Category Archives: Hong Kong

X is for Xiānggǎng

28 Friday Apr 2023

Posted by in A to Z 2023, Hong Kong, Mainwaring, navy

≈ 5 Comments

Xiānggǎng, with an X, is the modern, pīnyīn, transcription of 香港 ‘fragrant harbour’ pronounced in Mandarin.

The name first came to Western notice in the so-called ‘First Opium War’, a series of skirmishes fought between Britain and imperial China from September 1839 to August 1842 over British insistence on their ‘right’ to trade opium in defiance of a Chinese ban.

The 1842 Treaty of Nanking ended the war in favour of the British. The Chinese were forced to make concessions; one was the ceding of Hong Kong island and, later, following the Second Opium War of 1856 to 1860, Kowloon Peninsular. On 26 January 1841 Commodore Sir Gordon Bremer raised the Union Jack and claimed Hong Kong as a colony. Construction of a naval base began. In 1898 Britain obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories.

‘China Station‘, which referred both to the Royal Navy naval base and the admiral in command, was created in 1865. It had as its area of responsibility the coast of China and its navigable rivers, and beyond this to the western part of the Pacific Ocean and the waters around the Dutch East Indies.

In 1866 my fourth great uncle Karl Heinrich August Mainwaring (1837–1906) was stationed in Hong Kong as a naval lieutenant in the China Squadron, on HMS Princess Charlotte.


HMS Princess Charlotte painted 1838 by James Kennett Willson. Image from Wikimedia Commons
Kellett’s Island, looking west across Wanchai towards Central and the Peak, with HMS Princess Charlotte on the right (1869 – 71). Image from BlouinArtinfo



HMS Princess Charlotte was a receiving ship, a harbour-bound hulk used for stores and accommodation in lieu of a permanent shore base at Hong Kong in 1858.

In July 1866 Lieutenant Mainwaring was given charge of HMS Opossum, a 4-gun screw gunboat with a crew of 38. Given the task of destroying Chinese pirates Mainwaring was notably successful. (See ‘X is for destruction of a piratical fleet near Xiānggǎng (Hong Kong)‘)

‘Expedition against the Chinese Pirates’ from The Illustrated London News of 23 October 1865 page 409 with illustration: Fleet of Chinese junks, with HMS Opossum, preparing to attack pirates at How-Chow.

Karl Mainwaring was promoted to commander in 1867. In 1868 he transferred to Jamaica where he served on HMS Aboukir, a receiving ship used for stores and accommodation in lieu of a permanent shore base. (See (J is for Jamaica)

In 1869 Karl Mainwaring’s brother Guy (1847–1909) passed through Hong Kong as a lieutenant on HMS Galatea, a steam-powered wooden frigate, under the command of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, second son of Queen Victoria.

HMS Galatea, Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong, during the visit of H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh. Tuesday 2nd November 1869.
Photograph by John Thomson, first published in Thomson’s ‘Illustrations of China and Its People‘.
Image from Historical Photographs of China, University of Bristol.
A fellow officer on the Galatea, Lord Charles Beresford, danced the hornpipe. While in Hong Kong, Guy Mainwaring and Charles Beresford were photographed together in costume. (This is the Charles Beresford who as Admiral became notorious for his bitter dispute with Sir John (Jackie) Fisher, First Sea Lord.)
Guy Mainwaring is in the striped shirt.
Photographed by William Floyd of Hong Kong; from the Library of Nineteenth Century Photography

In 1941 China Station was merged with the East Indies Station in December 1941 to form the Eastern Fleet.

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X is for destruction of a piratical fleet near Xiānggǎng (Hong Kong)

27 Thursday Apr 2017

Posted by in A to Z 2017, China, Hong Kong, Mainwaring, navy, piracy

≈ 8 Comments

My fourth great uncle Karl Heinrich August Mainwaring  was the tenth of the seventeen children of Rowland Mainwaring (1783-1862), eldest of the eight children of Rowland’s third wife Laura Maria Julia Walburga Chevillard (1811-1891).

