2-995-556 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Sir John Bowring, Governor of Hong-Kong - from a photograph by Maull and Polyblank, 1860. 'In the latter part of 1853 he was promoted to the post of Superintendent of Trade in China and Plenipotentiary to that empire, and in 1854 was appointed Governor of Hong-Kong, when he received the honour of knighthood...The Chinese Government, from the very first, had shown every disposition to recede from the terms of the treaty formed with them by the late Sir H. Pottinger, in 1842, and steadily refused to give Sir J. Bowring an official reception as her Majesty's representative. This forced the Plenipotentiary to take strong measures, which were fully indorsed by Lord Elgin, who was sent out in 1857 on a special mission to the Court of Pekin - thus reaping the harvest of which Sir J. Bowring had sown the seeds, and throwing open to British commerce and enterprise the trade not only of China but also Japan'. From "Illustrated London News", 1860.