John Kennedy Rideout (1912, Leeds- 1950, Hong Kong) was a British Professor of Oriental Studies at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

(succeeding

Arthur Lindsay Sadler Arthur Lindsay Sadler (1882–1970) was Professor of Oriental Studies at the University of Sydney.Joyce AckroydSadler, Arthur Lindsay (1882–1970) ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', adb.anu.edu.au. Retrieved 30 November 2020. Life and caree ...

) and at the

University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is a public research university in Pokfulam, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese by the London Missionary Society and formally established as the University of ...

."PROF. RIDEOUT: MEMORIAL SERVICE AT UNIVERSITY BISHOP OFFICIATES." South China Morning Post (1946-Current), Mar 14, 1950, pp. 6. ProQuest, A specialist in Chinese language and literature, he was a classical scholar at Oxford before pursuing studies in Far Eastern languages from the

SOAS The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury area ...

, where he also taught from 1942. He left the University of Sydney after one year, having found the library without Chinese books, and the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

unwilling to loan the books they had received from the Chinese ambassador,

Kan Nai-kuang Kan or KAN may refer to: Places * Kan (river), a tributary of the Yenisey in Russia * Kan District of Iran * Kan, Kyrgyzstan, a village in Batken Region * Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, Nigeria, IATA code * Kannapolis (Amtrak s ...

Disappearance and aftermath

Rideout disappeared on 16 February 1950, and his body found twelve days later on the shores of

Lantau Island Lantau Island (also Lantao Island, Lan Tao or Lan Tau) is the largest island in Hong Kong, located west of Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula, and is part of the New Territories. Administratively, most of Lantau Island is part of the ...

, with some suspicion about a mooted connection to British intelligence, though the authorities ruled the death an accident.The Sunday Herald (Sydney, NSW : 1949 - 1953) View title info Sun 9 Apr 1950 Page 3 Sydney Recluse Revealed As Secret Agent

References

1912 births 1950s missing person cases 1950 deaths 20th-century British linguists Academic staff of the University of Sydney Academic staff of the University of Hong Kong Accidental deaths in Hong Kong Alumni of the University of London British sinologists Formerly missing British people Linguists of Chinese Missing person cases in China Place of birth missing Scholars of Chinese literature {{UK-linguist-stub

Disappearance and aftermath

See also

References