Altruistic World Online Library

The English Sangha Trust: History
by Amaravati.org
Accessed: 9/7/19

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.

[T]he English Sangha Trust, a Buddhist organization founded by Christmas Humphreys...

-- Friends of the Western Buddhist Order: Friends, Foes, and Files, by Henry Shukman, Tricycle, Summer 1999

Luang Pu Sodh was one of the first Thai preceptors to ordain people outside Thailand as Buddhist monks. He ordained the Englishman William Purfurst (a.k.a. Richard Randall) as "Kapilavaddho" at Wat Paknam in 1954. Kapilavaddho returned to Britain to found and help lead the English Sangha Trust and English Sangha Association.

27th May 1951

“Those present at the inaugural meeting were Venerable U Thittila, Mr W. Purfurst, Mr and Mrs C.J. Bartlett, Mr F. Murie, Mr J. Garry, Mr S.H. Vincent, Mr H. Jones, Miss C. [Connie] E. Waterton, Miss D. Westwell, Miss K. Knibbs.”

“This hard-working group of people under the able Secretary Miss Connie Waterton never did much shouting about their accomplishments. They showed their great worth by what their efforts produced. It was this same group, with a few friends in London, who fostered and helped the work of Venerable Kapilavaddho.

They helped create the English Sangha Trust Ltd. and also founded the English Sangha Association from their membership. Additionally, they organised the first week long course in Vipassana in England. They continued to hold these courses while the demand was there. In addition, this group created the Dāna Fund, which was used to support members in distress, maintenance of bhikkhus, and lecturer expenses. The fund was eventually handed over to the London Buddhist Society.”

-- Honour Thy Fathers: A Tribute to the Venerable Kapilavaddho ... And brief History of the Development of Theravāda Buddhism in the UK, by Terry Shine

Former director of the trust Terry Shine described Kapilavaddho as the "man who started and developed the founding of the first English Theravada Sangha in the Western world". He was the first Englishman to be ordained in Thailand, but disrobed in 1957, shortly after his mentor Phra Ṭhitavedo [Ṭhitavedo is variously spelt Thiṭavedho, Ṭhittavedho, Thiṭavaḍḍho, Thiṭavedo and Thitavedo in sources.] had a disagreement with Luang Pu Sodh and left Wat Paknam. [Accusation of financial irregularities in relation to temple funds; the formal meeting from which Kapilavaddho walked away was a disciplinary meeting in relation to Ṭhitavedo.]. He was ordained again in England under Chao Khun Sobhana, and became the director of the English Sangha Trust in 1967.

-- Luang Pu Sodh Candasaro [Luang Por Sodh] [Luang Pu Wat Paknam] [Phramongkolthepmuni] [Phra Mongkolthepmuni], by Wikipedia

16 Nov 55 Inaugural meeting of the EST [English Sangha Trust] (M-EST)

Dec 1955 On the 30th Venerable Kapilavaḍḍho returned to Thailand with Samaṇeras Vijjavaḍḍho, Saddhāvaḍḍho and Paññāvaḍḍho (MW 55/56) (14th Dec according to Ajahn Paññāvaḍḍho)

1956 M. Walshe was Vice president of The Buddhist Society (MW 55/56)

27 Jan 56 “Samaṇeras Vijjāvaḍḍho, Saddhāvaḍḍho and Paññāvaḍḍho (George Blake, Robert Albison and Peter Morgan) were ordained at Wat Paknam. Upajjhāya was Venerable Chao Khun Bhavanakasol (later Mangala-Rayamuni). The Kammavācāya was the Venerable Chao Khun Dhammavorodon (later to become Somdet — the Vice-Patriarch of Thailand). The Anusavanacaya was Venerable Kapilavaḍḍho.” (R&B). “After some time the four English bhikkhus relocated to Wat That Tong, Sukumvit Road, Bangkok” (AP)

21 Mar 56 Venerable Kapilavaḍḍho returned to England. EST [English Sangha Trust] rented Flat 9, 10 Orme Court, Bayswater, (M-EST First annual report by Directors. 30 April 57)

April 1956 Venerable Saddhavaḍḍho returned to England and shortly afterwards disrobed and returned to Rochdale. Meanwhile the Venerables Pannavaḍḍho and Vijjavaḍḍho went to Wat Vivekaram, Bang Pra village, Chonburi province to practice meditation (AP)

1 May 56 EST [English Sangha Trust] was incorporated with the following directors: Cyril John Bartlett (Chairman), Reginald Charles Howes (Secretary), Albert Ernest Allen (Treasurer), Hans Gunther Mynssen, Frederick Henry Bradbury, Ronald Joseph Browning. Mr Marcus acted as Solicitor for the Trust. Mr C. Bartlett served on both the MBS and EST [English Sangha Trust] (MW 55/56 p92) (M-EST)

June 56 Venerable Kapilavaḍḍho on hearing that Venerable Vijjavaḍḍho was ill, returned to Thailand (AP)

16 July 56 The Venerables Kapilavaḍḍho, Paññavaḍḍho and Vijjavaḍḍho return to England (AP)

Aug 1956 Venerable Vijjavaḍḍho disrobed, he married and is at present living in Canada (AP)

Aug 1956 Two German brothers and Miss Lisa Schroeder requested to come to England to become samaṇeras and upasika (M-EST)

Aug 1956 “The English Sangha Association is a new formation. It was founded at Oxford on 11/18 August 1956 by a group of sixteen people who had just completed a strenuous and continuous course in the practice of samadhi (concentration) and vipassana (insight) lasting a week under instruction of the Venerable Kapilavaḍḍho.” (MW Nov 56) (M-EST First annual report by Dir. 30 April 57)

Sept 1956 Venerable Paññavaḍḍho went to stay in Manchester (AP)

Sept 1956 On the 14th Mr Walshe became a director of the EST [English Sangha Trust], Mr Browning, a founding director of the EST [English Sangha Trust] resigned (M-EST)

10 Oct 56 Buddhist Society moves to 58 Eccleston Sq (MW-55/56) (CH p59)

Oct 1956 EST [English Sangha Trust] leased 50 Alexandra Rd, London N.W.8. (M-EST First annual report by Dir. 30 April 57)

Dec 1956 First Sangha Magazine produced (S Dec 56)

1957 Dr (philosophy) Lisa Schroeder became Upāsikā Cintavāsī (5th Feb) (A)

She arrived approximately Jan 57 (M-EST Feb 57)

Feb 1957 Venerable Paññāvaḍḍho in charge of the Buddhist Society, Manchester (MW 55/56). Venerable Paññāvaddho in Manchester (S Feb 57 p3)

Mar 1957 Venerable Paññāvaḍḍho returned to London (AP)

Mar 1957 Mr Walshe vice president and Meetings Secretary of Buddhist Society (MW 55/56)

24 Mar 57 Two German brothers, Walter and Gunther Kulbarz ordained becoming Samaṇeras Saññavaḍḍho and Sativaḍḍho

Mr Wooster requested to be a samaṇera (M-EST Mar 57)

1957 Arthur Wooster becomes Sāmaṇera Ñāṇavaḍḍho (4th May) (S May 57)

In late May or early June Venerable Paññavaḍḍho officiated at Venerable Kapilavaḍḍho’s disrobing (due to ill health). Venerable Paññavaḍḍho took over leadership of EST [English Sangha Trust] helped by the three Samaṇeras, Saññavaḍḍho, Sativaḍḍho and Naṇavaḍḍho and Upasika Cintavasi. (M-EST June 57)

June 1957 Mr Marcus became Director of EST [English Sangha Trust] (M-EST)

July 1957 Mr Bradbury, a founding director of the EST [English Sangha Trust] resigned (M-EST)

1958 Russell Williams (now 81) joined MBS (MBS)

Jan 1958 Mr Mynssen a founding director of the EST [English Sangha Trust] resigned (M-EST)

April 1958 The lease on 50 Alexandra Road was renewed (M-EST)

2 July 58 The German twin brothers Samaṇeras Saññāvaḍḍho and Sativaḍḍho were the first ever ordained on British soil in a historic ceremony at the Thai Embassy. They became Bhikkhus Dhammiko and Vimalo (MW 62/63). Apparently this ordination was not accepted in Thailand and the two bhikkhus re-ordained in Burma. Subsequently Bhikkhu Dhammiko left the Sangha for a university post (AP). “Bhikkhu Vimalo continued in the robe for many years. In approximately 1970 he wrote a Dhamma article called Awakening to the Truth recently brought to light by DFP students. See page 54 above for extract and EST [English Sangha Trust] libraries for a full copy (ED)

Jan 1959 Mr Allanm a founding director of the EST [English Sangha Trust], resigned (M-EST)

July 1959 Three bhikkhus, one sāmaṇera, and one upāsikā supported by trust (M-EST)

Sept 1959 £24,000 donated to the EST [English Sangha Trust] from Mr H. J. Newlin (M-EST)

June 60 Ānanda Bodhi (Leslie Dawson) offered to come to UK to teach (M-EST)

Eve Engle (Sister Visākhā) who gave valued assistance in the formation of the EST [English Sangha Trust] died, unfortunately drowned off the coast of Ceylon. She left a legacy of £15,000 to the EST [English Sangha Trust] (S 15 July 1960 Directors report).

