 1822).
  • Davis, John Francis (1823). Hien wun shoo. Chinese moral maxims, with a free and verbal translation; affording examples of the grammatical structure of the language. Albermarle Street, London: John Murray. 
  • Sir John Francis Davis (1824). A vocabulary, containing Chinese words and phrases peculiar to Canton and Macao, and to the trade of those places: together with the titles and addresses of all the officers of Government, Hong merchants, &c. &c. alphabetically arranged, and intended as an aid to correspondence and conversation ... printed at the Honorable Company's Press, by P.P. Thoms. p. 77. Retrieved 2011-07-06. 
  • Davis, John Francis (1827). Eugraphia sinensis; or the art of writing the Chinese character with correctness (in Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1827 Vol. I). London: Royal Asiatic Society. p. 304. 
  • Davis, John Francis (1829). Poeseos sinensis commentarii. On the poetry of the Chinese (from the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society Vol. II). London: Royal Asiatic Society. 
  • John Francis Davis, The Chinese: A General Description of the Empire of China and Its Inhabitants (London: Charles Knight, 1836). volume one; volume two
  • John Francis Davis, 'Sketches of China; partly during an inland journey of four months between Peking, Nanking, and Canton; with notices and observations relative to the present war.' Charles Knight & Co., Ludgate Street. London. 1841. In 2 volumes.
  • Davis, Sir John Francis (1852). China, during the war and since the peace. London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans. 

    • References

    John Francis Davis Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA