Introduction
A
Papers of William Frederick Hippisley,
Alfred E. Hippisley's uncle,
1842-4
B
Papers of Alfred E. Hippisley,
1864-1940
B.1 Diary and memoirs
B.2 Correspondence with Sir Robert Hart,
Inspector General of Customs in China,
1864-1908
B.3 Special correspondence
B.4 General correspondence
B.5 Miscellaneous papers
| Abstract: Correspondence, diary and memoirs, miscellaneous papers and photographs of Alfred E. Hippisley (1848-1939), British Customs Official in China. Predominantly in English, some Chinese material also present. |
Alfred Edward Hippisley was born in Clifton, Bristol in 1848, where he attended the Bristol Grammar School. He was offered a scholarship at St. John's, Oxford, but for reasons beyond his control had to reject it. Instead, he went to Paris for a year. In 1885 he married Cornelia Howard, an American, whose grandfather George and great-grandfather John Eager were Governors of Maryland, U.S.A. Their only child, Edward, was born and died in 1889. Alfred E. Hippisley died in London in 1939.
Hippisley started his career in the Imperial Chinese Maritime Customs Service in 1867 and served in various capacities in Peking, Amoy, Canton, Shanghai and elsewhere. In 1875 he was appointed Assistant Statistical Secretary, which raised him to the rank of Deputy Commissioner. In April 1882 he became Commissioner. He also served as Chinese Secretary from May 1882 to May 1885, as Chief Secretary from April 1896 to October 1897, and as Postal Secretary from April 1907 to April 1908. By Imperial decree of 1st October 1901 he was appointed an Assistant Delegate to the Treaty and Tariff Commission. Although a leading candidate for the post of the Inspector General of Customs in China after Sir Robert Hart, he never succeeded him. He resigned from the Customs in 1910.
For his outstanding services, he was made Chevalier of the Order of Francis Joseph of Austria in 1874 and received the orders of Double Dragon and Rising Sun in 1904, Dragon of Annam in 1908 and other awards. Hippisley played an instrumental role in the development of America's "Open Door" policy in China.
Hippisley had many interests beyond his professional work. In June of 1900 he was called to the Bar of the Inner Temple. He was a member of the Hakluyt Society. He is the author of A Sketch of the History of Ceramic Art in China published in 1902. He also collected the material for Some Notes on the Hippisley Family which, edited and extended by Ivan Fitzroy Jones, were published in 1952. His interest in his family roots also demonstrated itself in restoring the Hippisley gravestones in the churchyard at Chewton Mendip.
A great proportion of the collection encompasses business correspondence between A.E. Hippisley and Sir Robert Hart. Exchanges of letters with other Customs Officers are complemented by various official and semi-official documents. Some of Hippisley's publications figure in draft and printed versions. There are also many press cuttings. The collection includes Hippisley's diary and memoirs covering the years 1848-1902. Private papers also include several items connected with his uncle William Frederick. There are photographs of Hippisley's friends and British and Chinese officials, as well as pictures from his trips to Macao, Japan and India.
Chinese rubbings (Chinese emperors and Map of Soochow) and black and white ink-squeezes (map of a Chinese province, plan of a town, astronomical chart of a solar system and chart of Chinese dynasties from Xia, c. 2205-1782 B.C., onwards) are now kept with the Bodleian's Chinese collections (currently in Room 104, New Library, awaiting a shelfmark).
In 1936, Hippisley presented the Bodleian Library with a 20-volume manuscript of Wu li tong kao (A comprehensive examination of the Five Rituals), copied from its published version of 1763. The manuscript is described in the Bodleian's Chinese allegro catalogue, shelfmark MS. Chin. d. 67.
Oxford, Bodleian Library [followed by shelfmark and folio or page reference, e.g. MS. Eng. e. 3586, fols. 1-2].
For further information about the Chinese Customs see the Chinese Maritime Customs Project of the University of Bristol.
