Henry English Fulford
Life and career
H.E. Fulford was born in Chepstow, Monmouthshire.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4006382 Former British Consul: Found at South Yarra], The Argus (Melbourne, Vic), 16 May 1929 His father, Rev. John Fulford, had been an Anglican priest in Australia (Adelaide and Melbourne).[http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=AS19050408.2.63&l=mi&e=-------10--1----0-- CHURCH NEWS AND NOTES. Auckland Star, Rōrahi XXXVI, Putanga 84, 8 Paengawhāwhā 1905, Page 10] Soon after the boy's birth, the Fulford family returned to Australia,[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article825173 Shipping News], The South Australian Advertiser, Tuesday 16 October 1860 where Rev. Fulford (later, Rev. Canon Fulford) resumed his ecclesiastical career.
After graduating from the Melbourne Grammar School, Henry Fulford went to England, to acquire some business experience in London.
In 1880 H.E. Fulford joined the British Consular Service and was sent to work in China.[http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19290517.2.72.aspx Melbourne tragedy: former consul-general found shot]. The Straits Times, 17 May 1929 In 1887, when he was a student interpreter at the British Consulate in Newchwang (today's Yingkou),{{citation
|first=H. |last=Fulford
|title=Mr. Fulford's Journeys in Manchuria
|publisher=Royal Scottish Geographical Society. |year=1887
|journal=Scottish Geographical Magazine|volume=3
|issue=8
|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=NbcBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA421|pages=421–424|doi=10.1080/14702548708554794
}} he joined two British officers on leave from India – H. E. M. James of the Indian Civil Service and Francis Younghusband of the British Army – and went with them on a tour of Manchuria. As he was the only person of the three Brits who had a China background, he provided the British party with a language and cultural expertise.{{citation
|first=Sir Henry Evan Murchison |last=James|authorlink=Evan James (civil servant)
|publisher=Longmans, Green, and Co. |year=1888
|title=The Long White Mountain, or, A journey in Manchuria: with some account of the history, people, administration and religion of that country
|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=4bICAAAAMAAJ|pages=125, 217}}
Fulford served for a number of years in the British consulate in Newchwang. He became the consul there in 1899,[http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/27091/pages/3866/page.pdf THE LONDON GAZETTE, JUNE 20, 1899] and served in that position during the Boxer Uprising and the Russo-Japanese War, informing the British governments on the events as they developed.{{citation
|first=Great Britain. Parliament. House of |last=Commons
|publisher=HMSO |year=1901
|title=Papers by command, Volume 91
|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=EeM5AQAAIAAJ&pg=RA3-PA50|pages=xi,50,68,159,190–192}}
He was appointed CMG in the 1900 Birthday Honours. In 1906, he was appointed the British Consul General in Mukden (now, Shenyang).[http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/27948/pages/6179/page.pdf The London Gazette, 1906-09-11]
Later, he held a number of other consular posts throughout China. He served as a Consul General in Hankou (1911), acting Consul General in Shanghai (1913), and Consul General in Tianjin (1912–1917).
In 1917, Fulford retired and returned to Australia. On 15 May 1929, his daughter found him shot dead, aged 69, apparently in a suicide, in the bedroom of his Melbourne residence.
References
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Category:British diplomats in China
Category:Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George