Colonel Sir Claude Maxwell MacDonald, British minister to Qing Dynasty Empire of China, and British Minister to the Empire of Korea. He was instrumental in securing the Second Peking Convention, which obtained for Britain the 99 year lease on Hong Kong. Led the defence of the foreign legations in 1900, under siege during the Boxer Rebellion, and was Britain's first ambassador to Japan.
Illustration from Cassell's History of England, pub circa 1905. After the photo by John Thomson (1837-1921) Info from wiki: Colonel Sir Claude Maxwell MacDonald, GCMG, GCVO, KCB, PC (12 June 1852 – 10 September 1915) was a British soldier and diplomat, best known for his service in China and Japan. From 1887–89 he was consul-general at Zanzibar, and then served some years as consul-general at Brass in the West African Oil Rivers Protectorate,[3] where in 1895 he was an observer of the rebellion of King Koko of Nembe. In 1896, MacDonald was appointed British minister to Qing Dynasty Empire of China. He was simultaneously the British Minister to the Empire of Korea in 1896 through 1898.[5] MacDonald obtained a lease at Weihaiwei, and obtained railway contracts for British syndicates. He was instrumental in securing the Second Peking Convention, by which China leased to Britain the New Territories of Hong Kong.[3] MacDonald secured a 99-year lease only because he thought 'it was good as forever'. In 1899 MacDonald was the author of a Diplomatic Note which proposed a new demarcation of the border between China and British India in the Karakoram and Kashmir, now known as the Macartney-MacDonald Line, which still forms the basis of the border between China and Pakistan.[7] As a military man, MacDonald led the defence of the foreign legations in 1900 which were under siege during the Boxer Rebellion. MacDonald was appointed Consul-General for the Empire of Japan in October 1900. He became Britain's first ambassador to Japan when the status of the legation was raised to an embassy in 1905.
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