People · British consul, interpreter
Sir Walter Henry Medhurst
麦华陀Màihuátuó · 1823–1885
British consular interpreter who came to Shanghai in 1843, helped negotiate the Land Regulations, and served as consul in Shanghai on and off until 1876.
Sir Walter Henry Medhurst (麦华陀, Màihuátuó) was a British consular officer who first came to Shanghai in 1843 and whose career spanned the settlement’s first three decades. He was the son of the missionary Walter Henry Medhurst (麦都思, Màidūsī).
He reached Shanghai in November 1843 as interpreter to the British consul, George Balfour (巴富尔, Bāfù’ěr). The Shanghai Concessions Gazetteer says he began arranging the first foreign cemetery the next year and took part in the talks on the Land Regulations and the settlement boundaries. After postings in Xiamen, Hong Kong and Fuzhou, he returned in 1860 as acting consul and then consul.
In 1860 he worked with the French consul and the daotai on Shanghai’s defence and helped bring Hunan and Anhui troops to the city. In 1868 he went by warship to Nanjing to press for the removal of the Yangzhou prefect after the missionary riot there. From 1870 he was permanent consul in Shanghai. He proposed the Gezhi Academy (格致书院), which opened in June 1876, and retired at the end of that year.
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Connections
Sir George Balfour巴富尔Interpreter to Consul George Balfour on arrival in Shanghai, 1843
Walter Henry Medhurst麦都思Parent and child: Walter Henry Medhurst (missionary) and his son Sir Walter Henry Medhurst