Correspondence of Sir Francis Arthur Aglen

Scope and Content

Manuscript and typescript letterbook containing letters from Sir Francis Arthur Aglen in Peking (Beijing) to Guy Francis Hamilton Acheson, 1921-1923, and Cecil Arthur Verner Bowra, 1924-1926, in London, including some enclosures, also including five later letters to Bowra from A F H Edwards, 1926.

Administrative / Biographical History

Sir Francis Arthur Aglen (1869-1932) joined the Chinese Maritime Customs in 1888. He was Acting Inspector-General in 1910 before succeeding Sir Robert Hart in 1911, serving as Inspector-General until his retirement in 1928.

Cecil Arthur Verner Bowra (1869-1947) joined the Chinese Maritime Customs and served in China from 1886 until 1923, including a period as Chief Secretary in Peking under Sir Francis Aglen, 1910-1923. He was subsequently employed in the London Office of Chinese Maritime Customs.

Access Information

Open

Acquisition Information

Presented by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1967.

Other Finding Aids

Handlist available

Related Material

The School of Oriental and African Studies holds other papers relating to the Chinese Maritime Customs, comprising letters of G F H Acheson and C A V Bowra to Sir Francis Aglen (Ref: MS 211354), papers of Edward Charles Macintosh Bowra and Cecil Arthur Verner Bowra (Ref: PP MS 69), George H Fitzroy (Ref: MS 258361), Sir Frederick Maze (Ref: PP MS 2), and Sir Robert Hart (Ref: PP MS 67), copies of Sir Robert Hart's letters to Sir F A Aglen (Ref: MS 211081), and copies of Sir Robert Hart's correspondence with J D Campbell (Ref: MS 211351, 211353). See published guide: Papers Relating to the Chinese Maritime Customs 1860-1943.

The State Library of New South Wales, Mitchell Library, holds Sir Francis Aglen's letters to G E Morrison, 1910-1920 (Ref: ML MSS 312). The Second Historical Archives of China, Nanjing, hold the administrative archive of the Chinese Maritime Customs.