Robert Hart (赫德) | 24 Histories

Overview

The translated histories identify Robert Hart as an administrator, diplomat, official, and translator. This record brings together 28 passages from 2 chapters across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Robert Hart	赫德	He De
Personal name	Hart	赫德
Personal	Hart	赫德	Hè Dé
Title	Inspector General	總稅務司
Title	Inspector General of Customs	總稅務司
Courtesy	Lubin	鷺賓	Lù Bīn
Personal name	Robert Hart	赫德	He De

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Strongly inferred · qingshigao:152:s0007
Sex: male
Explicit · qingshigao:435:s0131

Roles

Administrator
Diplomat
Official
Translator

Life and dates

Death

Manner: died of illness after 1911 / 辛亥後，病卒
Explicit · qingshigao:435:s0159

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 上年六月至十二月 · Western Year: AD 1895
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:152:s0062, qingshigao:152:s0064
Source Date: Text: 光緒三十三年 · Western Year: AD 1907
Explicit · qingshigao:435:s0154
Source Date: Text: 光緒二十一年十二月 · Western Year: AD 1895
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:152:s0013, qingshigao:152:s0028
Source Date: Text: 光緒二年 · Western Year: AD 1876
Explicit · qingshigao:152:s0007, qingshigao:152:s0034, qingshigao:435:s0140
Source Date: Text: 光緒十一年 · Western Year: AD 1885
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:152:s0021
Source Date: Text: 光緒十九年 · Western Year: AD 1893
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:152:s0011, qingshigao:152:s0012, qingshigao:152:s0061
Source Date: Text: 光緒十八年冬 · Western Year: AD 1892
Explicit · qingshigao:152:s0042
Source Date: Text: 光緒十六年三月 · Western Year: AD 1890
Explicit · qingshigao:152:s0039
Source Date: Text: 光緒十年 · Western Year: AD 1884
Explicit · qingshigao:435:s0141
Source Date: Text: 光緒四年 · Western Year: AD 1878
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:152:s0008, qingshigao:152:s0035
Source Date: Text: 同治二年 · Western Year: AD 1863
Explicit · qingshigao:435:s0136
Source Date: Text: 同治五年 · Western Year: AD 1866
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:152:s0003
Source Date: Text: 咸豐九年 · Western Year: AD 1859
Explicit · qingshigao:435:s0134
Source Date: Text: 咸豐十一年 · Western Year: AD 1861
Explicit · qingshigao:435:s0135
Source Date: Text: 咸豐四年 · Western Year: AD 1854
Explicit · qingshigao:435:s0132
Source Date: Text: 辛亥後 · Western Year: AD 1911
Explicit · qingshigao:435:s0159
Source Date: Text: 迄十一年 · Western Year: AD 1885
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:152:s0004, qingshigao:152:s0005
Source Date: Text: 逾年 · Western Year: AD 1908
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:435:s0155, qingshigao:435:s0154

Family

Immediate source-linked family. Drag to pan, scroll or pinch to zoom, and select a person to open their record.

Parent of Son of Hart (赫德之子)
Kinship Term: son / 子 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: son
Sibling of Hart (赫政)
Kinship Term: younger brother / 弟 · Subject Relative Age: elder · Shared Parentage: full

Origins and identity

Ethnicity: British / 英人
Explicit · qingshigao:152:s0007
Label: British / 英國人
Explicit · qingshigao:435:s0131

Career and standing

Label: consular interpreter / 領事署繙譯官
Explicit · qingshigao:435:s0132
Label: Inspector General of Customs / 總稅務司
Explicit · qingshigao:152:s0007
Label: deputy commissioner of Canton Maritime Customs / 粵海關副稅務司 · Action: appointed
Explicit · qingshigao:435:s0134
Label: Inspector General of Customs / 總稅務司 · Action: appointed
Explicit · qingshigao:435:s0136
Label: ministerial rank / 尚書銜 · Action: granted
Explicit · qingshigao:435:s0155
Label: surveillance commissioner rank / 按察使銜 · Action: granted
Explicit · qingshigao:435:s0138
Label: Inspector General of Customs / 總稅務司 · Action: held
Explicit · qingshigao:152:s0003, qingshigao:152:s0007, qingshigao:152:s0064
Label: Junior Tutor of the Heir Apparent / 太子少保 · Action: promoted
Explicit · qingshigao:435:s0150
Label: provincial administration commissioner rank / 布政使銜 · Action: promoted
Explicit · qingshigao:435:s0139
Label: peacock feather and Double Dragon Precious Star / 花翎、雙龍二等第一寶星 · Action: awarded
Explicit · qingshigao:435:s0144
Label: three-generation first-rank ennoblement / 三代一品封典 · Action: awarded
Explicit · qingshigao:435:s0148
Label: character Fu / 福字 · Action: granted
Explicit · qingshigao:435:s0151
Status: resignation · Action: retired-for-illness
Explicit · qingshigao:435:s0155

