Walter Henry Medhurst

Who was Walter Henry Medhurst?

Sir Walter Henry Medhurst, born in Batavia in 1822, died in Torquay in 1885, was a British diplomat in China.

Being the son of the prominent British missionary Walter Henry Medhurst, the younger Medhurst was educated at Blundell's School and in Macau. There he acquired a good command of Chinese, Dutch and Malay. In October 1840, he was appointed Chinese secretary to the British superintendent of trade in China. During the Opium War, he worked under Rear-Admiral George Elliot and Sir Henry Pottinger.

In the following years, he held a number of important consular positions in Chinese treaty ports such as Fuzhou, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Hankou. Medhurst distinguished himself as a prominent advocate of gunboat diplomacy to defend what he considered being British interests in China. In 1868, Rutherford Alcock sent him to resolve the Yangzhou riot. He was criticized in Britain for his efforts.

Retired from consular service in 1877 and was knighted the same year. In the 1881, he took part in founding the British North Borneo Company and the following years, he organized coolie trade to Borneo on behalf of the company.