Author Archives: Andrew Hillier

Guest blog: Andrew Hillier on Armistice Day and its Aftermath in Treaty Port China

As we approach the 105th anniversary of Armistice Day, Andrew Hillier considers the significance of the ceremony in treaty port China and for Chinese people today. Held at the Cenotaph in Victoria Park, Tianjin (Tientsin), the Armistice Day parade was … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Guest blog: Andrew Hillier on Armistice Day and its Aftermath in Treaty Port China

Andrew Hillier on Bessie Pirkis: A Renaissance Woman in Peking Part 2

Concluding his overview of the recently digitised Pirkis Collection, Dr Andrew Hillier digs further into these 400 cartes de visite to consider what the collection tells us about the legation world and the European presence in Peking more generally during … Continue reading

Posted in Collections, Family photography, History of photography in China | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Andrew Hillier on Bessie Pirkis: A Renaissance Woman in Peking Part 2

Andrew Hillier on Bessie Pirkis: A Renaissance Woman in Peking

A recent approach to HPC revealed a treasure trove of material relating to life in the British Legation, Peking, in the 1870s and early 1880s, but, as Dr Andrew Hillier explains, making sense of the photographs can be a challenge.  … Continue reading

Posted in Collections, Family photography, History of photography in China | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Andrew Hillier on Bessie Pirkis: A Renaissance Woman in Peking

‘Normal’ Lives Led in Abnormal Conditions

Dr Andrew Hillier shows how a recently- discovered collection of photographs shines a spotlight on the importance of family in treaty port China in the early twentieth century. On 12 April 1899, Edith Sarah Sharples and Walter James Clennell were … Continue reading

Posted in Family photography, New Collections | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on ‘Normal’ Lives Led in Abnormal Conditions

A disturbing intimacy: The Private Papers of C. C. A. Kirke

Andrew Hillier discusses a diary, a photograph album and a memoir which, between them, provide a fascinating insight into consular life as well as showing how such materials can be used for exploring histories of intimacy and the emotions. The … Continue reading

Posted in Family photography | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on A disturbing intimacy: The Private Papers of C. C. A. Kirke

The Five Faces of Dr Walter Medhurst, D.D.

Andrew Hillier considers how five portraits of the London Missionary Society (LMS) missionary, Walter H. Medhurst (1796-1857), one of which can be found on HPC, made over the course of his career, were used to maintain connections and promote the … Continue reading

Posted in Family photography, Guest blogs, Photographers, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on The Five Faces of Dr Walter Medhurst, D.D.

‘A Miniature World’: Photographs and Memories of Internment in China

Drawing on his own records and images from the Historical Photographs of China platform, Dr Andrew Hillier, author of Mediating Empire: An English family in China 1817-1927 (2020) has posted a number of blogs here and elsewhere about his family. In … Continue reading

Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on ‘A Miniature World’: Photographs and Memories of Internment in China

A Banker and his Amanuensis

Andrew Hillier draws on the Richard Family Collection in Historical Photographs of China to evoke the moving relationship between Guy Hillier and his young amanuensis, Ella Richard. Andrew’s book, Mediating Empire: An English Family in China, 1817-1927, is published this … Continue reading

Posted in Collections, Family photography, Guest blogs | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on A Banker and his Amanuensis

Weihaiwei and the 1st Chinese Regiment – 2. Peking and After

In the second of his two posts, Dr Andrew Hillier traces the history of the 1st Chinese Regiment, from its performance in the relief of Tianjin to its disbandment six years later. Despite its record at Tianjin, to the dismay … Continue reading

Posted in Collections, Guest blogs, Regimental Collections | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Weihaiwei and the 1st Chinese Regiment – 2. Peking and After

Weihaiwei and the 1st Chinese Regiment – 1. Relieving Tianjin

As part of the Regimental Museums Project, Dr Andrew Hillier explores photographs reflecting the short but significant contribution of the 1st Chinese Regiment to Britain’s military presence in China. Raised in 1898 to protect the Royal Navy’s newly-acquired deep-water base … Continue reading

Posted in Collections, Guest blogs, Regimental Collections | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Weihaiwei and the 1st Chinese Regiment – 1. Relieving Tianjin