Claude Maxwell MacDonald

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Sir Claude MacDonald, around 1900

Sir Claude Maxwell MacDonald ( June 12, 1852 - September 10, 1915 ) was a British diplomat . His fame results primarily from his service in China and Japan.

Life

MacDonald was trained at Uppingham School and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst . He was a soldier and diplomat and joined the 74th (Highland) Regiment of Foot in 1872 . He saw himself as a "soldier outsider" in relation to his work in the Foreign Office .

His career began in Africa. He served in the Anglo-Egyptian War in 1882 . From 1887 to 1889 he was Consul General of Zanzibar , after which he served in West Africa.

In 1892 he was inducted into the Order of St Michael and St George as Knight Commander .

China and Korea

In 1896 MacDonald was appointed British envoy to China, and from 1896 to 1898 he was also the British envoy to Korea.

In 1898 he was accepted as Knight Commander in the Order of the Bath (civil division).

The Macartney-Macdonald Line

In 1899 he was the author of a note intended to create a new border between China and British India in the Karakoram and Kashmir , thereby known as the Macartney-Macdonald Line, which still forms the basis and for the border between China and Pakistan is responsible for the origins of the Sino-Indian border conflict.

As a military man, MacDonald led the defense of the foreign embassies in 1900 that were besieged during the Boxer Rebellion , and he also worked with the Anglophile Japanese Colonel Shiba Goro .

In 1900 he was raised to the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George. In 1901 he also became Knight Commander in the Order of the Bath (military division).

Japan

MacDonald presided over the Tokyo Legation from 1900-12. During this time he had lively correspondence with Sir Ernest Satow , who had replaced him as minister in Beijing . On January 30, 1902, the first Anglo-Japanese alliance was signed in London by the British Foreign Minister Lord Henry Petty-FitzMaurice and the Japanese Minister Hayashi Tadasu . MacDonald was still in Tokyo when the alliance was renewed in 1905 and 1911. He was Britain's first ambassador to Japan after the legation was elevated to embassy status in 1905.

In 1906 he was accepted as a Knight Grand Cross in the Royal Victorian Order and became a member of the Privy Council .

movie theater

The fictional character Sir Arthur Robinson in the film 55 Days in Beijing (played by David Niven ) is based on Claude Maxwell MacDonald.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ian Nish: British Envoys in Japan 1859-1972 , pp. 94-102.
  2. ^ Dictionary of National Biography
  3. ↑ a b c d e Knights and Dames: MacDonald, Claude Maxwell at Leigh Rayment's Peerage
  4. ^ Korean Mission to the Conference on the Limitation of Armament. Washington, DC, 1921-1922 (1922), page 32 ( section Korea's Appeal in the Google Book Search).
  5. ↑ Mohan Guruswamy, Mohan, "The Great India-China Game," Rediff. June 23, 2003.
  6. ↑ The first British ambassador was appointed in 1905. Before 1905, the ambassador had various titles: Consul General or Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary , who ranks just below the Ambassador.

credentials

Web links

Commons : Claude Maxwell MacDonald  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files
personal data
SURNAME MacDonald, Claude Maxwell
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British officer and diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH June 12, 1852
DATE OF DEATH September 10, 1915