The Tale of the British Consulate at ShaoChuanTou

"In 1858, China was defeated by the Anglo-French Allied Forces in the Second Opium War and compelled to sign the Treaty of Tientsin. In 1861, Robert Swinhoe, the first British Vice Consul to Taiwan, arrived at Takao from Amoy by gunboat. (In 1866), the official British Consulate was built."

"In 1979, the Ministry of the Interior ... concluded that the Consulate building possessed an unusual value in the modern history of China as a concrete record and testimony of the presence of Western Powers in China. (The renovation) was completed in October 1986 (and) the Bureau of Civil Affairs of Kaohsiung City Government assigned a new role to the Consulate building by making it a museum of history and culture."

[from 'The Restored Building of the British Consulate at Takao (1866-1910)' 

published by the Bureau of Civil Affairs of Kaohsiung City Government]

       On the stele is further inscribed that 'this ShaoChuanTou British Consulate building was established in 1866' and is thus the 'oldest Western-style building (洋樓) ' in Taiwan.

       Elsewhere on Kaohsiung City Government and National Sun Yat-sen University websites it is stated that the structure was built by McPhail & Co ((天利洋行) in 1866 and had become the Consulate in 1867.

       Amongst these materials there are two interesting British documents, which are displayed together on the wall of what was once the British consul's bedroom. These are shown on the right in a picture taken in 2004.

       The upper document, which is a British Admiralty chart apparently dated 1865, shows the Consulate to be at its present position on the hill above ShaoChuanTou.

       The lower document shows an 1877 plan of the consular site with clearly visible handwriting to say that it was purchased on 22 January 1877 from one Lu Ta-tu. 

       This webpage aims to explore the apparent contradictions in the dating of the consulate building, and to establish the probable actual date. 

       In trying to determine the actual date of construction, it is necessary to look at the setting up of the British Consulate at Takow (Takao, Kaohsiung) by Robert  Swinhoe, to examine contemporary deeds and documents, and also to look at the commercial and political developments of the time.

Robert Swinhoe (1836-1877)

       In fact, Swinhoe was intending to land at Taiwan-fu (Tainan), but was unable to do so due to the strength of the southwest monsoon in the open roadstead.

      Consequently Swinhoe did not tarry long in the village of Takow, then on ChiChin, after his arrival. He  moved rapidly up from Takow overland to Taiwan-fu where he did indeed  establish the first British Consulate on Formosa in July 1861. 

       However by the end of 1861 the seemingly restless Swinhoe had moved further north to Tamsui where he believed most of the supposed trade to be centered.

       By May 1862 his health was apparently so weakened that he was obliged to return to England, where he was to deliver several famous treatises on Formosa and its wildlife during 1863 before again returning to Tamsui in February 1864. 

        He was subsequently, in August 1864, ordered to return to Takow to set up the British Consulate.

       In 1871, Acting Consul William Gregory was permitted by the British Minister at Peking to wall off a section of the Freshwater Creek site for the burial of foreigners and to build a chapel thereon. Thus from 1871 a part of the site was indeed used as a Foreign Cemetery. 

       Interestingly this site had never been transferred by Swinhoe to the British Crown and it took a rather dubious transaction by Consul Hewlett in May 1878 to 'reclaim' it for the British government. Around 30 foreigners had been buried at the Foreign Cemetery prior to 1895, when the island passed into Japanese hands, including two women and three children. 

       In 1925 the major part of the site was sold to the Japanese government. However British government documents clearly show that the portion of the site that comprised the cemetery was retained by the British to be administered by the Friends of the Foreign Cemetery. 

       Today the site has been occupied by squatters and few gravestones are visible. However, one remaining gravestone, shown on the right, is that of an Irish seaman named William Hopkins who was drowned crossing the 'Takow bar' in 1880. (For more on William Hopkins, click here.)

Gravestone of William Hopkins 

(1856-1880)

       The land deed refers to the permanent leasing of plot at Chi-hou in '1865 or 1866' by a certain Li Chai, who 'built thereon for the British subject Swinhoe, the said site being situated in the village of Chi-how on the shore of the lagoon'. 

Collingwood's 1866 Painting 'from the Consulate'

[From the collection of Paul Overmaat]

       The building was visited by the British natural scientist Dr Cuthbert Collingwood in May 1866, and one of his paintings, notated 'Entrance to the harbour - Ta-kau (S W Formosa) from the Consulate' shows part of a substantial structure. This beautiful watercolour painting, shown on the left, is from the personal collection of Paul Overmaat.

       On this Admiralty chart it can be seen that there was no building on the hill above ShaoChuanTou at that time, and that the 'English' Consulate is shown to be on ChiChin. Interestingly its marked position coincides exactly with the perspective from Collingwood's painting. The large building with extensive forecourt to the lagoon, just to the southeast of the market-place, is presumed to be the newly-built McPhail hong. 

       This Admiralty chart is based on a survey made in 1865 by the British Royal Navy. The similar chart hanging today on the wall of the restored British Consulate is an updated version of the 1865 chart made in 1885, which explains why the Consulate is shown on the hill at that time.

       The second record mentioned above is the letter that Swinhoe wrote to Sir Thomas Wade in August 1865. In this letter Swinhoe had not only complained about the consular building, but also sought to persuade Wade to seek approval for the rental of 'the first strong well-built house' constructed at Takow for use as a fitting consulate. 