Oct 1960 Connie Waterton asked the EST [English Sangha Trust] to lend her £375 to purchase the house she rented and used for the MBS meetings — agreed (MEST)

1961 Sāmaṇera Sujīvo, formerly Laurence Mills, became Bhikkhu Khantipālo in Bangalore, India (see Thai Buddhism) (S Sept 61)

12 Mar 61 John Richards became Sāmaṇera Mangalo (MW 61/62)

9 Nov 1961 Ānanda Bodhi arrives in UK from Burma (S Nov 61)

21 Nov 61 Venerable Paññāvaḍḍho to Thailand (MW 61/62) (S Nov 61)

4 Dec 1961 Bhikkhus Vimalo, Dhammiko and Sāmaṇera Maṅgalo to Burma (S Dec 61)

Dec 1961 EST [English Sangha Trust] directors reported the English Sangha Association as having expressed dissatisfaction with the Alexandra Street property regarding suitability for the monks. They agreed to find a more suitable property (S)

Feb 1962 Mr C. Bartlet and Mr R. Howes founding directors of the EST [English Sangha Trust] resigned (S Mar 62)

Mr Walshe became acting Chairman of the EST [English Sangha Trust] (M-EST)

28 Oct 62 131 Haverstock Hill was inaugurated. Mr Walshe, Chairman of EST [English Sangha Trust] (S Dec 62)

May 1963 Between February and May, Biddulph Old Hall was bought (S May and June 63)

Nov 1963 Ānanda Bodhi to Thailand

1963 129 Haverstock Hill was purchased. The property was rented to provide an income for the Vihāra

April 1964 Ānanda Bodhi returned and went to Biddulph and taught samādhi and vipassanā, Wat Paknam method. (S Mar 64)

April 1964 London Buddhist Vihāra moved from 10 Ovington Gds, Knightsbridge to 5 Heathfield Gds, Chiswick. Venerable Saddhātissa Mahāthera was the incumbent

1964 Lease of Sangha House, Alexandra Street finished

Venerable Sangharakshita [Dennis Lingwood] expected to arrive April (S Mar 64)

Jan 1965 Monks in residence at this time Bhikkhus Saṅgharakshita [Dennis Lingwood], Vimalo and Maṅgalo

[1965/1966/1967] Venerable Ananda Bodhi returned to England in the Fall of 1961, at the invitation of the English Sangha Trust, becoming the Resident Teacher of the Camden Town Vihara. He was a special guest speaker at the Fifth International Congress of Psychotherapists in London, where he met Julian Huxley, Anna Freud and R.D.Laing, among others. For the next three years he taught extensively throughout the UK, founding the Hampstead Buddhist Vihara in London and the Johnstone House Contemplative Community—a retreat centre in southern Scotland. During this period he also joined a Masonic lodge. In 1965, when he decided to move to Toronto with two of his British students, Johnstone House was entrusted to Venerable Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Akong Tulku, becoming Kagyu Samye Ling—the first Vajrayana centre to be established in the West.
 
-- Ven. Namgyal Rinpoche [Venerable Ananda Bodhi/Leslie George Dawson], by Dharma Centre of Winnipeg

To celebrate 50 years of Chogyam Trungpa's arrival in the UK Rigdzin Shikpo visited Biddulph Old Hall where he received many precious teachings from Trungpa Rinpoche.

-- A Tour of Biddulph Old Hall: Rigdzin Shikpo takes us on a tour of Biddulph Old Hall in Staffordshire, England. Biddulph Old Hall is the site of some of Trungpa Rinpoche's early teachings in the UK, by Rigdzin Shikpo

1 Aug 66 The Thai temple opened at 99 Christchurch Road, East Sheen (S-Feb 72). Venerable Chao Khun Sobhana Dammasuddhi was the first incumbent. The King and Queen of Thailand attended, as did Bhikkhu Khantipālo (A) (CH p68)

10 Jan 67 Maurice Walshe asked John Garry to manage Biddulph. He also found Richard Randall (previously Mr Purfurst and Venerable Kapilavaḍḍho) and asked him to return

May 1967 Richard Randall became director and administrator of EST [English Sangha Trust] (R&B)

John Garry became a Director of the EST [English Sangha Trust] (M-EST)

21 Oct 67 Richard Randall reordained as the Venerable Kapilavaḍḍho for the second time at Wat Buddhapadīpa, East Sheen (ART)

Dec 1967 Alan James first came to Hampstead in December 1967. He became Sāmaṇera Dīpadhammo in February and Bhikkhu Dīpadhammo in May 1968 after ordaining at Wat Buddhapadīpa, East Sheen (S Jan 72)

1968 In 1968, Gerry Rollason arrived in Hampstead. Gerry who became an accomplished artist painted the life-size picture of Ajahn Chah presently hanging in the hall at Chithurst

23 Oct 68 His Highness the Venerable Somdet Phra Vanarata (Vice- Patriarch of Thailand) visited Hampstead

2 Mar 69 Gerry Rollason and Andrew Willoughby became sāmaṇeras. They were ordained by the Venerable Chao Khun Dhammasuddhi (Dhiravaṃsa) assisted by Venerable Kapilavaḍḍho Bhikkhu and four other monks. The two young Englishmen became Sāmaṇeras Sāsanapadipa and Saddhadikā (MW 69/70)

June 1969 Buddhist Path “Robes and a bowl” article by John Garry on Venerable Kapilavaḍḍho (S). John Garry was one of the founding MBS Members. He died on 28th September 1998 (ED)

27 July 69 Jim Harris became Bhikkhu Suddhiñāṇo at Wat Buddhapadīpa. Thus making three bhikkhus at Hampstead (MW 69/70)

1969 “Mr Maurice Walshe, due to pressure of University work has had to relinquish his editorship of The Buddhist Path after several years tireless and at times courageous service. The Venerable Kapilavaḍḍho will take his place and the magazine will use its old name of Sangha. The magazine will also function as the monthly official journal of Wat Dhammapadīpa (Hampstead Vihāra) and the Fellowship.” (MW 69/70)

Nov 1969 A meditation block comprising three “cells” and a shower room in the rear garden of 131 Haverstock Hill are nearly completed. In addition there is a wooden shed also used as a Kuṭi.

Biddulph Old Hall sold (S Nov 69)

-- Honour Thy Fathers: A Tribute to the Venerable Kapilavaḍḍho ... And brief History of the Development of Theravāda Buddhism in the UK, by Terry Shine

The English Sangha Trust (EST) is the legal charitable body, originally established in 1956, that serves to steward donations given to the Sangha (monastic community). This is the body that in 1977 owned the Hampstead Vihara, which had no sangha in residence, and then invited Ajahn Sumedho to come from Thailand; thus began Ajahn Sumedho’s efforts to establish the Thai Forest tradition outside Thailand.


Hampstead Vihara in 1978. From L to R: visiting Roshi, Ajahn Sumedho, George Sharp, Ajahn Chah, Ajahn Kemadhammo

Once the EST had a resident sangha in Hampstead, decision-making power was vested in the sangha. Then in 1979, after a donation to the sangha of 96 acres of forest in West Sussex, the sangha decided to move to Sussex. The EST then acquired Chithurst House and sold the Hampstead Vihara. Five years later, when the burgeoning resident sangha of monks and nuns at Chithurst (Cittaviveka) needed more space, the sangha and the EST decided to purchase the site that is now Amaravati.

Listen how the Sangha came to England by George Sharp
Amaravati 1
Amaravati 30 Years, by Ajahn Amaro, Ajahn Sumedho, George Sharp Amaravati 2014
Amaravati 2
How the Sangha Came to England – Interview (Part 1 of 3), by George Sharp

[George Sharp] When Ven. Sujita asked me to give a talk about how things began, how I began here, I was really quite interested because I’ve never heard this story, actually. And I sort of visit a memory here and there, you know, when we are talking about things, discussing this or that event, but to actually go from the beginning through – I’ve never done it. And what is more, I’ve made no preparation. And I could get the dates wrong on chronology and things, but I’ll do my best.

1956 was when the English Sangha Trust was formed, principally by Bhikku Kapilavaddho, who was formerly known as – and he had two names, I don’t know why -- one was William Purfurst, and Richard Randall. I know that he had a wife whose name was Ruth Randall, and I never heard of any lady with the name Purfurst, but I do know that he was a reporter, or a journalist and photographer, and that’s basically all I know. I don’t know how he came to be interested in Buddhism, but what I’m sure is that he was a man of considerable imagination and courage, and probably a great romantic at heart, because he tried to do something truly exceptional, which was to actually form a sangha, with basically four Bhikkus, in this country, and to try to get it going.

So the original trust deed that was prepared is the same one – it was never amended – that the Bhikkus, the sangha uses today.

Kapilavaddho, Ven (William Purfurst, 1906-71): Founder of English Sangha Trust. Born Hanwell, Middlesex (UK). Dissatisfied with business life, began studying psychology, philosophy, etc.; went to London (on foot) and became photographer in Fleet St.; found a teacher to instruct him in Yoga and Vedanta; developed a color printing process; took up sculpture. 1939: official war photographer, then fireman during Blitz; met U Thittila whose pupil he became; got married; finally photographer with RAF [Royal Air Force]. After war began serious Buddhist studies with U Thittila at Buddhist Society (then in Great Russell Street) covering Sutta, Vinaya, and Abhidahamma. Began lecturing on Buddhism; founded Manchester Buddhist Society 1952; adopted anagarika status (with permission of wife); later became Samanera Dhammananada under U Thittila; worked for Buddhist Society; continued lecturing and founded societies in Oxford and Cambridge; also Buddhist Summer School. Later resigned samanera status and took job in Surrey hotel as barman to raise finance to go to Thailand. 1954: received lower and higher ordinations (single ceremony) in Thailand (name based on “Kapilavatthu,” Buddha’s home town; means “he who spreads the Dhamma”); surprised Thai Sangha with his knowledge, especially of Abhidamma and Pali languages; successfully practiced intensive samatha and vipassana meditation. Returned to UK, to London Buddhist Vihara, Knightsbridge, with intention of establishing English Sangha. 1955: to Thailand with 3 British samaneras (Robert Albison, George Blake, and Peter Morgan). 1956: triple ordination at Wat Paknam under Ven. Chao Khun Bhavanakosol – the core of an English Sangha. Returned to UK; acquired house in London; English Sangha Trust founded; period of great activity. 1957: due to ill health, disrobed; changed name to Richard Randall; married Ruth Lester; remained 10 years in obscurity. 1967: returned to robe at Wat Buddhapadipa under Ven. Chao Khun Sobhana Dhammasudhi; took over Hampstead Buddhist Vihara (then renamed Wat Dhammapadipa). Again disrobed. 1971: married Jacqueline Gray [Scott].

