Henry Pottinger
Sir Henry Pottinger, 1st Baronet GCB PC ( Chinese 砵 甸 乍 ; born October 3, 1789 near Belfast , † March 18, 1856 in Malta ) was a British soldier and colonial administrator.
Life
youth
Born near Belfast, Pottinger first studied at the royal academy there, which he had to leave when he was twelve.
India
He then went to sea and came to India, where he studied the native languages in Bombay . In 1806 he joined the army of the British East India Company , in 1809 he took part in the Mahratta War as a lieutenant .
He then went on a research trip to the border area between India and Persia, disguised as a local trader. He became known through the 2500 kilometer journey and new opportunities for advancement opened up for him. He recorded his impressions in the work Journeys through Balochistan and Sindh .
In the twenties and thirties Pottinger held various positions in the British colonial administration in India . a. in Sindh , Poona and Hyderabad . On April 27, 1840, he was promoted to Baronet , of Richmond in the County of Surrey .
China
In the course of the First Opium War , Pottinger was sent to China in 1841 as a general representative. He gained world historical importance through the negotiation and signing of the Treaty of Nanking on September 29, 1842, which was to end the war and herald the rise of England to the leading imperial power in East Asia . Pottinger not only became the first governor of the newly acquired British crown colony of Hong Kong , but was also beaten to the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath and received an annual pension of 1,500 pounds from parliament . In 1844 he was also appointed a member of the British Privy Council.
Last years
Pottinger spent the last decade of his life as governor of the Cape Colony and of Madras . In 1851 he rose to the rank of lieutenant general in the British Army.
In 1854 Pottinger retired to England for health reasons. Soon afterwards he moved to the climatically favored island of Malta , where he died in 1856.
From his marriage to Susanna Maria Cooke (1800–1886), which he entered into in 1820, he left two sons:
- Sir Frederick William Pottinger, 2nd Baronet (1831-1865);
- Sir Henry Pottinger, 3rd Baronet (1834-1909).
Literature and web links
- Jonathan D. Spence: China's Path to Modernity. Hanser, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-446-16284-4
- Lt.-Gen. Sir Henry Pottinger, 1st Bt. On thepeerage.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mao Haijian: The Qing Empire and the Opium War - The Collapse of the Heavenly Dynasty. Cambridge 2016, p. 272
Web links
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| New title created | Baronet, of Richmond 1840-1856 |
Frederick Pottinger |
| Office newly created |
Governor of Hong Kong 1843–1844 |
John Francis Davis |
| Peregrine Maitland | Cape Colony Governor 1847 |
Harry Smith |
| George Hay, 8th Marquess of Tweeddale | Governor of Madras 1848–1854 |
George Harris, 3rd Baron Harris |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Pottinger, Henry |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | 砵 甸 乍 (Chinese); Pottinger, Sir Henry, 1st Baronet |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British soldier and colonial administrator |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 3, 1789 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | at Belfast |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 18, 1856 |
| Place of death | Malta |