       The house is described in detail by Swinhoe as being 'approached from the harbour by a substantial jetty, (with) on the right and left two long boarded rooms (of) 66 x 20 feet ...  and two small rooms beyond'. The rental requested was excessive for Takow and no doubt Wade was obliged to refer the request to the Foreign Office in London, where Swinhoe was held in some esteem. The new building had been constructed, using Amoy materials and craftsmen, by McPhail & Co (see below - 'McPhail Hong Deed'). 

       Mrs Swinhoe, as the only foreign woman, was fortunate that Dr James Maxwell (shown on the right) was to arrive in 1865, before she gave birth. After the birth of this second child in October 1865, Swinhoe, upon the advice of Dr Maxwell, escorted his wife after her confinement to Amoy, where her parents were missionaries and Swinhoe's brother-in-law was consul.

       Although he returned to Takow in December 1865, Swinhoe was once again back in Amoy in April 1866, when he was ordered to remain as Acting-Consul whilst retaining his position of Consul to Taiwan. 

       In fact, Swinhoe was to remain nominally the Consul for Taiwan until 1873, though he returned to Taiwan only once, briefly, in 1868 to handle problems related to the camphor trade and missionary activities.

Dr James Laidlaw Maxwell

(1836-1921)

Detail from Collingwood's 1866 Painting of Chi-hou

[From the collection of Paul Overmaat]

       There were very few structures of the size implied in Swinhoe's letter standing on Chi-hou in 1866 when Collingwood painted his view across the lagoon to Chi-hou, a detail of which is shown on the left. The first Consulate on Chi-hou, with flag flying, can just be seen in front of the small hill in the centre of the picture. Towards the left of the picture can be seen a large, long building. This distinctive building is almost certainly the McPhail hong.

       In 1867, a British Government surveyor, called Major Crossman, visited Taiwan to report on the consular establishments. In his July 1867 report, it is recorded that the Consul had leased a building for five years from a firm that ‘has become bankrupt within the last few weeks’.  The well-documented collapse of McPhail in May 1867 (see Pickering's book), and the fact that the rental amount is precisely as proposed by Swinhoe in his letter to Wade, leads to the conclusion that the building is indeed the McPhail one.

       From contemporary maps and Swinhoe’s description of the building it is possible to fix the location precisely. An 1875 engraving (shown below), after an 1871 photograph by Thomson, shows the presumed second Consulate at Chi-hou as the long pale building, with five windows running along its second storey, just to the right of the centre of the engraving. The building, which was still standing in 1944, has now disappeared. However, based on the five year lease, this would have been the British Consulate from late 1866 until late 1871.

       Much evidence suggests that the southern seat of the British Consulate was shifted up to Tainan (Taiwan-fu) from around 1871 until the telegraph line was completed between the Ching prefectural capital and the port of Takow in 1877. 

       An 1873 plan of the extensive British Consulate located in a rented building beside the Ya-men (official residence) of the Tao-tai (Circuit Intendant or Prefect) in Tainan supports this view.

       However, with the return of the Benjamin Disraeli (shown on the right) as Prime Minister in 1874, the British were to take a much more assertive role in Asia: securing the 'coaling stations' for the naval and mercantile steamers; and seeking to stop the encroachment of other Western powers, such as Russia and the French. 

       This led to a re-assertion of British interests in Formosa from the mid 1870s even though the extent and quality of the coalmines in Keelung had been largely discounted.

       In January 1877 one Lu Ta-tu leased the site on the hill above Hsi-tzu-wan to Francis Marshall acting on behalf of Her Majesty's First Commissioner of Works. 

       The plan of the vacant site, shown on the right, is dated July 1877 and was accompanied by the original architectural drawings for the Consular Residence, shown below on the left. 

         Within the same file at the Public Records Office in London is a later plan showing both the Consular Offices, on the shore of the lagoon, and the Consular Residence, on the hill (see image below right). This later plan is dated August 1879, which suggests that the Consular Residence was built during the dry season of 1878/9.        

Note: The above three images are under British Crown Copyright and may not be used for any commercial purpose.

       This date of construction is further supported by a statement in Coates' The China Consuls that a 'new consulate was built at Takow in 1878'. 

       Other support for this date comes from the Customs (ICMC) reports showing the imports of Bricks from Amoy. With both buildings constructed using bricks and granite imported from Amoy, it is significant that exceptionally large amounts of 'Bricks & Tiles' were imported in 1878 and 1879. 

        The number of bricks imported from Amoy in both 1878 and 1879 was just over half a million units. Although the present Consular Residence structure may use over three-quarters of a million bricks, the older structure, with its slender verandah pillars supporting wooden slatting, would have used fewer bricks. This suggests that the Consular Office and the Consular Residence were built in the consecutive years of 1878 and 1879.

Note: The above image is under British Crown Copyright and may not be used for any commercial purpose.

       The slender pillars were replaced with thick brick arching, and the external surfaces rendered with lime cement to resist the harsh saline atmosphere. The rebuilding work was carried out under the supervision of Robert Hastings who spent over 40 years in south Taiwan.

       The newer brickwork, which actually uses smaller bricks, can just be seen on the rightmost side of the consulate in this 1910 photograph.

    Typhoon Thelma may well account for the ruined condition of the British Consular Residence prior to its rebuilding 1n 1985 (see picture on right). The extensive restoration in 1985 was based on the 1900 design, which is its current appearance. This careful restoration was carried out under the supervision of Lee Chien-lang. 

       Meanwhile, the search for the precise locations of the two earlier British Consulates at Chi-hou continues and will be reported on.

The author acknowledges the generous help of Dr Yeh Chen-huei in the preparation of this article.