Correspondence of Guy Francis Hamilton Acheson and Cecil Arthur Verner Bowra to Sir Robert Hart

Manuscript and typescript letterbook containing letters from Guy Francis Hamilton Acheson, 1921-1924, and Cecil Arthur Verner Bowra, 1924, in the London Office of the Inspectorate General of Chinese Maritime Customs, to Sir Francis Arthur Aglen in Peking (Beijing), including some enclosures. Letter serues Z, numbers 309-386, 7th January 1921- 23rd December 1924. 1 volume. Unfoliated

Cecil Arthur Verner Bowra (b 1869) joined the Chinese Maritime Customs and arrived in China in 1886. With the appointment of Sir Francis Aglen as Inspector-General Bowra was made Chief Secretary in Peking (1910-1923). The post meant that he became Acting Inspector-General when Aglen was on leave in 1911 and 1917. Bowra retired in 1923 but was subsequently employed in the London Office of Chinese Maritime Customs. He died in 1947.

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.

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Presented by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in December 1967.

Letter series Z, nos 309-386.

The School of Oriental and African Studies holds other papers relating to the Chinese Maritime Customs, comprising letters of Sir Francis Aglen to G F H Acheson and C A V Bowra (Ref: MS 211355), 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 Second Historical Archives of China, Nanjing, hold the administrative archive of the Chinese Maritime Customs.