-- The Buddhist Handbook: A Complete Guide to Buddhist Schools, Teaching, Practice, and History, by John Snelling

-- How the Sangha Came to England – Interview (Part 1 of 3), by George Sharp

Amaravati 3
How the Sangha Came to England – Interview (Part 2 of 3), by George Sharp
Amaravati 4
How the Sangha Came to England – Q and A (Part 3 of 3), by George Sharp


Amaravati in the 1980s. The temple & cloisters is currently where you see the empty square in the middle

Strategic priorities

To this day the EST legally owns and manages both Cittaviveka and Amaravati monasteries and its priorities remain focused on them and their resident sangha:

• to purchase land that may support the existing monastic properties;
• to maintain the supply and good order of the four requisites (shelter, food, clothing and medicinal needs) for the sangha in the two monasteries;
• developing the monasteries in terms of buildings, land and physical structures in accordance with the wishes of the resident monastics. At Amaravati this is now being implemented through a wholly-owned subsidiary called Amaravati Developments Ltd (ADL). Details can be found here.
• to facilitate such publications in any format, as are produced or approved of by the resident monastics.


Model of proposed redevelopment of Amaravati. Notice the retreat centre, Bhikku Vihara & Sala will have different shaped buildings.

Stewardship

All funds given (donated) to those two monasteries are held and managed by the EST. The legal structure of the EST is that of a Charitable Company limited by twelve shares all held by monastics. There are also up to nine lay trustees. The sangha shareholders include the Abbots of Cittaviveka and Amaravati, and monks and nuns elected by the monastics representing both monasteries. The lay trustees are chosen by the sangha, and since the monastic discipline prohibits the monks and nuns from making direct financial decisions, the lay trustees are vested with the responsibility of making final decisions over allocation of finances, in accordance with the needs and wishes of the monastics.

The EST submits statutory annual accounts and returns to Companies House and the Charity Commission for England and Wales; these can be downloaded from the respective websites. As a Company and Charity the EST is also responsible for implementing the requirements of a range of bodies on subjects from tax, insurance, health and safety, child protection, immigration and fire prevention, to re-cycling.

The following link is a leaflet given out annually with a summary of Amaravati’s current activities and plans, its running costs and information on ways to help, which could include bringing a contribution such as food, making a donation, or even offering your services in some capacity (driving, gardening, etc).

EST Annual Leaflet for Amaravati 2016-2017 – PDF

Sub-groups

The EST has a Finance Sub-Committee to advise on detailed management of its finances.

At Cittaviveka all day-to-day affairs are managed through the Cittaviveka Advisory Group (CAG).

The EST is also the steward for the Amaravati Retreat Centre.

The trustee directors

The lay trustees are all friends of the sangha who have been practising for a number of years and all have specialist skills in management, finance and related subjects. They are appointed for up to three years at a time. The current lay trustees are

• John Stevens – Chair
• Caroline Leinster – Trust Secretary
• Kazuko Kawamura
• Sudanta Abeyakoon
• Nicholas Carroll

You are welcome to contact the EST by using the form below.

Hugh Edward Richardson
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 9/9/19

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.

TIBETAN REFUGEES

Sir. – Recent devastating events in Tibet caused over 15,000 Tibetans to cross the perilous Himalayas into India. It may be a long time before these unfortunate people can safely return to their overrun country. Our own consciences should allow us neither to neglect nor forget them.

The Indian Government has manfully coped with this addition to its own problems at home. In this country we are bound in honour to help relieve needs of the Tibetan refugees, because from 1905 to 1947 there was a special relationship between Tibet and the United Kingdom – a relationship handed on to the new India.

On balance we think it wisest to concentrate chiefly on collecting money which can be used for the benefit of the refugees, not least in the purchase of necessary antibiotics and other medicaments. The Tibet Society has opened a Tibet Relief Fund for which we now appeal in the hope of a generous response. Donations should be sent to the address below or direct to the National Bank Ltd. (Belgravia Branch), 21 Grosvenor Gardens, S.W.I.

Yours faithfully,

... Hugh E. Richardson ... The Tibet Relief Fund, 58 Eccleston Square, S.W. I., Letter to the Times, July 31, 1959, p.7.

-- Tibet Society, by tibetsociety.com

Hugh Richardson
CIE OBE FBA
Hugh Richardson, 1936, Tibet
Born 22 December 1905
St. Andrews
Died 3 December 2000 (aged 94)
Nationality British
Occupation: Diplomat, tibetologist
Spouse(s) Huldah Rennie, m. 1951
Parent(s) Colonel Hugh Richardson
Awards Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE)
Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)
Light of Truth Award
Honorary Fellow of the British Academy (FBA)


Hugh Richardson in Tibet 1940/ 1941 said, '"Maru the pony. A good one, my dear pony"[1]


Tibetan friends gather at the British Residency in Lhasa called Dekyi Lingka, 9 September 1933


11 January 1943 signing of the Treaty Between His Majesty in Respect of the United Kingdom and India and His Excellency the President of the National Government of the Republic of China for the Relinquishment of Extra-Territorial Rights in China and the Regulation of Related Matters, became effective 20 May 1943. Front row (left to right): Wellington Koo, Horace James Seymour, T. V. Soong, Hugh Edward Richardson, Wu Guozhen

Hugh Edward Richardson CIE OBE FBA (22 December 1905 – 3 December 2000[2]) was an Indian Civil Service officer, British diplomat and Tibetologist. His academic work focused on the history of the Tibetan empire, and in particular on epigraphy. He was among the last Europeans to have known Tibet and its society before the Chinese invasions which began in 1950.

Biography and career

Born in St. Andrews, Fife, the son of a British Army medical officer, Richardson studied classics at Keble College, Oxford.[3] He entered the Indian Civil Service on 9 October 1930.[4] Transferring to the Foreign and Political Service of the Government of India, Richardson was posted to Baluchistan as an Assistant Political Agent. In July 1936, he was appointed as the British Trade Agent at Gyantse. He represented Britain in Lhasa, capital of Tibet, from 1936 to 1940 and again from 1946 to 1950, in the final years having become the diplomatic representative of the recently independent India.

Of the Tibetan government during his time in Lhasa, Richardson said:

"My counterparts were...experienced negotiators. . .and masters of procrastination and evasion, and might assume the cloak of simple people with no experience of the outside world. . .There could be no doubt I was dealing with ministers of a government that was completely independent in both its internal and external affairs."

[/quote][/quote]

Like many ICS officers, Richardson was an accomplished linguist who spoke Bengali fluently, a skill he put to use when conversing with Rabindranath Tagore, and his fluent Tibetan was described by the Tibetan politician Tsepon W.D. Shakabpa as "impeccable Lhasa Tibetan with a slight Oxford accent."[5] As Secretary to the Agent-General for India at Chungking, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1944 New Year Honours list, and was further appointed a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) on 14 August 1947, in the last imperial honours list.[6][7] After Indian independence, Richardson remained in the renamed Indian Administrative Service, serving in Lhasa until his retirement in September 1950. After his retirement from public service he taught in Seattle and Bonn. He subsequently returned to St. Andrews and spent the remainder of his life as an independent scholar.

He was an advocate of the right of Tibetans to a separate political existence, a case he made in two books, Tibet and Its History (1962) and A Cultural History of Tibet (1968), and at the United Nations when the issue of Chinese oppression of Tibet was raised by the Irish Republic, represented by Frank Aiken, during the 1959 UN General Assembly debate on Tibet. There, in the words of one commentator, "he acted valiantly as a man of honour in a cause which has been largely lost because of the notions of political expediency, where sides are taken without regard to principle and in order not to risk aligning oneself with a potential loser, however deserving he may be" – a position which reportedly earned him the displeasure of both the British and Indian delegations to the UN Assembly.[8] He remained a close personal friend of the 14th Dalai Lama and of the Tibetan government-in-exile until his death, with the latter describing Richardson as "very precious to us/"

He later wrote: "The British government, the only government among Western countries to have had treaty relations with Tibet, sold the Tibetans down the river and since then have constantly cold-shouldered the Tibetans so that in 1959 they could not even support a resolution in the UN condemning the violation of human rights in Tibet by the Chinese."

Richardson also said that he was "profoundly ashamed",[9] not only at the British government's refusal to recognise that Tibet had a right to self-determination, but also at the government's treatment of the 14th Dalai Lama.[10]

Personal interests

"His hobbies were ornithology, botany and gardening and he was also an enthusiastic photographer. Another of Richardson's passions was golf, which he introduced to Tibet, although he noted that the ball tended to travel 'rather too far in the thin air'."[11]