See also Papers relating to the Chinese Maritime Customs 1860-1943 in the Library of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London : SOAS, 1973. Bodleian shelfmark 258774 e.14.
| Journal and letters of William
Frederick Hippisley on voyage to, and after arrival in Nelson,
New
Zealand
1842-4 Shelfmark: MSS. Eng. e. 3586-7 Extent: 2 volumes, 80 and 38 leaves respectively Binding: 1st volume, red goatskin with blind border, single brass clasp and marbled edges. 2nd volume, soft, red roan with marbled edges. Scope and Content:
'Inventory of writings [etc.] belonging to the Estate of William Frederick Hippisley' is in a guard-book, MS. Eng c. 7065, fol. 139. |
| Diary,
1898-1905 Shelfmark: MS. Eng. c. 7285 Extent: 156 leaves |
| Memoirs for the years
1848-95 Shelfmark: MS. Eng. c. 7286 Extent: 370 leaves |
| Memoirs for the years
1896-1902 Shelfmark: MS. Eng. c. 7287 Extent: 356 leaves |
Further Hart papers can be found in MSS Eng. lett. c. 304, d. 319-27, e. 124-7 and MSS. Eng. misc. b. 108-9 and c. 530-1, described in Mary Clapinson and T. D. Rogers, Summary catalogue of post-medieval western manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford: acquisitions 1916-1975 (Oxford, 1991), vol. I, p. 338-9.
| Correspondence,
1864-89 Shelfmark: MS. Eng. c. 7288 Extent: 230 leaves Scope and Content: References provided for Hippisley by his school teachers followed by business correspondence relating mainly to Hippisley's duties and career progress. |
| Correspondence,
1890-6 Shelfmark: MS. Eng. c. 7289 Extent: 268 leaves Scope and Content: Business correspondence between A. Hippisley and Sir R. Hart or his private secretaries. Points of interest: smuggling of opium and opening of inland waters to steam navigation. |
| Correspondence,
1897-1908 Shelfmark: MS. Eng. c. 7290 Extent: 215 leaves Scope and Content: Business correspondence between A. Hippisley and Sir R. Hart. Includes copious notes on topics discussed, mainly concerning tariff revision. The "Open Door" and " rebellion" material (below) is extracted from this sequence. |
| Foreign matters,
1873-99 Shelfmark: MS. Eng. c. 7291 Extent: 71 leaves Scope and Content: Material relating to international exhibitions, foreign policy and customs. |
| "Open Door" policy,
1899-1900 Shelfmark: MS. Eng. c. 7292 Extent: 139 leaves Scope and Content: Correspondence with William W. Rockhill and John Hay. Includes printed 'Correspondence concerning American commercial rights in China' addressed to the governments of France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan and Russia (via their respective ambassadors) with translations where appropriate. |
| 'Peking siege. How it affected
A.E.H. 1900',
1900-2 Shelfmark: MS. Eng. c. 7293 Extent: 301 leaves Scope and Content: Material relating to the "Boxer rebellion". |
| Correspondence,
1903-9 Shelfmark: MS. Eng. c. 7294 Extent: 212 leaves Scope and Content: Mainly relates to the German treaty of 1905. |
| Correspondence,
1910-40 Shelfmark: MS. Eng. c. 7295 Extent: 185 leaves Scope and Content: Includes extensive notes on historical and current events in China; also correspondence with Prof. A. Whitney Griswold, author of "The Far Eastern policy of the United States", 1938. |
'Sketch map of Manchuria and Chihli [...]' is now in a guard-book, MS. Eng c. 7065, fol. 138.
| Publications,
1890-1915 Shelfmark: MS. Eng. c. 7296 Extent: 178 leaves Scope and Content: Including
|
| Notes,
1884-1920 Shelfmark: MS. Eng. c. 7297 Extent: 247 leaves Scope and Content: Historical material, including notes on
Notes relating to Chinese Customs, including
with (fols. 231-47) miscellaneous drafts and notes complementing Hippisley's memoirs |
| Typescripts,
1899-1925 Shelfmark: MS. Eng. c. 7298 Extent: 219 leaves Scope and Content: Includes
|
| Photographs Shelfmark: MSS. Photogr. c. 206-7 Extent: 35 and 44 leaves respectively Scope and Content: Includes
|