Sir George Thomas Staunton, 2nd Baronet (26 May 1781 – 10 August 1859) was an English traveller and Orientalist.
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Born at Milford House near Salisbury, he was the son of Sir George Leonard Staunton (1737–1801), first baronet, diplomatist and Orientalist. In 1792, at the age of 12, he accompanied his father, who had been appointed secretary to Lord Macartney's mission to China, to the Far East (1792–1794).[1] Prior to the trip the young George Staunton had begun to learn Chinese (the only member of the mission to bother) and for the duration was therefore given the role of Page to Lord Macartney.[1] During the mission his Chinese proved good enough to engage in diplomatic banter and he received a personal gift from the Qianlong Emperor.[1] In 1797 he spent two terms at Trinity College, Cambridge.[2]
In 1798 was appointed a writer in the British East India Company's factory at Canton (Guangzhou), and subsequently its chief.[3] During this time his knowledge of Chinese increased.[3] In 1805 he translated a work of Dr George Pearson into Chinese,[3] thereby introducing vaccination into China. Five years later he published a translation of a significant part of the Chinese legal code.[3]
In April 1803 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.[4]
In 1816 Staunton proceeded as second commissioner on a special mission to Beijing with Lord Amherst and Sir Henry Ellis.[3] During the mission he landed in Hong Kong in July, 1816. He walked from the shore of Hong Kong to Hong Kong Village via Wong Chuk Hang. After the trip, Wong Chuk Hang was named Staunton Creek and the valley where Hong Kong Village was located was named Staunton Valley. Staunton Creek later became a cesspool of mud and rotting sampans and was eventually cleared to create Wong Chuk Hang Nullah with the residents housed in Wong Chuk Hang Estate. Hong Kong Village was most likely Wong Chuk Hang Lo Wai; only Wong Chuk Hang San Wai still exists at the bottom of Shouson Hill. After the ceding of Hong Kong from China to Great Britain, Staunton Street in Central was named after him.
The embassy was unsuccessful and shortly after it departed back to Britain Staunton decided to leave China permanently.[5]
George Staunton had been looking for a country home for some years before his permanent return from China and in 1818 put in a bid for Newstead Abbey but was outbid by Thomas Wildman.[6] In 1820 he purchased the Leigh estate in Hampshire [7] which included what was to become Staunton Country Park. He lived there for part of each year and made substantial alterations to the buildings and the landscape.
Three years later he was heavily involved with the founding of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.[8] Their Sir George Staunton prize is awarded annually.
Between 1818 and 1852 he was MP for several English constituencies, finally for Portsmouth. He latter described himself as being during his early years in parliament a liberal Tory who looked to George Canning for leadership.[9] He was a member of the East India Committee, and in 1823, in conjunction with Henry Thomas Colebrooke founded the Royal Asiatic Society.
From 1829 until 1856 he was a member of the Society of Dilettanti[10]
He had never married and the baronetcy became extinct on his death (in London). He left his Irish estate, Clydagh House, to his eldest cousin George Staunton Lynch and Leigh Park and his London house (17 Devonshire Street, Marylebone) to George Staunton Lynch's younger brother, Captain Henry Cormick Lynch.
His publications include translations of Great Qing Legal Code, known as the Fundamental Laws of China (1810) and of the Narrative of the Chinese Embassy to the Khan of the Tourgouth Tartars (1821); Miscellaneous Notices Relating to China and our Commercial Intercourse with that Country (1822); Notes of Proceedings and Occurrences during the British Embassy to Peking (1824); Observations on our Chinese Commerce (1850). For the Hakluyt Society he edited Pedro González de Mendoza's History of the Great and Mighty Kingdom of China.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Lord Binning Edward Law |
Member of Parliament for Mitchell 1818 – 1826 With: William Leake 1818–1820 William Taylor Money 1820–1826 |
Succeeded by William Leake Henry Labouchere |
| Preceded by Edward Henry A'Court Henry Stafford Northcote |
Member of Parliament for Heytesbury 1830 – 1832 With: Edward Henry A'Court |
Constituency abolished |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament for South Hampshire 1832 – 1835 With: The Viscount Palmerston |
Succeeded by John Willis Fleming Henry Combe Compton |
| Preceded by Francis Baring John Bonham-Carter |
Member of Parliament for Portsmouth 1838 – 1852 With: Francis Baring |
Succeeded by The Viscount Monck Francis Baring |
| Baronetage of Ireland | ||
| Preceded by George Staunton |
Baronet (of Cargins, Galway) 1801–1851 |
Extinct |