George Bailey Sansom

Sir George Bailey Sansom KCMG (born November 28, 1883 in London , † March 8, 1965 in Tucson , Arizona ) was a historian of premodern Japan, who is particularly known for his historical reviews and his attention to Japanese society.

Life

Born in Kent and educated in France, he first served in Japan in 1904 as a consultant and representative for the United Kingdom and continued his career in similar positions for approximately 44 years. Knighted in 1935, he served as a member of the staff of the British Consulate in Japan from 1939 to 1941. He was sent to Washington, DC, and then to Singapore as the war was approaching in 1941, and spoke to some of the UK's top Royal Navy officials on The day before the sinking of the warships HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales , events that marked the start of the Pacific War for the United Kingdom. He returned to Washington, DC and stayed there throughout World War II . Sansom later taught at Columbia University (1947–1953) and retired in Palo Alto , California .

As a scholar in Japanese history and society, he was familiar with many other scholars, including Helen Craig McCullough , the faculty of Stanford University and the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, and many others.

He was widely regarded as someone who kept his own views out of his historical writings. More about his own views and character was revealed in the memoirs published by his wife Katharine Sansom in 1972. The book consists mainly of letters and documents written by Sir George as well as memories of his wife, these memoirs reveal a lot about his biography, especially about his experiences in Japan before World War II.

Works

• The Tsuredzure Gusa of Yoshida No Kaneyoshi . Being the meditations of a recluse in the 14th Century (1911)
• An Historical Grammar of Japanese (1923).
• Japan: a Short Cultural History (1931) ( ISBN 0-2142-0217-8 ).
• Trade conditions in the Philippine Islands: Report (1933).
• Postwar Relations with Japan (Secretariat paper, 1942).
• The Western World and Japan (1951) ( ISBN 0-8048-1510-0 ).
• A History of Japan to 1334 (1958) ( ISBN 0-8047-0523-2 ).
• A History of Japan, 1334-1615 (1961) ( ISBN 0-8047-0525-9 ).
• A History of Japan, 1615-1867 (1963) ( ISBN 0-8047-0527-5 ).
• Japan in World History.
• The Reminiscences of Sir George Sansom.

literature

• Frederic, Louis (2002). "Japan Encyclopedia." Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
• Howes, John F. (1975) Sir George Sansom and Japan, Review of. Pacific Affairs. University of British Columbia.

Name variants

George Bailey Sansom, George B. Sansom, George Sansom

literature

• Katharine Sansom: Sir George Sansom and Japan: A Memoir. Tallahassee, Florida: The Diplomatic Press Inc. 1972

Web links

• Literature by and about George Bailey Sansom in the catalog of the German National Library