Karl Mainwaring was born 4 September 1837 at Mannheim in Germany. He died 21 August 1906 at Saint Helier, Jersey.

On 19 September 1856 Karl Mainwaring appointed as lieutenant in the Royal Navy.  From 1874 to 1893 Karl Mainwaring was harbour master in Kingston, Jamaica. He retired from the navy with the rank of captain.

In 1866 Lieutenant K.H.A Mainwaring was stationed in Hong Kong with the China Squadron on  HMS Princess Charlotte.

Xiānggǎng is the modern transcription of 香港 , Hong Kong, ‘fragrant harbour’.

HMS Princess Charlotte painted 1838 by James Kennett Willson from Wikimedia Commons

HMS Princess Charlotte was a 104-gun first-rate ship launched in 1825. Once the the flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet, from 1858 until she was sold in 1875 the Princess Charlotte was used as a receiving ship, a harbour-bound hulk used for stores and accommodation in lieu of a permanent shore base.

Kellett’s Island, looking west across Wanchai towards Central and the Peak, with HMS Princess Charlotte on the right (1869 – 71). Retrieved from Cheung, Tim. “Maritime Museum to Show Historical Pictures of HK.” Artinfo. BlouinArtinfo Corp., 15 Jan. 2014. W <http://hk.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/983316/maritime-museum-to-show-historical-pictures-of-hk>.
Hong Kong Harbour about 1868 from The China Magazine Midsummer Volume 1868, page 88,  digitised by Google books.  The view possibly shows Signal Hill.

In July 1866 Lieutenant Mainwaring was given charge of HMS Opossum.

In 1865 HMS Opossum had been engaged in attacks on Chinese pirates in co-operation with the fleet of the Manchu Qing government. The attacks were reported in The Illustrated London News of 23 October 1865.

‘Expedition against the Chinese Pirates’ from The Illustrated London News of 23 October 1865 page 409 with illustration: Fleet of Chinese junks, with HMS Opossum, preparing to attack pirates at How-Chow. Retrieved from thegenealogist.co.uk

On 18 July 1866 HMS Opossum, commanded by Lieutenant Mainwaring, together with HMS Osprey attacked pirate vessels in Sama Bay, now known as Sanya Bay on Hainan Island, 250 miles south-west of Hong Kong. The British destroyed 22 Junks and 270 cannon and killed about 100 men.

HMS Opossum was a wooden screw gunboat of the Albacore class which carried about 38 crew and four guns. (In the 1866 Navy List, the Opossum is listed as a tender to the Princess Charlotte and Mainwaring is in charge of the Haughty, also an Albacore class wood screw gunboat.) HMS Osprey was a Vigilant class gunboat with about 80 crew and four guns.

H.M.S. Osprey and H.M.S Opossum destroying Chinese pirate junks in Sama Bay from The Illustrated London News of 29 September 1866, page 313, retrieved from the genealogist.co.uk

The attack on the pirates was reported in The Illustrated London News of 22 September 1866 and followed up with an illustration the following week.

“Piracy in the Chinese Seas” from The Illustrated London News 22 September 1866 page  291 retrieved from the genealogist.co.uk (click on image to enlarge)

The 1866 engagement with the pirates was widely reported. The following account is from the Melbourne Leader.

 
 
DESTRUCTION OF A PIRATICAL FLEET BY H. M. SHIPS OPOSSUM AND OSPREY. (1866, September 29). Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1862 – 1918), p. 17. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article196560667

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Further reading

Trove Tuesday: Cricket and the Duke of Edinburgh’s visit in 1867

14 Monday Jul 2014

Posted by in Champion de Crespigny, cricket, Hong Kong, Mainwaring, navy, Trove Tuesday, younger son

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Duke of Edinburgh about 1867

In 1858 Alfred (1844-1900), the second son of Queen Victoria, joined the navy as a midshipman. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1863 and three years later, in 1866, gained the rank of captain, appointed to command the steam frigate HMS Galatea. In the same year Alfred was made Duke of Edinburgh in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

The Galatea sailed for the Mediterranean in February 1867 and then to Brazil on June 12 for a state visit to the emperor of Brazil. After two months at the Cape, the Galatea arrived at Adelaide on 31 October 1867 and commenced a royal tour of Australia. The Galatea visited Melbourne, Tasmania, Sydney and Brisbane.

