People · British consul, British minister to Japan and China
Sir Harry Smith Parkes
巴夏礼Bāxiàlǐ · 1828–1885
British diplomat, consul in Shanghai from 1862, who proposed the 1864 court that became the Mixed Court; later minister to Japan and China.
Sir Harry Smith Parkes (巴夏礼, Bāxiàlǐ) was a British consular interpreter who rose to be minister in Japan and China. In Shanghai’s history he is linked to the 1864 proposal that led to the Mixed Court.
The Shanghai Concessions Gazetteer says he came to China in 1841, studied Chinese in Macao and took part in the Opium War as a member of the British plenipotentiary’s staff. From 1844 he worked as an interpreter at consulates in Xiamen, Fuzhou and Shanghai. He was acting consul at Guangzhou during the Arrow incident of 1856, which the gazetteer blames on him, and acting consul in Shanghai in 1858.
He was knighted in 1862 and soon became consul in Shanghai, where he cooperated with the Qing authorities against the Taiping. In 1864 he proposed the Yangjingbang Northern Magistrate’s Office, opened that year by the acting daotai Ying Baoshi (应宝时, Yìng Bǎoshí). He served as minister to Japan from 1865 to 1883 and then as minister to China until he died in Beijing in 1885.
Timeline
Connections
- Ying Baoshi应宝时Proposed the Yangjingbang magistrate's office that Ying Baoshi opened in 1864