Works

• 1949 “Three ancient inscriptions from Tibet” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal 15, (1949): 45–64.
• 1952. Ancient historical edicts at Lhasa and the Mu Tsung / Khri Gtsung Lde Brtsan treaty of A.D. 821–822 from the inscription at Lhasa. London: Royal Asiatic Society Prize Publication Fund 19, 1952.
• 1952–3 “Tibetan inscriptions at Zva-hi Lha Khang” London: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, (1952): 133–54 (1953): 1–12.
• 1954 “A ninth-century inscription from Rkong-po.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. London, (1954): 157–73.
• 1957 “A Tibetan Inscription from Rgyal Lha-khang” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society London, (1957): 57–78.
• 1964 “A new inscription of Khri Srong Lde Brtans.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society London. (1964): 1–13.
• 1965a "How old was Srong-brtsan Sgam-po ?", Bulletin of Tibetology, vol. 2, no. 1, 6–8. Repr. in Richardson 1998: 3–6.
• 1965b "A fragment from Tun-huang", Bulletin of Tibetology, vol. 2, no. 3, 33–38. Repr. in Richardson 1998: 7–11.
• 1968 with David Snellgrove. A Cultural History of Tibet. 1995 2nd Edition with changes. Shambhala. Boston & London. ISBN 1-57062-102-0.
• 1969 "The inscription at the Tomb of Khri Lde Srong Btsan", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1969): 29–38
• 1969b "Tibetan chis and tschis." Asia Major 14 (1969): 154–6.
• 1972 "The rKong-po Inscription." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society London. (1972): 30–39.
• 1973 "The Skar-cung inscription." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. (1973): 12–20.
• 1974 Ch'ing Dynasty Inscriptions at Lhasa. (Serie Orientale Roma v. 47). Rome: Instituto italiano per l'africa e l'oriente. 1974.
• 1978 “The Sino-Tibetan treaty inscription of A.D. 821/823 at Lhasa.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society: (1978): 137–62.
• 1982 "Memories of Tshurphu", Bulletin of Tibetology, Vol. 18, No.1, 1982: Karmapa Commemoration Volume, Repr. in Richardson 1998, pp: 730–733.
• 1983 “Bal-po and Lho-bal” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 46 (1983): 136–8.
• 1985. A corpus of Early Tibetan Inscriptions. (James G. Forlong Series no. 29). Hertford: Royal Asiatic Society, 1985. ISBN 0-947593-00-4.
• 1987 "Early Tibetan Inscriptions: Some Recent Discoveries” The Tibet Journal 12.2.Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan works and archives, (1987): 3–15. (reprinted with 2 short notes added) Bulletin of Tibetology n.s. 3. Gangtok Sikkim Research Institute of Tibetology, (1987): 5–18. High Peaks, Pure Earth. London: Serindia, 1998: 261–275.
• 1988 “More Early Inscriptions from Tibet” Bulletin of Tibetology. New Series 2. Gangtok Sikkim Research Institute of Tibetology. (1988): 5–8. High Peaks, Pure Earth. London: Serindia, 1998: 276–278.
• 1989 "Early Tibetan law concerning dog-bite", Bulletin of Tibetology, new ser. 3, 5–10. Repr. in Richardson 1998: 135–139.
• 1990 "Hunting accidents in early Tibet", Tibet Journal, 15-4, 5–27. Repr. in Richardson 1998: 149–166.
• 1995a “The Tibetan Inscription attributed to Ye shes ‘od” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 3rd Series 5.3. (1995): 403–404.
• 1995b “The inscription at Ra-tshag Dgon-pa” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 58 (1995): 534–9; High Peaks, Pure Earth. London: Serindia, 1998: 286–291.
• 1997 Adventures of Tibetan Fighting Monk with Khedrup Tashi, White Orchid Books; ISBN 974-87368-7-3, Orchid Press, 2006, ISBN 974-8299-17-1
• 1998 High peaks, pure earth: collected writings on Tibetan history and culture, Serindia publications, London.

Footnotes

1. http://www.inetlab.co.uk, David Harris,. "Hugh Richardson in Tibetan clothes mounted on a horse". University of Oxford. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
2. Douglas, Ed (5 January 2001). ""Our Last Man in Lhasa, He Brought Unrivalled Knowledge of Tibet to Warnings of Chinese Ambitions" The Guardian (London), 5 January 2001 (obituary)". tibet.ca. Archived from the original on 28 March 2016. Retrieved 23 December 2017. In fact, Richardson's greatest threat to the Chinese was his objective observation of the labyrinthine world of Tibetan politics and his deep understanding of Tibetan culture. When he argued that Tibet had been an independent state before its occupation by the Chinese, he did so with immense authority.
3. Daily Telegraph: Obituary (9 December 2000)
4. The London Gazette, 7 November 1930
5. Our Last Man In Lhasa, He Brought Unrivalled Knowledge Of Tibet To Warnings Of Chinese Ambitions
6. The London Gazette, 1 January 1944
7. The London Gazette, 1 January 1948
8. Obituary – Dr Hugh Richardson
9. French 2003
10. My Direct Experience of Independence Tibet 1936–49 Archived 22 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine
11. "Biography of Hugh Richardson (1905–2000)". Pitt River Museum. Retrieved 29 October 2013.

References

• Tibetan Studies in Honour of Hugh Richardson. Edited by Michael Aris and Aung San Suu Kyi, p. 284. (1979). Vikas Publishing house, New Delhi.
• French, Patrick. Tibet, Tibet: A Personal History of a Lost Land (2003) Knopf. ISBN 1-4000-4100-7

Committee for a Free Asia
by Central Intelligence Agency
December 13, 1951
Declassified and Released by Central Intelligence Agency Sources Methods Exemption ___ Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act, Date 2007

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.

13 December 1951

SUBJECT: Committee for a Free Asia

It is agreed by both the Department of State and CIA that there is a real job to be done in Asia by CFA [Committee for a Free Asia] – a job that State cannot do through USIS [United States Information Service] and ECA [Economic Cooperation Administration].

Until more experience is gained by CFA – particularly through its field organizations – it will not be possible to specifically define all type of activities which it should undertake. It is therefore considered important that CFA operations get underway promptly, providing, of course, that they do not compete with USIS activities nor conflict with national policies.

The revised operating program of CFA, dated December 4, 1951, (Attachment 1), is therefore approved providing that it is implemented in accordance with the policies and instructions set forth in memorandum, subject The Committee for a Free Asia, dated December 12, 1951, (Attachment 2); and provided that close coordination in the field and in Washington is maintained.

***

13 December 1951

DRAFT

The Committee for a Free Asia

General Policies

1. Although initially it will not be possible, CFA should work toward removing the U.S. label – private and public – from its operations and take on an Asian coloration.

2. CFA activities including RFA should be decentralized as far as possible and transferred from San Francisco to Asian countries.

3. CFA should operate as far as possible through local groups comprised of selected Asian leaders.

4. CFA should generally not undertake activities of the kind presently carried on or planned by USIS or other official overt U.S. agencies. The type of activities within the cognizance of USIS are set forth in Appendix A. However, there may be some occasions in which CFA can either take a more strident line or slant material of the type normally produced by USIS in a way which would not be appropriate to USIS. However, the USIS line has toughened and this area in which CFA can operate and in which USIS cannot has narrowed. There may also be certain activities of the type set forth in Appendix 1, which CFA may be able to undertake in certain areas more appropriately that USIS. Through close coordination in the field and in Washington, these may be spelled out and non-duplication insured.

Priorities

1. Priorities set forth in the Operating Program should be modified so that first priority is given to the Overseas Chinese with a view to:

a. Developing leaders who are friendly to the United States who will be able to communicate with and ultimately influence other Chinese overseas and on the China mainland.

b. Denying leaders, professional, and other key personnel to the Communists.

c. Assisting where possible in the rescue and relocation of key Chinese who are presently homeless and starving.

d. Developing personnel who might be trained for intelligence stay-behind or other missions.

2. Additional emphasis should also be placed on establishing a field organization.

Radio Free Asia

RFA should be guided by the general policies set forth above. More specifically:

1. RFA should phase out broadcasts which bear the U.S. label from San Francisco. RFA should be a voice of Asia.

2. RFA should generally avoid the kind of program which VOA [Voice of America] broadcasts and for which the U.S. Government can accept responsibility, (in this regard there are few restrictions to be placed on VOA as respects the toughness of its anti-Communist line).

3. Operations should be transferred to Asia and decentralized as far as possible so that broadcasts can be made under the sponsorship of local groups through local stations, as near as possible to the target audience. Broadcasts should be made via medium wave where possible.

4. Example of the kinds of activities which can be undertaken by RFA and which can not be appropriately handled by VOA are:

a. Broadcasts designed to influence political elections.

b. Broadcasts aimed at assisting specific local labor, youth, teachers, women or other groups, whose goals are consistent with long range U.S. interests.

c. Influencing the development of leadership by giving hearing to selected leaders and withholding it from others.

d. Openly encouraging the subversion of the Chinese Communist Government.

e. Take stands against specific persons and specific groups: the corruption of a Tony Quirino; the leaders of communist dominated unions.

f. Act as a transmitter of black “plants” and “twisted” stories, under specifically defined controls.

g. Encourage debates and discussions loaded as required.

5. It is recognized that news such as that provided by PANA and features such as those already broadcast directly by RFA remain important aspects of a gray psychological warfare program as well as audience-gaining assets. RFA will follow the general principle, however, of furnishing such news and features to local groups for their use rather than for direct production under the RFA label.

It is considered that the development of a strictly Asian commercial newsgathering organization, specializing in local news and not seemingly subsidized by a U.S. instrumentality, is advantageous to the U.S. Government as a whole as well as to the over-all objectives and activities of the Committee.

APPENDIX I

* Listed below are examples of activities undertaken by the Department of State and/or ECA. Normally the association of such activities with the U.S. government is either acknowledged or if not, the association if it became known would not embarrass the U.S. government or discredit the activity.

a. The Voice of America broadcasts.

b. Contracts for purchase of published materials for overt distribution abroad, including subscriptions to magazines, purchase of additional copies of books, pamphlets or other printed material prepared by foreign organizations, publishing houses, trade unions, et cetera.

c. Contracts for dissemination of information materials such as posters, pamphlets, or leaflets, motion picture films, still photos, exhibits, et cetera.

d. Contracts with publishers, motion picture producers, and other producers of information media for production of materials for foreign distribution.

e. Direct production and dissemination of material which may be attributed to the United States Government without serious embarrassment or produced and/or disseminated without attribution to any source.

* Extracted from USIS publication dated November 1, 1951, Subject: USIS and Indigenous Operations.

The Asia Foundation [Committee for Free Asia]
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 9/9/19

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.

The Asia Foundation
Motto "Strengthen governance, empower woman, expand economic opportunities, increase environmental resilience, promote international cooperation"
Formation 1954
Type Nonprofit organization
Headquarters San Francisco, CA, United States
President and CEO
David D. Arnold
Revenue (2015)
$113,177,863[1]
Expenses (2015) $109,163,737[1]
Website http://www.asiafoundation.org

The Asia Foundation is a nonprofit international development organization committed to "improving lives across a dynamic and developing Asia."[2] Informed by six decades of experience and deep local expertise, its programs address critical issues affecting Asia in the 21st century—governance and law, economic development, women's empowerment, environment, and regional cooperation. Headquartered in San Francisco, The Asia Foundation works through a network of 18 offices in 18 Asian countries and in Washington, DC.

