Joseph Henry Longford (25 June 1849 in Dublin – 12 May 1925 in London) was a British consular official in the

British Japan Consular Service Britain had a functioning consular service in Japan from 1859 after the signing of the 1858 Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce between James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and the Tokugawa Shogunate until 1941 when Japan Japanese invasion of Ma ...

from 24 February 1869 until 15 August 1902. He was Consul in

Formosa Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The island of Taiwan, formerly known to Westerners as Formosa, has an area of and makes up 99% of the land under ROC control. It lies about across the Taiwan Strait f ...

(1895–97) after the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 189417 April 1895), or the First China–Japan War, was a conflict between the Qing dynasty of China and the Empire of Japan primarily over influence in Joseon, Korea. In Chinese it is commonly known as th ...

and at

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

(1897–1902). After retiring from the service he became the first Professor of Japanese at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

until 1916, and then an emeritus professor of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. He was awarded a D.Litt. by his alma mater,

Queen's University of Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

in 1919. Although not in the front rank of British Japanologists in the 19th century occupied by

Ernest Satow Sir Ernest Mason Satow (30 June 1843 – 26 August 1929), was a British diplomat, scholar and Japanologist. He is better known in Japan, where he was known as , than in Britain or the other countries in which he served as a diplomat. He was ...

Basil Hall Chamberlain Basil Hall Chamberlain (18 October 1850 – 15 February 1935) was a British academic and Japanologist. He was a professor of the Japanese language at Tokyo Imperial University and one of the foremost British Japanologists active in Japan during ...

William George Aston William George Aston (9 April 1841 – 22 November 1911) was an Anglo-Irish diplomat, author, and scholar of the languages and histories of Korea and Japan. Early life Aston was born near Derry, Ireland.Ricorso Aston, bio notes/ref> He disti ...

and arguably

Frederick Victor Dickins Frederick Victor Dickins (24 May 1838 – 16 August 1915) was a British naval surgeon, barrister, orientalist and university administrator. He is now remembered as a translator of Japanese literature. Life Dickins was born at 44 Connaught Terrac ...

, he did make a notable contribution in the field of early Japanese studies.

Japanophile

Longford laboured long and hard to produce several readable and compendious books on

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and as a member of the Japan Society of London was a strong supporter of maintaining good

Anglo-Japanese relations The Anglo-Japanese style developed in the United Kingdom through the Victorian era and early Edwardian era from approximately 1851 to the 1910s, when a new appreciation for Japanese design and culture influenced how designers and craftspeople ma ...

. He realised that Britain held

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

and

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

only as long as the Japanese allowed her to do so, and urged the importance of studying Japan on British readers.

Books

* 1877 -- ''The Penal Code of Japan'' * 1907 -- ''Japan'' (Living Races of Mankind) * 1910 -- 'The Regeneration of Japan', in ''

Cambridge Modern History ''The Cambridge Modern History'' is a comprehensive modern history of the world, beginning with the 15th century Age of Discovery, published by the Cambridge University Press in England and also in the United States. The first series, planned by ...

'', vol. 12 (1910) * 1910 -- ''The Story of Old Japan'' * 1911 -- ''The Story of Korea'' * 1911 -
''Japan of the Japanese.''
New York: C. Scribner's sons
OCLC 2971290
* 1913 -- ''The Evolution of New Japan'' * 1915 -- ''Japan'' (Spirit of the Allied Nations) * 1920 -- ''Japan'' (Harmsworth Encyclopedia) * 1923 -- ''Japan'' (Nations of Today)

References

* 'Joseph Henry Longford (1849–1925), Consul and Scholar' by Ian Ruxton, Ch. 31, ''Britain and Japan: Biographical Portraits'', Volume VI, ed. Hugh Cortazzi 2007, pp. 307–314, *''The Correspondence of Sir Ernest Satow, British Minister in Japan (1895–1900)'', Volume One, from the Satow Papers held at

The National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...

, Kew, London. published in full for researchers with notes by Ian Ruxton,

Kyushu Institute of Technology The is one of the 87 national universities in Japan. Located in Fukuoka Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, it is dedicated to education and research in the fields of science and technology. It is earlier abbreviated to KIT and is now official ...

, Lulu Press Inc., July 2005. (This book contains many letters from Longford to Sir Ernest Satow.) Consuls for the United Kingdom Academics of King's College London Alumni of Queen's University Belfast British expatriates in Japan 1849 births 1925 deaths British Japanologists {{UK-academic-bio-stub

Japanophile

Books

See also

References