Hermit of Peking - Hidden Life of Sir Edmund Backhouse

401 Pages·64.258 MB·English

by  Hugh Trevor-Roper

HERMIT OF PEKING g
THE HIDDEN LIFE OF SIR EDMUND BACKHOUSE
HUGH TREVOR-ROPER
PENGUIN BOOKS
HERMIT OF PEKING
Hugh Trevor-Roper was born in 1914 at Glanton,
Northumberland. Hewas educated at Charterhouse and
Christ Church, Oxford, where he read Classics and
Modern History. From 1937 to 1939 he was Research
Fellow of Merton College. During the war he held a
commissioninMilitaryIntelligence. After thewar he re-
turnedtoOxfordasaStudentofChristChurch,andin1957
was appointed Regius Professor ofModern History. He
publishedhisfirstbook,Archbishop Laud,in 1940;in1947
hepublished The Last DaysofHitler, an immediate best-
sellerwhichhasbeentranslatedintotwentylanguages. In
1957 his Historical Essayswere published, and in 1964 he
edited a series ofessays collected in honour ofSir Keith
Feiling on his eightieth birthday. His more recent publi-
cationsincludeReligion, theReformationandSocial Change
(1967),ThePhilbyAffair(1968),TheEuropeanWitch-Craze
ofthe 16th and 17th Centuries (1970), The Plunder ofthe
Arts in the Seventeenth Century (1970) and Princes and
Artists (1976). Professor Trevor-Roper married Lady
Alexandra Howard-Johnston, daughter ofthe late Field-
MarshalEarlHaig,in1954.Hischiefinterestsareliterature
and countrylife.
HUGH TREVOR-ROPER
HERMIT OF PEKING
The Hidden Life of
Sir Edmund Backhouse
PENGUIN BOOKS
PenguinBooksLtd,Harmondsworth,Middlesex, England
PenguinBooks, 625 MadisonAvenue,NewYork, NewYork 10022,U.S.A.
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FirstpublishedinGreatBritainunderthetitle
AHiddenLife: TheEnigmaofSirEdmundBackhouse
byMacmillanLondonLtd 1976
FirstpublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericaby
AlfredA. Knopf, Inc., 1977
Publishedwithrevisions inPenguinBooks 1978
Copyright ©HughTrevor-Roper, 1976, 1977, 1978
Allrightsreserved
PrintedinGreatBritainby
RichardClay(TheChaucerPress) Ltd,
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Contents
Acknowledgements 7
List ofIllustrations 9
Prologue 11
1 TheWild Oats 27
2 The Scholar 42
3 The Historian 72
4 Between Two Patrons 92
5 The Benefactor - One 122
6 The Benefactor - Two 141
7 The Secret Agent 162
8 The Entrepreneur 188
9 The Diaries 225
10 The Controversy 242
11 The Recluse 265
12 Dr Hoeppli 279
13 The Memoirs - One 291
14 The Memoirs - Two 317
15 The Portrait 335
Appendix One: Three learnedforgers 371
A
Appendix Two: ghost Backhouse collection 373
Source Notes 375
Index 383
Acknowledgements
Iam grateful to all those who have assisted me in my pursuit ofSir
Edmund Backhouse, even though many trails proved false and
delusive. I have expressed certain particular obligations in the text.
Here, I offer my general thanks to those who have answered my
letters, supplied personal information, allowed me to quote copy-
rightmatter, orpointedthewayto othersources, andwhomaywell
be somewhat surprised at the total picture to which they have
contributed: viz.:
Sir Harold Acton; SirJohn Addis; Mr S. A. M. Adshead ofthe
University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand; Sir
JonathanBackhouse,Bart.;MrAlanBell,Assistant KeeperofManu-
scripts at the National University of Scotland; Miss Kathleen F.
Bland;MrM.W.BryanofOrielCollege,Oxford;MrP.D. Coates;
Sir ColinCrowe;MrsAnnaCurrie;MrsHopeDunbar; MrStephen
Egerton; Mr MarkElvinofStAntony's College, Oxford; theLord
ffrench; MrPhilip Fox ofG. C. Fox & Co., Falmouth; MrKenneth
M
Gardner, Deputy Keeper ofOriental SS and Books, the British
Library; Mr PeterGwyn, archivistof Winchester College; Mr R.
J.
Highfield ofMerton College, Oxford; Mr Robert RhodesJames;
SirLionelLamb; the late MrW. E. Lewisohn; Laetitia, LadyLucas-
Tooth; M. Roland de Margerie, Ambassadeur de France; SirJames
Marjoribanks; Mr Frederick Miiller, officer in charge ofthe Search
Room of the Department of Official Receivers, Royal Courts of
Justice; Mr Michael Moss, archivist of Glasgow University; Mr
Francis Noel-Baker; Sir Alwyne Ogden; Sir Humphrey Prideaux-
Brune;Eva, CountessofRosebery DrA.L.Rowse;MrPeterShaw,
;
Secretary of King's College, London; Mr Gardner D. Stout; Mr
Michael Straight; M. Henri Vetch of Hong Kong; Commander
ClareVyner; MrEdward H.Weitzen, Chairman ofthe Bank Note
Company ofNew York; SirDick White.
I am also grateful to Miss Caroline Hobhouse of Macmillan
LondonLtdforher imperturbablepatience and assistanceandto my
wife for her care and devotioninpreparing the index.
'I have had an interesting life, although in a
hidden way - behind the scenes, I mean/