The "Committee For Free Asia" was founded in 1951 as a CIA operation.[3] Its name was changed to "The Asia Foundation" in 1954.[4] The Foundation marked its 60 years of experience in Asia working with private and public partners in the areas of leadership and institutional development, exchanges, and policy research.[5] Starting January 1, 2011, David D. Arnold serves as president of the Foundation.[6] The Foundation is governed by an eminent and well-known group of private sector trustees.

Origins

"The Asia Foundation (TAF), a Central Intelligence Agency proprietary, was established in 1954 to undertake cultural and educational activities on behalf of the United States Government in ways not open to official U.S. agencies."[18]

The Asia Foundation is an outgrowth of the Committee for a Free Asia, which was founded by the U.S. government in 1951.[19] CIA funding and support of the Committee for a Free Asia and the Asia Foundation were assigned the CIA code name "Project DTPILLAR".[20]

In 1954, the Committee for a Free Asia was renamed the Asia Foundation (TAF) and incorporated in California[21] as a private, nominally non-governmental organization devoted to promoting democracy, rule of law, and market-based development in post-war Asia.

Among the original founding officers of the board, there were several presidents/chairmen of large companies including T.S. Peterson, CEO of Standard Oil of California (now Chevron), Brayton Wilbur, president of Wilbur-Ellis Co., and J.D. Zellerbach, chairman of the Crown Zellerbach Corporation; four university presidents including Grayson Kirk from Columbia, J.E. Wallace Sterling of Stanford, and Raymond Allen from UCLA; prominent attorneys including Turner McBaine and A. Crawford Greene; Pulitzer Prize-winning writer James Michener; Paul Hoffman, the first administrator of the Marshall Plan in Europe; and several major figures in foreign affairs.

In 1966, Ramparts revealed that the CIA was covertly funding a number of organizations, including the Asia Foundation.[18] A commission authorized by President Johnson and led by Secretary of State Rusk determined that the Asia Foundation should be preserved and overtly funded by the US government. Following this change, the US government described the Asia Foundation as a "quasi-nongovernmental organizations" and said that "the core of its budget" was still provided by the US government.[22] The Foundation began to restructure its programming, shifting away from its earlier goals of "building democratic institutions and encouraging the development of democratic leadership" toward an emphasis on Asian development as a whole (CRS 1983).

Impact

The Asia Foundation works with local leaders and communities to build effective institutions and advance reforms. Across Asia, the nonprofit organization is improving lives and expanding opportunities by:

• Providing 50 million books to tens of thousands of schools, libraries, and universities.[7]
• Organizing nationwide election monitoring and voter education to ensure free and fair elections and strengthen democracy in virtually every Asian country that has undergone a democratic transition over the past six decades.
• Educating more than a million migrant workers in over one thousand factories in China's Pearl River Delta on their legal rights, safety, and personal health.[8]
• Protecting the basic rights of women through our work to counter human trafficking, fight gender-based violence, increase political participation, and strengthen legal systems.[9]
• Providing life-changing professional opportunities for newly emerging Asian leaders.[10]
• Reducing the human and financial toll of natural disasters by equipping government officials, businesses, and community leaders in disaster planning and response.[11]
• Creating jobs by improving the business climate and reducing red tape for local entrepreneurs and small businesses.
• Reducing violence through peacebuilding efforts in some of the most entrenched conflict zones in the region, including Southern Thailand, Pakistan, Mindanao, and Sri Lanka.[12]
• Conducting ground-breaking empirical surveys to assess the quality and responsiveness of government services, patterns of corruption, and levels of violence, including the most comprehensive public opinion poll in Afghanistan.[13]

Global presence

The Asia Foundation addresses issues on both a country and regional level through a network of 18 offices around the world.[14] In cooperation with local partners in government and civil society, the Foundation's international and local staff provide insight and program on a variety of development challenges. Besides its headquarters in San Francisco and an office in Washington, D.C., it has a presence in the following Asian nations:

• Afghanistan
• Bangladesh
• Cambodia
• China
• East Timor
• Hong Kong
• India
• Indonesia
• Japan
• Korea
• Laos
• Malaysia
• Mongolia
• Myanmar
• Nepal
• Pacific Islands
• Pakistan
• Philippines
• Singapore
• Sri Lanka
• Taiwan
• Thailand
• Vietnam

Program areas

Governance and law

The Asia Foundation's largest program area – governance and law – develops and supports initiatives that build more effective and responsive governance in Asia. The Foundation cooperates with a broad network of partners in government, civil society, and the private sector to improve governing institutions in order to help accelerate economic and social change, reduce corruption, manage conflict, and increase citizen participation.

Its sub-programming areas include:

• Governance (local/municipal governance, counter corruption, central executive institutions, parliamentary development, constitutional development)
• Law and Justice (strengthening and reform of formal and informal law and justice mechanisms, supporting efforts to increased community safety and security, particularly through community-oriented policing, and programs aimed specifically at empowering and protecting the rights of marginalized populations)
• Conflict and Fragile Conditions (subnational conflict, peacebuilding, and civil military relations)
• Elections (free and fair elections and democratic practice, open flows of information, and political parties)

Women's empowerment

While women in Asia have made steady gains in recent years, gender inequality remains a significant problem. For 60 years, The Asia Foundation has supported women and girls across the Asia-Pacific region. Its Women's Empowerment Program was established in 1994 and has transformed the lives of thousands of women and girls through significant programs that focus on three key areas: expanding women's economic opportunities, increasing women's personal rights and security, and advancing women's political participation. The Foundation supports an integrated and coordinated approach that integrates gender into its work in governance, economic development, regional cooperation, and the environment.[15]

Development and aid effectiveness

Development and aid effectiveness is a way through which the Asia Foundation brings together both their long standing and emerging donors and experts of development to have an exchange of ideas on how to best resolve key challenges in development; examples of this include the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid and Effectiveness and Asian Approaches to Development Cooperation. In these seminars and forums the Asia Foundation successful creates an open dialogue among the participants resulting in collaborative and cooperative approach to dealing with issues of development in Asia. A crucial element of this program is that it is brings together government official, policy makers, philanthropists all to one table—an approach missing from most NGOs who operate solely on implementing programs that their organizations initiate and support. Nina Merchant describes the role of Rigorous Impact analysis in the Foundations

Economic development

The Asia Foundation has a decades-long history of supporting broad-based economic growth across Asia through both public and private channels. The Foundation's Economic Development programs support Asian initiatives to enhance economic governance to accelerate and sustain inclusive economic growth and broaden economic opportunities through design and implementation in three core program areas: 1) improving the business environment for private sector growth, 2) advancing regional economic cooperation, and 3) supporting entrepreneurship development.

The Foundation works with local partners to design and implement program activities focusing on promoting investment and private enterprises, inclusive and equitable growth, empowering entrepreneurs and fostering intra and inter-regional trade by removing non-tariff barriers and strengthening domestic demand. From the sub-national level to regionally across borders, the Foundation is building coalitions for change that result in better business environments, job creation, and lasting change for individuals, families and communities.

Economic Development Impacts:

• The Asia Foundation has developed a powerful set of research tools, like the Economic Governance Indices (EGIs), Business Climate Barometers, and Regulatory Impact Assessments, which measure the quality of local business environments and the costs associated with poor policies. By identifying the strengths and weaknesses of business environments, local business owners and public officials are better able to identify and address specific areas for improvement. To date, the Foundation has developed EGIs in Bangladesh, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, and Indonesia.
• The Asia Foundation has facilitated multi-stakeholder public-private coalitions to address issues hindering economic and business growth, such as business forums to secure access to credit for entrepreneurs in Bangladesh, dialogues to simplify business licensing processes and reductions in local taxes and informal fees in Cambodia, and a regional forum to support Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) for regional integration in South-East Asia.

Books for Asia


A building used to store English books donated by the Asia Foundation at the National Library of Vietnam

Since 1954, Books for Asia has donated more than 40 million books to libraries in dozens of Asian countries, impacting the lives of millions of Asians. In 2006 alone, Books for Asia donated 920,000 books and educational materials valued at $30 million to schools and educational institutions in 15 countries. Books for Asia's donations help inspire Asia's students, citizens, and future leaders by enhancing English-language capacity, sharpening vocational and research skills, improving their knowledge about America, and giving the gift of enhanced literacy to children. The Asia Foundation's experienced local staff throughout Asia allows the Books for Asia program to work with librarians and educators to identify needs and appropriate materials, and to distribute requested books quickly and efficiently.

In 2005, Books for Asia's donations had a special focus on communities affected by the Asian tsunami in December 2004. Donations from publisher Scholastic, Inc., and a timely endorsement by the Association of American Publishers, helped Books for Asia respond to the urgent need for books in schools and libraries in Sri Lanka and Thailand that were devastated by the disaster. As these communities rebuild, Books for Asia will continue to provide access to children's books, with a total of more than 300,000 reaching affected schools by the end of 2006.

Books for Asia in Timor Leste

"Books for Asia" is one of the many initiatives that have been put forth by TAF. Under this program, one million brand-new books are put into the hands of students, educators, and local and national leaders in 18 countries annually. The Asia Foundation recognizes that books change lives and help shape young people's imaginations, critical thinking skills, and their understanding of the world. Therefore, they are recognized as powerful tools to combat poverty and inspire positive, long-lasting change.

The main objective of the program is to provide access to information through reading materials, and cultivating a culture of reading and literature and linking people together in today's world. Under TAF, resources are made available for the people in Timor-Leste to enhance their mastery of English language; sharpen vocational and research skills, build knowledge in the business, legal and sciences professions. This enables people in Timor-Leste, regardless of their age, to equip themselves with more knowledge and skills through reading. This project also seeks to infuse children with an early love for reading, which is critical to increasing literacy rates.

Since TAF's founding in 1954, 45 million books, software programs and other educational materials have been donated to tens of thousands of learning institutions. Each year, the Asia Foundation in Timor-Leste receives brand new, high quality books donated by prominent publishers in the U.S. These books are catalogued and distributed to the recipients in Timor-Leste based on requests as well as through book drives.

