Charles Daniel Tenney (June 29, 1857 – March 14, 1930) was an American educator and diplomat to China. He was the first President of Peiyang University in

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

, China from 1895 through 1906 and acted as Secretary of the Tientsin Provisional Government from 1900 to 1902. After ending his service to the Chinese Government, Tenney served as Secretary to the American Legations in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

(Peking) and

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

(Nanking).

Early life and education

Charles Tenney was born in Boston, Massachusetts on June 29, 1857, to Rev. Daniel Tenney and Mary Adams Parker. After receiving his B.A. and M.A. degrees from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

in 1878 and 1879, he entered divinity school at Oberlin Theological Seminary. He was assigned by the

American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was among the first American Christian mission, Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College. In the 19th century it was the l ...

(ABCFM) to Shanxi, China and moved there with his wife, Anne Runcie Jerrel, as part of the " Oberlin Band" in 1882.

Life in China

Tenney lived as a missionary in Shanxi for four years, during which time he founded a primary school. Resigning from the ABCFM in 1886, he moved to Tianjin, Hebei province where he became tutor to the sons of influential statesman and reformer

Li Hongzhang Li Hongzhang, Marquess Suyi ( zh, t=李鴻章; also Li Hung-chang; February 15, 1823 – November 7, 1901) was a Chinese statesman, general and diplomat of the late Qing dynasty. He quelled several major rebellions and served in importan ...

. Tenney founded the Tianjin Anglo-Chinese College and acted as principal of that institution beginning in 1886. When the Chinese Government opened the Imperial Chinese University in Tianjin in 1895 it selected Tenney as president, and he served in this role until 1906. He was then appointed as Director of Chinese Government Students in the United States.

Life as an American Diplomat

Tenney became the Chinese Secretary of the American Legation at Beijing in 1908 and American Delegate to the Joint International Opium Commission at Shanghai in 1909. Following the founding of the Revolutionary Government by

Sun Yat-sen Sun Yat-senUsually known as Sun Zhongshan () in Chinese; also known by Names of Sun Yat-sen, several other names. (; 12 November 186612 March 1925) was a Chinese physician, revolutionary, statesman, and political philosopher who founded the Republ ...

in 1912, Tenney was sent to the newly appointed capital at Nanjing as Consul. He was promoted to Counselor of Legation in 1919 and was acting head of affairs for the American Embassy until 1920.

Death

Tenney retired in 1921 and returned to the United States, making his home in Palo Alto, California. He made a return trip to China in 1923 where he suffered from a stroke. He died in Palo Alto in 1930.

Works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tenney, Charles Daniel American educators American diplomats 1857 births 1930 deaths