Places and affiliations

Label: Britain / 英國 · Relation: origin
Explicit · qingshigao:435:s0131
Label: Qing / 清 · Relation: served
Explicit · qingshigao:435:s0136, qingshigao:435:s0156
Polity: Qing / 清 · Relation: served
Strongly inferred · qingshigao:152:s0007, qingshigao:152:s0064
Place: Belfast / 倍爾發司
Explicit · qingshigao:435:s0131
Place: Beijing / 北京 · Relation: posted-to
Explicit · qingshigao:152:s0008, qingshigao:152:s0035
Place: Shanghai / 上海 · Relation: active-at
Explicit · qingshigao:152:s0003, qingshigao:152:s0005, qingshigao:152:s0035
Place: Tianjin / 天津 · Relation: active-at
Explicit · qingshigao:152:s0003, qingshigao:152:s0005, qingshigao:152:s0008
Organization: Official postal bureau / 官郵政局 · Relation: headed
Explicit · qingshigao:152:s0064, qingshigao:152:s0075

Works and attributed material

Work: Great Qing Post / 大清郵政 · Relation: headed
Explicit · qingshigao:435:s0165
Kind: regulations · Role: author · Action: drafted-four-postal-regulation-sets
Explicit · qingshigao:152:s0062, qingshigao:152:s0064, qingshigao:152:s0065
Kind: memorial · Role: author · Action: noted-upu-in-switzerland
Explicit · qingshigao:152:s0067
Kind: proposal · Role: author · Action: outlined-seven-key-points
Explicit · qingshigao:152:s0022, qingshigao:152:s0023

Events and relationships

Kind: administrative · Role: director · Action: appointed-to-run-national-postal-service
Explicit · qingshigao:152:s0064, qingshigao:152:s0076
Kind: diplomatic · Role: negotiator · Action: Boxers-peace-talks
Explicit · qingshigao:435:s0150
Kind: diplomatic · Role: negotiator · Action: Chefoo-and-Tonkin-and-Macao-affairs
Explicit · qingshigao:435:s0140, qingshigao:435:s0141, qingshigao:435:s0146
Kind: administrative · Role: manager · Action: concurrent-oversight-of-mail-delivery · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 迄十一年 · Western Year: AD 1885
Explicit · qingshigao:152:s0005, qingshigao:152:s0006
Kind: administrative · Role: advisor · Action: deliberated-postal-expansion · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 光緒十九年 · Western Year: AD 1893
Explicit · qingshigao:152:s0012, qingshigao:152:s0061
Kind: administrative · Role: director · Action: directed-official-mail-bureaus · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 光緒四年 · Western Year: AD 1878
Explicit · qingshigao:152:s0008, qingshigao:152:s0035
Kind: diplomatic · Role: participant · Action: discussed-yunnan-case-and-mail-bureaus · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 光緒二年 · Western Year: AD 1876
Explicit · qingshigao:152:s0034
Kind: administrative · Role: organizer · Action: postal-and-lighthouse-expansion
Explicit · qingshigao:435:s0137, qingshigao:435:s0139, qingshigao:435:s0154
Kind: administrative · Role: proposer · Action: proposed-postal-service · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 光緒二年 · Western Year: AD 1876
Explicit · qingshigao:152:s0007, qingshigao:152:s0034
Kind: administrative · Role: drafter · Action: submitted-postal-regulations · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 上年六月至十二月 · Western Year: AD 1895
Explicit · qingshigao:152:s0062, qingshigao:152:s0064

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: called-postal-service-a-major-policy-to-enrich-state-and-benefit-people · Provenance: Mode: self-report · Speaker Person Id: Robert Hart (赫德)
Explicit · qingshigao:152:s0022
Assessment: guest minister who fulfilled his charge · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · qingshigao:435:s0181
Assessment: warned-delay-would-invite-complications · Provenance: Mode: named-source-report · Source Person Id: Robert Hart (赫德)
Explicit · qingshigao:152:s0042

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 152Volume 152 Treatises 127: Transportation 4, You Zheng · 20 passages

Open chapter

同治五年，改由總稅務司匯各駐京公使文件，遞天津寄上海。 In the fifth year of Tongzhi, the Inspector General of Customs took over collecting documents from all resident ministers and sent them via Tianjin to Shanghai.

迄十一年，郵務愈繁，總稅務司乃於天津、鎮江、上海各稅務司處專員理之。 By the eleventh year mail traffic had grown heavy enough that the Inspector General placed dedicated staff at the customs houses in Tianjin, Zhenjiang, and Shanghai to handle it.

此總稅務兼理郵遞之權輿也。 This marked the beginning of the Inspector General's concurrent oversight of postal delivery.

初，光緒二年，總稅務司英人赫德建議創辦郵政。 As early as the second year of Guangxu, the British Inspector General Robert Hart proposed creating a national postal service.

四年，始設送信官局於北京、天津、煙台、牛庄，以赫德主其事，九江、鎮江亦繼設局。 In the fourth year, official mail bureaus were opened in Beijing, Tianjin, Yantai, and Niuzhuang under Hart's direction, and Jiujiang and Zhenjiang soon followed.

