As the Tensions of the Opium Wars Subside, Queen Victoria Appoints the Crown’s Representative to Shanghai, China

A great rarity, as only two documents of Victoria relating to China have reached the public sale market in the past 40 years.

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In 1860, the 2nd Opium War ended with the signing of the Treaty of Tientsin by Lord Elgin.  The following year, British legations opened in Beijing, Hankou, Shanghai and others.  In 1877, a Chinese legation opened in London.  Patrick Joseph Hughes was among the first generation of British diplomats in China, serving...

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As the Tensions of the Opium Wars Subside, Queen Victoria Appoints the Crown’s Representative to Shanghai, China

A great rarity, as only two documents of Victoria relating to China have reached the public sale market in the past 40 years.

In 1860, the 2nd Opium War ended with the signing of the Treaty of Tientsin by Lord Elgin.  The following year, British legations opened in Beijing, Hankou, Shanghai and others.  In 1877, a Chinese legation opened in London.  Patrick Joseph Hughes was among the first generation of British diplomats in China, serving as Vice Consul in 1861 and then being transferred to Hankou as consul.

Document signed, London. February 25, 1880, for “our trusted and well beloved Patrick Joseph Hughes, Esquire, now our Consul at Hankow,” stating that the Queen has “nominated, constituted and appointed and do by these Presents nominate, constitute and appoint him the said Patrick Joseph Hughes to be our Consul for the Consular District of Shanghae.

Our research discloses only two documents of Victoria relating to China having reached the public sale market in the past 40 years, and the last was in 1990. 

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