The Mobile Library Program also consistently extends the Books for Asia program and its outreach to a bigger community in Timor-Leste. Extensions of the program are achieved through routine visits to schools, libraries and universities in Timor-Leste. These materials will eventually improve the quality of educational institutions currently available in Timor-Leste. Apart from the Books for Asia program, the Foundation also supports initiatives that spur literacy, promote understanding of democratic principles and strengthen civic participation. For example, the Foundation supported events jointly organized by Alieu Training and Resource Center (A resource center in the rural area of Timor-Leste) and the Ministry of Education that encourages children to continue schooling by recognizing the children's accomplishments in their education. In 2007, the resource center conducted a speech contest for school children in the Aileu District; and in 2008 and 2009, reading contests for school children was held for the children in Aileu District

Today, the Asia Foundation's Books for Asia program in Timor-Leste has distributed 9,942 books to more than 40 public, school, university and local NGO libraries as well as government agencies. More than 3,000 of the books are allocated toward book fairs to help increase awareness about the important role of reading.

Exchanges

Through its Asian American Exchange unit, The Asia Foundation seeks to encourage greater understanding between Asians and Americans with the ultimate aim of contributing toward strengthened U.S.-Asia relations. For over six decades, Foundation grants have provided thousands of participants with opportunities to exchange views, professional perspectives, and gain direct experience with regions other than their own through high-quality tailored fellowships, study tours, workshops, and other programs. Notable programs include:

• The Foundation's Asian Perspectives Series and Emerging Issues Series brought Asian civil society leaders and policymakers to Washington, D.C. to discuss vital issues across the region.
• The Foundation's Ellsworth Bunker Asian Ambassadors Series, also organized by the Foundation's Washington office, brought together ambassadors from Asia and select U.S. government, business, policy, and media leaders.
• The Asia Foundation also continued its 30-year partnership with the Henry Luce Foundation to administer an internship program for young Americans with leadership potential. Since 1974, the Asia Foundation has developed and overseen placements for more than 700 Luce Scholars in East and Southeast Asia.[16]

Environment

The Asia Foundation's Environment program supports Asian initiatives to ensure the sustainability of the environment and natural resources critical to Asia's development and future well-being. The Foundation works with a broad range of local stakeholders including civil society, government, and the private sector to strengthen the institutions and processes through which environmental resources are managed, and to improve environmental policy. Areas where the Foundation is having an impact in Asia include: advancing responsible mining and natural resource management in Mongolia; increasing public participation and transparency in environmental decision-making in China; and preparing for natural disasters and climate change in the Pacific Islands, among others.

Regional cooperation

The Asia Foundation's Regional Cooperation program works to strengthen relations among Asian nations and their peoples in the effort to foster peace, stability, prosperity, and effective governance. Its focus includes fostering regional cooperation on critical issues in Southeast, Northeast, and South Asia; foreign policy capacity-building in select countries in developing Asia; providing life-changing opportunities for emerging leaders in the region; and facilitating policy dialogues on Asian affairs and U.S.-Asian relations in Washington.[17]


Board of Trustees

Officers of the Board of Trustees

• Sunder Ramaswamy, Chair of the Board and Executive Committee
• S. Timothy Kochis, Vice Chair of the Board and Executive Committee
• Kathleen Stephens, Vice Chair of the Board and Executive Committee
• Daniel F. Feldman, Treasurer of the Board and Executive Committee
• Teresita C. Schaffer, Secretary of the Board and Executive Committee
• David D. Arnold, President and Chief Executive Officer
• Suzanne E. Siskel, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
• Gordon Hein, Senior Vice President, Programs
• Nancy Yuan, Senior Vice President and Director, Washington, D.C.
• Ken Krug, Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer
• Amy Ovalle, Vice President, Global Communications
• Mandy Au Yeung, Assistant Secretary to the Board of Trustees[23]

Members of the Board of Trustees

• Terrence B. Adamson
• William L. Ball
• Howard L. Berman
• Robert O. Blake Jr.
• Jerome L. Dodson
• Elizabeth Economy
• Karl Eikenberry
• Ted Eliot III
• Daniel F. Feldman
• Winnie C. Feng
• Jared Frost
• Michael J. Green
• Noeleen Heyzer
• Karl F. Inderfurth
• Stephen Kahng
• Mark W. Lippert
• Clare Lockhart
• Patricia M. Loui
• Meredith Ludlow
• James D. McCool
• Janet Montag
• Moon Kook-Hyun
• Lauren Kahea Moriarty
• Adil Najam
• William H. Neukom
• Dustin Palmer
• Iromi Perera
• Ruby Shang
• Masako H. Shinn
• Deanne Weir[23]

Philanthropy

In 2006, the Asia Foundation provided more than $53 million in program support and distributed 920,000 books and educational materials valued at $30 million throughout Asia.

Reference

1. "The Asia Foundation" (PDF). Foundation Center. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
2. "The Asia Foundation: Improving Lives, Expanding Opportunities". Funds for NGOs. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
3. Crewdson, John (December 26, 1977). ""Worldwide Propaganda Network Built by the C.I.A."". New York Times. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
4. Best, Emma (November 2, 2017). ""The stolen history of the CIA and the Asian Foundation Financial records and declassified files reveal decades of distortions regarding the Agency's ties to the non-profit"". Muckrock. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
5. "Critical Issues Facing Asia: Marking 60 Years". World Affairs. 4 September 2014. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
6. Rogin, Josh (9 June 2010). "Arnold to lead the Asia Foundation". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-03-19. Retrieved 2015-03-20.
8. "Asia Foundation". China CSR Map. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
9. "Campaign theme". International Women’s Day. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
10. DE Vos, Manola (26 May 2014). "The next big thing in development: What Asia's young leaders think". Devex. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
11. Tri Thanh, Nguyen (18 April 2012). "To Reduce Impact of Natural Disasters, Vietnam Must Engage Small Businesses". The Asia Foundation. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
12. http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opin ... tice-first
13. Allen, Karen (5 December 2013). "Survey on Afghan fears over corruption and security". BBC News. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
14. Duxbury, Sarah (7 June 2010). "Asia Foundation names new president". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
15. "USAID Supports Afghan Women-owned Businesses to Become More Competitive". USAID. 19 April 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
16. "New Report Reveals Trends and Implications of Conflict in Asia". The Asia Foundation. 4 October 2017. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
17. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-03-17. Retrieved 2015-03-20.
18. "Doc. 132: Memorandum from the Central Intelligence Agency to the 303 Committee". Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume X, National Security Policy. US Department of State. June 22, 1966. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
19. "Routing and Record Sheet: Committee for a Free Asia" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency.
20. "DTPILLAR". Internet Archive.
21. Congressional Research Service (February 1983). "The Asia Foundation: Past, Present and Future" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency.
22. Congressional Research Service (February 1983). "The Asia Foundation: Past, Present and Future" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency.
23. "Our People". The Asia Foundation. Retrieved 19 February 2019.

External links

• Official website of the Asia Foundation
• Asia Foundation Records at the Hoover Institution Archives

Radio Free Asia
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 9/9/19

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.

Radio Free Asia
Abbreviation RFA
Formation 1951
Type Private, non-profit Sec 501(c)3 corporation
Purpose Broadcast Media
Location
Washington, D.C.
Official language
Mandarin, Cantonese, Tibetan, Uyghur, Korean, Burmese, Khmer, Lao and Vietnamese
Owner U.S. Agency for Global Media
President
Libby Liu
Parent organization
U.S. Agency for Global Media
Budget
$43.1 million (2018)[1]
Staff
253[1]
Website http://www.rfa.org

Radio Free Asia (RFA) is a private, nonprofit international broadcasting corporation that broadcasts and publishes online news, information and commentary to readers and listeners in East Asia. Its self-stated mission is "to provide accurate and timely news and information to Asian countries whose governments prohibit access to a free press."[2]

Based on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, it was established in the 1990s with the aim of promoting democratic values and human rights, and diminishing Chinese Communist control.[3] It is funded by a grant from the U.S. Agency for Global Media (formerly the "Broadcasting Board of Governors"), an independent agency of the United States government.[2][4]

A short-lived earlier incarnation of Radio Free Asia also existed in the 1950s, as an anti-Communist propaganda operation funded by the CIA.[3][5]

RFA distributes content in nine Asian languages for audiences in China, North Korea, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Burma.[6]

History

Radio Free Asia was founded and funded in the 1950s by an organization called "Committee for Free Asia" as an anti-communist propaganda operation, broadcasting from RCA facilities in Manila, Philippines,[7] and Dacca and Karachi, Pakistan (there may be other sites) until 1961. Some offices were in Tokyo. The parent organization was given as the Asia Foundation. In 1971 CIA involvement ended and all responsibilities were transferred to a presidentially appointed Board for International Broadcasting (BIB).[8][9][10]

With the passage of International Broadcasting Act in 1994, RFA was brought under auspices of the United States Information Agency where it remained until the agency's cessation of broadcasting duties and transitioned to U.S. Department of State operated BBG in 1999. In May 1994, President Bill Clinton announced the continuation of Radio Free Asia after 2009 was dependent on its increased international broadcasting and ability to reach its audience.[11] In September 2009, the 111th Congress amended the International Broadcasting Act to allow a one-year extension of the operation of Radio Free Asia.[12]

The current Radio Free Asia is a US-funded organization, incorporated in March 1996, and began broadcasting in September 1996. It bears no relation to the 1950 organization.[13]

RFA broadcasts in nine languages, via shortwave, satellite transmissions, medium-wave (AM and FM radio), and through the Internet. The first transmission was in Mandarin Chinese and it is RFA's most broadcast language at twelve hours per day. RFA also broadcasts in Cantonese, Tibetan (Kham, Amdo, and Uke dialects), Uyghur, Burmese, Vietnamese, Lao, Khmer (to Cambodia) and Korean (to North Korea). The Korean service launched in 1997 with Jaehoon Ahn as its founding director.[14]

After the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 American interest in starting a government broadcasting organization grew.[15] The International Broadcasting Act was passed by the Congress of the United States in 1994. Radio Free Asia is formally a private, non-profit corporation.[16] RFA is funded by an annual federal grant from and administered by the Broadcasting Board of Governors. The BBG serves as RFA's corporate board of directors, making and supervising grants to RFA.