總署付赫德議。 The Zongli Yamen referred the matter to Hart for discussion.

南洋大臣曾國荃曾據咨總理衙門，飭總稅務司赫德議復辦法。 Southern Seas Minister Zeng Guoquan had already reported to the Zongli Yamen and directed Hart to draft a plan.

赫德亦謂此舉為裕國便民大政，陳有要端七事。 Hart likewise called the project a major state policy to enrich the treasury and serve the public, outlining seven key points.

請飭總理衙門，轉飭赫德，妥議章程開辦。 I ask that the Zongli Yamen instruct Hart to draft proper regulations and launch the service.

總理衙門疏言：「光緒二年間，赫德因議滇案，請設送信官局，為郵政發端之始。 The Zongli Yamen reported: "In the second year of Guangxu, while handling the Yunnan affair, Hart proposed official mail bureaus—the first step toward a postal service.

四年，擬開設京城、天津、煙台、牛庄、上海五處，略仿泰西郵政辦法，交赫德管理。 In the fourth year, offices were planned for Beijing, Tianjin, Yantai, Niuzhuang, and Shanghai, modeled loosely on Western postal practice and placed under Hart.

十六年三月，劄行赫德，以所擬辦法無損民局，即就通商各口推廣辦理。 In the third month of the sixteenth year, Hart was instructed that the proposed rules would not harm private letter offices and that the service should be extended at treaty ports at once.

十八年冬，赫德以數年來創辦艱難，若再不奏請設立郵政局，恐將另生枝節。 In the winter of the eighteenth year, Hart warned that years of difficult startup meant further delay in petitioning for a postal bureau would invite new complications.

爰於十九年劄飭赫德詳加討論。 Accordingly, in the nineteenth year Hart was ordered to study the matter in detail.

上年六月至十二月，復與總稅務司面商屢次，先後據其遞到四項章程，計四十四款。 From the sixth through the twelfth month of last year we met repeatedly with the Inspector General, who submitted four regulatory drafts totaling forty-four articles.

應請旨敕下臣衙門，轉飭總稅務司赫德專司其事，仍由臣衙門總其成，即照赫德所擬章程，定期開辦。 We ask that the throne order our yamen to direct Hart to run the service while we retain overall supervision, opening on schedule under Hart's regulations.

應制單紙，亦由赫德一手經理。 Official forms and stamped stationery should likewise be handled entirely by Hart.

至赫德呈內稱萬國聯約郵政公會，系在瑞士國，應備照會，寄由出使大臣轉交其國執政大臣，為入會之據。 Hart's memorial noted that the Universal Postal Union sits in Switzerland; China should prepare a diplomatic note for its envoy to deliver to the Swiss government as credentials for membership.

其江海輪船及將來鐵路所通處所，應如何交寄文信，由總稅務司與各局員會商辦理。 How mail should be handed over on steamers and future railways will be arranged by the Inspector General in consultation with bureau staff.

官郵政局歲入暨開支款目，由總稅務司按結申報，臣衙門匯核奏報。」 The Inspector General will report postal revenue and expenses periodically; our yamen will compile them for imperial memorial."

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 435Volume 435 Biographies 222: Hua Er, Lei Bo Lei Dong, Fa Er Di Fu, Ge Deng, Ri Yi Ge, De Ke Bei, He De, Bo Li · 8 passages

Open chapter

華爾勒伯勒東法爾第福戈登日意格德克碑赫德帛黎 Ward, Lebrethon, Foudrinière, Gordon, Giquel, von Sternberg, Hart, and Brière

赫德，字鷺賓，英國倍爾發司人。 Hart, courtesy name Lubin, was from Belfast in Britain.

十一年，總稅務司李泰國奉令購戰艦，以赫德權代之，赴長江新開各口岸置新關。 In 1861 Inspector General Lay was ordered to purchase warships; Hart acted for him and established customs houses at the newly opened Yangtze ports.

同治二年，李泰國去職，赫德實授，徙駐上海。 In 1863 Lay resigned and Hart was confirmed in the post, moving his headquarters to Shanghai.

十五年，藏兵寇哲孟雄，英兵乘勢闌入，赫德遣其弟稅務司赫政馳往，與駐藏大臣會籌劃界諸事。 In 1889, when Tibetan troops raided Sikkim and British forces intervened, Hart sent his brother Commissioner Hart to Tibet to negotiate the boundary with the resident commissioner.

赫德官中國垂五十年，頗與士大夫往還。 Hart served in China for nearly fifty years and moved widely in scholarly and official circles.

二十二年，朝議行郵政，以赫德兼領其事，帛黎實參治之。 In 1896 the court decided to establish a postal service; Hart nominally headed it while Brière ran the operation.

赫德久總稅務，兼司郵政，頗與聞交涉，號曰「客卿」，皆能不負所事。 Hart long controlled the customs and postal service, took part in diplomacy, and was known as a "guest minister"; each served faithfully.