Charles Eliot (diplomat)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sir Charles Eliot (1918)

Sir Charles Norton Edgecumbe Eliot (born January 8, 1862 in Sibford Gower, Oxfordshire , England , † March 16, 1931 on board the ship Hakone Maru in the Strait of Malacca ) was a British colonial official and diplomat . As a malacologist , he described several types of nudibranchia (nudibranchia).

biography

Eliot entered the diplomatic service after finishing school and was employed in Russia in 1885 and then in Morocco in 1892 . After working there for a year, he first went to the Ottoman Empire in 1893 and then to Washington, DC in 1899. After only a brief period there, he was appointed High Commissioner and Consul General of an International Commission in 1899 to investigate existing problems and the future administration of Samoa by the three Protective powers (Great Britain, USA and German Empire ) was established.

For his services in diplomacy and colonial administration, he was beaten Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (KCMG) in 1900 and has since had the suffix "Sir". Shortly afterwards he was appointed Commissioner for the Protectorate of British East Africa , now Kenya , and at the same time Consul General of Zanzibar . During his tenure, he introduced a policy of white supremacy. At the same time, he worked closely with the white farmers on this matter, especially with Lord Delamere, to whom he ceded 40,500 hectares of land. In addition, he encouraged European settlers to settle in East Africa through low land prices. In 1903, however, he met criticism from the Colonial Office , which Eliot's plans were going too quickly. When he was criticized again in 1904 for the granting of a land concession, which was originally intended for the Maasai , he resigned.

From 1912 to 1918 he was the first vice chancellor of the newly established Hong Kong University .

It was not until 1918 that he returned to the service of the Foreign Office , after he had accepted the office of High Commissioner and Consul General in Siberia . At this time, Admiral Alexander Wassiljewitsch Kolchak tried to stop the advance of Soviet troops eastwards.

In 1920 he was finally appointed ambassador to Japan and held this office until his resignation in 1926. However, he remained in Japan until his death. In 1923 he was raised to the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (GCMG).

Publications

Sir Charles Eliot also dealt with historical topics and people such as Buddhism in Japan and Abdülhamid II , the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, His most important works include:

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Kerrie L. Macpherson: The history of marine science in Hong Kong (1841–1977) . In: Brian Morton (ed.): Perspectives on marine environmental change in Hong Kong and Southern China, 1977–2001: proceedings of an International Workshop Reunion Conference, Hong Kong, 21–26 October 2001 . Hong Kong University Press, 2003, ISBN 962-209-641-7 , pp. 14-15 ( Google Books [accessed May 15, 2010]).
personal data
SURNAME Eliot, Charles
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Eliot, Sir Charles Norton Edgecumbe
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British colonial official and diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH January 8, 1862
PLACE OF BIRTH Sibford Gower, Oxfordshire , England
DATE OF DEATH March 16, 1931
Place of death aboard the Hakone Maru, Strait of Malacca