Portrait of John Bowring
Photo: John King (1788-1847) · Wikimedia Commons

Author

John Bowring

4th Governor of Hong Kong; hymnwriter; translator (1792-1872)

Born
October 17, 1792, Exeter
Died
November 23, 1872, Exeter
Nationality
Kingdom of Great Britain and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Occupation
Economist, politician, journalist, translator and editor

Life and work

Sir John Bowring, or Phrayā Siam Mānukūlakicca Siammitra Mahāyaśa (17 October 1792 – 23 November 1872) was a British political economist, traveller, writer, literary translator, polyglot and the fourth Governor of Hong Kong. He was appointed by Queen Victoria as emissary to Siam, later he was appointed by King Mongkut of Siam as ambassador to London, also making a treaty of amity with Siam on 18 April 1855, now referred to as the "Bowring Treaty". His namesake treaty was fully effective for 70 years, until the reign of Vajiravudh. This treaty was gradually edited and became completely ineffective in 1938 under the government of Plaek Phibunsongkhram. Later, he was sent as a commissioner of Britain to the newly created Kingdom of Italy in 1861. He died in Claremont in Devon on 23 November 1872.

Text: “John Bowring”, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, under the license CC BY-SA 4.0. Dates and facts: Wikidata.

Collection

Books by John Bowring

2 books