International response

Radio jamming and Internet blocking

Further information: Radio jamming in China and Radio jamming in Korea

Since broadcasting began in 1996, Chinese authorities have consistently jammed RFA broadcasts.[17]

Three RFA reporters were denied access to China to cover U.S. President Bill Clinton's visit in June 1998. The Chinese embassy in Washington had initially granted visas to the three but revoked them shortly before President Clinton left Washington en route to Beijing. The White House and United States Department of State filed complaints with Chinese authorities over the matter but the reporters ultimately did not make the trip.[17][18]

The Vietnamese-language broadcast signal was also jammed by the Vietnamese government since the beginning.[19] Human rights legislation has been proposed in Congress that would allocate money to counter the jamming.[20] Research by the OpenNet Initiative, a project that monitors Internet filtering by governments worldwide, showed that the Vietnamese-language portion of the Radio Free Asia website was blocked by both of the tested ISPs in Vietnam, while the English-language portion was blocked by one of the two ISPs.[21]

To address radio jamming and Internet blocking by the governments of the countries that it broadcasts to, the RFA website contains instruction on how to create anti-jamming antennas and information on web proxies.[22]

On March 30, 2010, China's Web filter, known as "the Great Firewall", temporarily blocked all Google searches in China, due to an unintentional association with the long-censored term "rfa."[23] According to Google, the letters, associated with Radio Free Asia, were appearing in the URLs of all Google searches, thereby triggering China's filter to block search results.

Arrests of journalists' relatives

In 2014–2015 China arrested three brothers of RFA Uyghur Service journalist Shohret Hoshur. Their jailing was widely described by Western publishers as Chinese authorities' efforts to target Hoshur for his reports on otherwise unreported violent events of ethnic Han-Uighur tensions in China's Xinjiang region.[24][25][26][27]

Mission

Broadcasting Information (Channels 1, 2, 3, 4)
Language Service / Launch Date / Daily Broadcast Hours

Burmese / February 1997 / 8 Hours, Daily ÷ over 3 channels

Cantonese / May 1998 / 7 Hours, Daily ÷ over 2 channels

Khmer / September 1997 / 5 Hours, Daily, 1 ch

Korean / March 1997 / 9 Hours, Daily, 1 ch

Lao / August 1997 / 5 Hours, Daily, 1 ch

Mandarin / September 1996 / 24 Hours, Daily ÷ over 3 channels

Tibetan / December 1996 / 23 Hours, Daily, 1 ch

Uyghur / December 1998 / 6 Hours, Daily, 1 ch

Vietnamese / February 1997 / 8 Hours, Daily ÷ over 2 channels

Its functions, as listed in 22 U.S.C. § 6208, are:

1. [to] provide accurate and timely information, news, and commentary about events in Asia and elsewhere; and

2. [to] be a forum for a variety of opinions and voices from within Asian nations whose people do not fully enjoy freedom of expression.

Additionally, the International Broadcasting Act of 1994 (Title III of Pub.L. 103–236), which authorised the creation of the RFA, contains the following paragraph:

The continuation of existing U.S. international broadcasting, and the creation of a new broadcasting service to people of the People's Republic of China and other countries of Asia, which lack adequate sources of free information and ideas, would enhance the promotion of information and ideas, while advancing the goals of U.S. foreign policy.

This appears among a list of both "Congressional Findings and Declarations of Purpose", though which it is, is not specified. The subsequent section, outlining "Standards and Principles" states that all US-funded broadcasting should be "consistent with the broad foreign policy objectives of the United States", with news that is "consistently reliable and authoritative, accurate, objective, and comprehensive".[28]

Criticism

In 1999, Catharin Dalpino of the Brookings Institution, who served in the Clinton State Department as a deputy assistant secretary deputy for human rights, called Radio Free Asia "a waste of money." "Wherever we feel there is an ideological enemy, we're going to have a Radio Free Something," she says. Dalpino said she has reviewed scripts of Radio Free Asia's broadcasts and views the station's reporting as unbalanced. "They lean very heavily on reports by and about dissidents in exile. It doesn't sound like reporting about what's going on in a country. Often, it reads like a textbook on democracy, which is fine, but even to an American it's rather propagandistic."[29]

According to a report by the Congressional Research Service of the U.S. government, official state-controlled newspapers in China have run editorials claiming Radio Free Asia is a CIA broadcast operation, as was the case with the first Radio Free Asia.[15]

North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency has referred to Radio Free Asia as "reptile broadcasting services."[30] Kim Chol-min, third secretary of North Korea, in statement submitted at the United Nations, accusing the United States of engaging in "psychological warfare" with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea through RFA.[31]

Following the Burmese Saffron Revolution in the fall of 2007, the Myanmar junta held rallies attended by thousands holding signs that condemned external interference and accused Radio Free Asia, the Voice of America, and the BBC of "airing a skyful of lies."[32] In October 2007, Burmese state-run newspaper The New Light of Myanmar singled out "big powers" and Radio Free Asia, among other international broadcasters, as inciting protesters during the Saffron Revolution.[33]

Awards

• min magazine's "Best of the Web". 2017 for "Best Multimedia Feature".
• Sigma Delta Chi award. 2015. The Society of Professional Journalists.
• Annual Human Rights Press Award. 2012, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, and 2000. Amnesty International, Hong Kong Journalists Association, Foreign Correspondents' Club, Hong Kong.
• International Activist Award, 2005, Gleitsman Foundation.
• Edward R. Murrow Regional Award, 2005, 2003, 2002, and 2001. Radio-Television News Directors Association.
• New York Festivals radio awards named Radio Free Asia "Broadcaster of the Year" in 2009. RFA won one medal in 2015; one in 2014; two in 2013; one in 2012; one in 2011; two in 2010; seven in 2009; two in 2008; one in 2007; one in 2004; and one in 2000.
• Gracie Allen Award, 2013, 2010, and 2008. American Women in Radio and Television.
• Consumer Rights award, 2008. Hong Kong Consumer Council, Hong Kong Journalists Association.
• Society of Environmental Journalists, 2012 and 2010. Society of Environmental Journalists
• Courage in Journalism Award, 2010. International Women's Media Foundation

See also

• United States portal
• Politics portal
• Radio portal
• China Radio International
• International broadcasting
• International Broadcasting Bureau
• Murder of Robert Eric Wone, former counsel for Radio Free Asia[34]
• Open Technology Fund – a Radio Free Asia program that was created in 2012 to support global Internet freedom technologies
• Radio Taiwan International

References

1. "RFA – USAGM". Retrieved January 3, 2019.
2. Radio Free Asia – About Retrieved 10 November 2015
3. David Welch (November 27, 2013). Propaganda, Power and Persuasion: From World War I to Wikileaks. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-0-85773-737-3.
4. "About". Broadcasting Board of Governors. n.d. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
5. Central Intelligence Agency (April 1, 1953). "Memorandum For: Special Assistant to the President; International Radio Broadcasting by Radio Free Asia" (PDF). foia.cia.gov. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
6. https://www.usa.gov/federal-agencies/radio-free-asia
7. Central Intelligence Agency (April 1, 1953). "Memorandum For: Special Assistant to the President; International Radio Broadcasting by Radio Free Asia" (PDF). foia.cia.gov. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
8. Tom Engelhardt: "The End of Victory Culture". Cold War America and the Disillusioning of a Generation (University of Massachusetts Press 1998); p. 120. ISBN 1-55849-133-3.
9. Helen Laville, Hugh Wilford: "The US Government, Citizen Groups And the Cold War". p. 215. The State-Private Network (Routledge 1996). ISBN 0-415-35608-3.
10. Daya Kishan Thussu: "International Communication". Continuity and Change (Arnold 2000). p. 37. ISBN 0-340-74130-9.
11. Executive Order 12, 850, 3 C.F.R. 606, 607 § 1(b).
12. Bill Text Versions for the 111th Congress, 2009–2010. The Library of Congress.[1]
13. Mann, Jim (September 30, 1996). "After 5 Years of Political Wrangling, Radio Free Asia Becomes a Reality". Los Angeles Times. Times Mirror Company. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
14. Brown, Emma (June 10, 2011). "Jaehoon Ahn, reporter and Post researcher, dies". Washington Post. Retrieved June 17, 2011.
15. Susan B. Epstein: CRS Report for Congress Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine (PDF)
16. "Governance and Corporate Leadership". Radio Free Asia. n.d. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
17. Mann, "China Bars 3 Journalists From Clinton's Trip", The Los Angeles Times, June 23, 1998
18. Sieff/Scully "Radio Free Asia reporters stay home; Clinton kowtows to Beijing's ban, critics contend", The Washington Times, June 24, 1998
19. "Radio Free Asia says broadcasts to Vietnam are being jammed". CNN. February 7, 1997. Retrieved February 11,2008.
20. "H.R. 1587 Vietnam Human Rights Act of 2004". Congressional Budget Office. June 24, 2004. Retrieved February 11, 2008.
21. "OpenNet Initiative: Vietnam". OpenNet Initiative. Retrieved February 11, 2008.
22. "RFA: Anti-jamming antenna". Retrieved February 11, 2008.
23. Censky, Annalyn (March 30, 2010). "Google blames China's 'great firewall' for outage". CNN. Retrieved March 30,2010.
24. Forsythe, Michael (July 31, 2015). "A Voice From China's Uighur Homeland, Reporting From the U.S." New York Times. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
25. Casey, Michael (July 9, 2015). "China's War Against One American Journalist". Slate. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
26. Denyur, Simon (January 8, 2015). "China uses long-range intimidation of U.S. reporter to suppress Xinjiang coverage". Washington Post. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
27. Editorial Board (June 9, 2015). "China exports repression beyond its borders". Washington Post. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
28. Pub.L. 103–236, Sec. 303
29. Dick Kirschten: Broadcast News May 1, 1999
30. "KCNA raps U.S. despicable psychological warfare against DPRK," February 22, 2008 BBC Monitoring Service
31. General Assembly GA/SPD/430 United Nations Department of Public Information, October 2009
32. On Quiet Streets of Myanmar Fear Is a Constant Companion International Herald Tribune. October 21, 2007
33. Myanmar guards accused of detainee abuse Associated Press. October 11, 2007
34. Duggan, Paul; Clarence Williams (November 1, 2008). "Cover-Up Alleged in D.C. Killing Of Lawyer". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 31, 2008.