On the Galatea were two of my relatives from two different branches of my family tree: Sub-lieutenant Guy Mainwaring (1847-1909) and Midshipman Philip Augustus Champion de Crespigny (1850-1912). When the ship arrived in Adelaide, she had 540 men aboard: 42 officers of all ranks, 46 boys, 70 marines and 382 blue jackets.1

The Royal navy frigate HMS Galatea sits moored in Farm Cove 1868. Picture: Daniel Solander Library at the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney. retrieved from http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au

The Galatea fielded a cricket team and Philip de Crespigny played with them in Adelaide on 8 November 1867 against the members of the South Australian Cricket Club. The South Australians won the game but the commentary favourably noted de Crespigny’s bowling and batting.2

In March 1869 the men of the Galatea, including Philip de Crespigny, played against a team of Aboriginal cricketers. The game was over two days and was a draw with the Aboriginal team scoring 331 for 9 wickets against 293 with the loss of five wickets.3

Three masted sailing ship H.M.S. Galatea, ca. 1868 from the Archer Family Photograph Album now in the collection of the John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10462/deriv/39932

Mainwaring did not play cricket but did perform in the Galatea‘s theatrical entertainment. For example when the Galatea was due to depart Sydney in March 1869, Lieutenant Mainwaring appeared as Gimlet in a comedy performed for several hundred guests. The Sydney Morning Herald reported it as a “highly creditable performance”.4 He also appeared as the Ancient Mariner.5

A fellow officer, Lord Charles Beresford, danced the hornpipe. Later in the voyage while in Hong Kong, Guy Mainwaring and Charles Beresford were photographed together in costume. (This is the Charles Beresford who as Admiral became notorious for his bitter dispute with Sir John (Jackie) Fisher, First Sea Lord. )

 

Lord Charles Beresford and Guy Mainwaring, photographed in Hong Kong in 1869 while serving on HMS Galatea retrieved from the Library of Nineteenth Century Photography . Looking at other photographs of Beresford, it would seem that the bearded man is Guy Mainwaring.

 

Guy Mainwaring was my third great grand uncle. Philip Augustus Champion de Crespigny was my fourth cousin three times removed.

Guy Mainwaring retired from the Royal Navy with the rank of captain in 1895.

Philip was promoted to Lieutenant on 8 August 1874. As late as 1903 he appeared in the Navy List still with the rank of lieutenant but on part pay. He played first class cricket in England and his obituary in Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack mentioned that he played played for Hampshire v. Somerset at Bournemouth in 1880, scoring 2 and 3. It also mentions that he was on the Galatea.

The Royal visit was extensively reported. There are over 6,000 newspaper articles currently on the National Library of Australia’s digitised newspaper collection at http://trove.nla.gov.au which mention the visit of the Galatea and the Duke of Edinburgh in the late 1860s.

……….

Notes
1. H.M.S.S. GALATEA. (1867, October 31). South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 – 1900), p. 2. Retrieved June 9, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article39180042 ↩
2. DUKE OF EDINBURGH’S VISIT TO ADELAIDE.—The Cricket match. (1867, November 26). Illustrated Australian News for Home Readers (Melbourne, Vic. : 1867 – 1875), p. 10. Retrieved June 9, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60819944 ↩
3. CRICKET. (1869, March 4). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 5. Retrieved June 9, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5817582 ↩
4. THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH IN SYDNEY. (1869, April 21). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), p. 5. Retrieved July 13, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13179267 ↩
5. THE GALATEA FETE. (1869, April 15). Illustrated Sydney News (NSW : 1853 – 1872), p. 3. Retrieved July 14, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63514477 ↩