Edmund Backhouse toJ. O. P. Bland, 1933
'The greatest genius it has ever been my
privilege to know/
G. E. Morrison, 1909
'The most remarkable scoundrel ever known
in the Far East/
G. S.Hall, 1917
'Sir Edmund, with all his shortcomings, was most
extraordinary and perhaps never revealed his
personality completely/
Reinhard Hoeppli, 1945
List of Illustrations
Edmund Backhouse aged about forty-five (New China
Review, October 1919)
G. E. Morrison (The Times)
Edmund Backhouse and Princess P'u-lun, 1903 (private
(collection)
Peking, 1909; Lord fFrench and O. P. Bland, (private
J.
collection)
The Dowager Empress of China (The Smithsonian Institu-
tion, Freer Gallery ofArt, Washington, D.C.)
Part ofthe diary ofChing-shan (British Museum)
O. P. Bland in retirement, 1936 (private collection)
J.
Edmund Backhouse in old age (Bodleian Library, Oxford)
Edmund Backhouse on his deathbed (Bodleian Library,
Oxford)
Prologue
On the roll ofhonour ofthe Bodleian Library at Oxford -
that neo-Jacobean marble tablet upon which are inscribed the
names of its most munificent benefactors - there appears,
together with those of Humfrey, Duke of Gloucester, Sir
Thomas Bodley, Archbishop Laud, Oliver Cromwell, Paul
MellonandtheRockefellerFoundation, thename 'Edmundus
Backhouse, baronettus'. Sir Edmund Backhouse, second
baronet (i873-1944), is certainly worthy ofhis place on that
record, for in 1913 he presented to the Library a collection of
17,000 volumes* ofChinese printed books and manuscripts,
some ofthem (we are assured) exceedingly rare and valuable,
some quiteunique, andinthecourse ofthenexteightyearshe
added another 10,000 volumes, making the Backhouse
collection-accordingto theexperts-bythosegiftsalone, one
ofthe finest Chinese libraries in Europe. So handsome a gift
Who
deserves appropriate recognition. Italso raises questions.
was the donor? How did he acquire these treasures? What
motive impelled his generosity? The scope and provenance
ofany great collection is part ofits history, and as we honour
our benefactors, so we should also seek to know about them,
as ajust recognition oftheir generosity.
Sir Edmund Backhouse, at the close ofhis life, was particu-
larly anxious that we should know his true history. He then
wrote, for publication - he insists frequently on his desire for
* Chinesebooksarecountedinchiian,beingthestitched*gatherings'
whichmakeupabook. Thewordisgenerallyrendered'volumes',and
Ihave therefore kept to this usage.
[Explanatorynoteshavebeensetatthefootofthepage. Sourcenotes
will befound onpp. 375-81.]
12 Prologue
publication - two volumes of memoirs. These memoirs,
whichareunlikelytobepublished, differprofoundlyfromthe
onlypublicrecordofhislifeatpresentinprint: thebriefentry
in The Dictionary ofNational Biography written by his friend
Mrs Hope Danby. In offering a third account, which differs
totally from both his and hers, I hope that I shall approach
nearerto the truth. Itmaybe thathewill appear, inthis book,
a little less respectable than in Mrs Danby's article; but at least
hewill seemagreatdealmorerespectable thanhewouldhim-
selfhave us believe.
Sir Edmund Backhouse was a sinologist. He earned his
fameandacquiredhiscollectioninChina. Ifheisknowninthe
world, it is by two books which he wrote in collaboration
with O. P. Bland: China under the Empress Dowager, pub-
J.
lished in 1910, and Annals andMemoirs ofthe Court ofPeking,
published in 1914. The first ofthese, the first scholarly life of
the last significant ruler of imperial China, has long been
regarded as a classic, and is regularly cited as an authority by
Western writers. Nothing can replace it in the immediacy of
its documentation, the vividness of its detail, the ease and
readability ofits style. The latter is a similarly documented
anthology of scenes from court history under the Ming
Emperors and their successors, the last dynasty ofChina, the
Manchu dynasty ofthe Ch'ing.
Fora summary ofBackhouse'slife it is convenient-indeed
necessary - to begin with the only published source, Mrs
Danby's briefbiography. Mrs Danby is a painter and writer
who lived in Peking from 1926 to 1942 and who counted Sir
Edmund Backhouse as one ofher oldest friends there. In her
article on him, which is based on 'personal knowledge', she
related Backhouse's immediate parentage; his education; his
extraordinaryflair for languages; his long residence in China;
his service as translator to the embassy; his teaching appoint-
ments;hispublications;hisgenerositytotheBodleianLibrary;
andthehonoursbestoweduponhim. Distinguishedposts, she