Further reading

• Engelhardt, Tom (1998). The End of Victory Culture. Cold War America and the Disillusioning of a Generation. University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 1-55849-133-3.
• Laville, Helen; Wilford, Hugh (1996). The US Government, Citizen Groups And the Cold War. The State-Private Network. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-35608-3.
• Thussu, Daya Kishan (2000). International Communication. Continuity and Change. Arnold. ISBN 0-340-74130-9.
• Defty, Andrew (2004). Britain, America and Anti-Communist Propaganda, 1945–53. The Information Research Department. Routledge. ISBN 0-7146-5443-4.

External links

• Official website
• Broadcasting of Radio Free Asia and Voice of America is Pulled in Cambodia US Department of State Press Release
• ClandestineRadio.com Updated news
• Radio Free Asia, Legal Information Institute
• L.A. Times articles about Radio Free Asia
• Guide to the Radio Free Asia Vietnamese Broadcasts. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.

Custodial history: In Frank Cramer Roberts' possession.
Immediate source of acquisition: Acquired from Esmé [Barbara] Cramer Roberts (widow) [Librarian's Comment: Real author of Born in Tibet, which authorship is attributed to Chogyam Trungpa]
St. Antony's College, Oxford
https://www.sant.ox.ac.uk › MEChandlists › Cramer-Roberts-Collection
Aug 17, 1998
© Middle East Centre, St Antony’s College, Oxford. OX2 6JF 4

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.

St Antony's reputation as a key centre for the study of Soviet affairs during the Cold War, led to rumours of links between the college and the British intelligence services; the author Leslie Woodhead wrote to this effect, describing the college as "a fitting gathering place for old spooks".

-- St. Antony's College, Oxford, by Wikipedia

Reference code: GB165-0066
Title: Frank Cramer-Roberts Collection
Name of creator: Roberts, Frank Cramer- (d.1943), Engineer
Dates of creation of material: 1801-1916; ?1930s
Level of description: Fonds
Extent: 2 boxes

Biographical history: CRAMER ROBERTS, Frank W. (d.1943)
Irrigation engineer in Egypt until 1930. Further details unknown.
Scope and content: Research materials and notes by Cramer Roberts on the Egyptian Campaign, 1801, with engravings, maps and plans.
Access conditions: Open
Language of material: English
Conditions governing reproduction: No restrictions on copying or quotation other than statutory regulations and preservation concerns
Custodial history: In Frank Cramer Roberts’ possession.
Immediate source of acquisition: Acquired from Esmé Cramer Roberts (widow), October 1965. Elizabeth Monroe helped her sell some original letters from the collection through Sotheby’s, May 1966.
Location of originals: No record of purchaser of original documents (in files 3 and 4a) sold by Sotheby’s.
Finding aids: In Guide; Handlist
Archivist’s note: Fonds level description created by C. Brown 17 August 1998 and revised by D. Usher 26 September 2003.

CRAMER-ROBERTS
GB165-0066

© Middle East Centre, St Antony’s College, Oxford. OX2 6JF 2

FILE AND ITEM LEVEL DESCRIPTIONS FOR THE FRANK CRAMER-ROBERTS COLLECTION

FILE 1 “The British Campaign in Egypt 1801 – as recorded in the diary of Surgeon Thornton edited with comments by Lt Col W H Thornton” Privately published 1933
FILE 2 Note by Cramer-Roberts on the landing of the British Army at Abu-Kir 1801, with a short account of the events which led up to the campaign and the preparation of the expeditionary force
FILE 3 Copy of an official despatch from Major General Hely Hutchinson to Secretary of State for war – Dundas, 3 April 1801
FILE 4 (a) Photocopies of the original letters from Major General Sir Eyre Coote to H.R.H. Duke of Gloucester 13 December 1800 – 9 October 1801
(b) Typescript transcriptions of (a) made by F.W. Cramer – Roberts
(c) Mss transcriptions of (a)
FILE 5 Statements of General Belliard’s account of the Fall of Cairo, 19 March 1801 – 27 June 1801
FILE 6 Note on conference of 27 June 1801, giving terms of French withdrawal – safe conduct etc
FILE 7 Brief notes on the state of the French army in Egypt 1798 – 1801
FILE 8 French scheme for Battle at Abu Kir. Brief chronology of main events March – October 1801
FILE 9 Miscellaneous final drafts of various sections of Cramer-Roberts proposed book on the British campaign
FILE 10 Text of a lecture (and list of slides shown) entitled “A Short description of difficult actions fought between the French and British armies in Egypt in 1801”
FILE 11 Drafts of Chapter dealing with French activity 1797-1800 (death of General Kleber)
FILE 12 & 13 Miscellaneous early notes and drafts
FILE 14 Draft of a chapter on the Turkish army
FILE 15 Text of a lecture given in Egypt
FILE 16 Collection of engravings, photographs and small maps/plans
(a) Engraving of Sir Sidney Smith at the breach of Acre, 9 May 1799. Engraved by Richard Bentley London 1848

CRAMER-ROBERTS
GB165-0066

© Middle East Centre, St Antony’s College, Oxford. OX2 6JF 3
(b) Engraving of Rt Hon G.K. Elphinstone. Painted by J Hoppner R.A. Engraved by W Hall. Fisher Son & Co. London 1837
(c) Engraving of Brueys. Painted by A Lacauchie, engraved by Leguay (undated)
(d) Kleber. Published by Furne Paris (undated)
(e) Engraving showing the Battle of the Nile. Painted by G Arnold Esq A.R.A. engraved by J Le Petit (undated)
(f) Engraving showing the Battle of the Nile. Painted by Captain James Weir R.A. engraved by A.H. Payne (no date)
(g) Engravings of Lt Gen Sir Eyre Coote. Painted by Willian Lodder, engraved by H.R. Cook (undated)
(h) Engraving of Sir Ralph Abercromby. Engraved by W. Finden. Published by Harding & Leppard., Pall Mall 1831
(i) Engraving of Sir Ralph Abercromby published by Kirkwood & Sons, Edinburgh. June 1801
(j) Engraving of Kleber. Painted by Lacauchie, engraved by Leguay (undated)
(k) Engraving of Lord Nelson. Painted by J Hoppner R.A. engraved by H Robinson (undated)
(l) Engraving showing the death of Sir Ralph Abercromby. Published by Thomas Kelly. London 1916
(m)Two framed compilations each containing four photographs of portraits of Generals Valetin, Reyneir, Lanusse, Destaing, Boussart, Rampon, Fraint and Damens
(n) Photograph of an engraving of General Lord Hutchinson. Original engraved by J Heath from a drawing by Knight. First published 1815 by G Robinson of London
(o) Plan showing the Battle of the Nile fought off Abi-Kir. 1 August 1798 (C.R. undated)
(p) Plan showing the disposition of the French army on the arrival of the British in Abu Kir Bay on 2 March 1801 (C.R. undated)
(q) Plan of the action of Mandora fought on 13 March 1801 (C.R. 1934)

CRAMER-ROBERTS
GB165-0066

© Middle East Centre, St Antony’s College, Oxford. OX2 6JF 4

Rolled Maps/Plans

1 Larger version of (p); plan showing the landing of the British forces at Abi-Kir 8
March 1801; of an engraving by C Turner showing the Battle of Alexandria 21 March 1801
2 Larger version of (q); plan of the investment of Grand Cairo by the British forces commanded by General Lord Hutchinson 1801

Foreign and Commonwealth Office
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 9/9/19

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Foreign and Commonwealth Office Main Building, London, seen from Whitehall
Department overview
Formed 1968; 51 years ago
Preceding agencies
Commonwealth Office
Foreign Office
Jurisdiction United Kingdom
Headquarters King Charles Street
London, SW1
51°30′11″N 0°07′40″WCoordinates: 51°30′11″N 0°07′40″W
Annual budget £1.1bn (current) & £0.1bn (capital) in 2015-16[1]
Ministers responsible
Rt Hon. Dominic Raab MP, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Rt Hon. Christopher Pincher MP, Minister of State for Europe and the Americas
Com. Rt Hon. Andrew Murrison MP, Minister of State for the Middle East
Rt Hon. The Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister of State for the Commonwealth and the UN
Rt Hon. Andrew Stephenson MP, Minister of State for Africa
Heather Wheeler MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Asia & the Pacific
Department executive
Sir Simon McDonald KCMG KCVO, Permanent Under-Secretary and Head of the Diplomatic Service
Child agencies
FCO Services
Wilton Park
Website http://www.gov.uk/fco

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), commonly called the Foreign Office (which was the formal name of its predecessor until 1968), or British Foreign Office, is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for protecting and promoting British interests worldwide and was created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.

The head of the FCO is the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, commonly abbreviated to "Foreign Secretary". This is regarded as one of the four most prestigious positions in the Cabinet – the Great Offices of State – alongside those of Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary.

The FCO is managed from day to day by a civil servant, the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, who also acts as the Head of Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service. This position is held by Sir Simon McDonald, who took office on 1 September 2015.

Responsibilities

• Safeguarding the UK's national security by countering terrorism and weapons proliferation, and working to reduce conflict.
• Building the UK's prosperity by increasing exports and investment, opening markets, ensuring access to resources, and promoting sustainable global growth.
• Supporting British nationals around the world through modern and efficient consular services.

Ministers

The FCO Ministers are as follows:[2][3]

Minister / Rank / Portfolio

The Rt Hon.Dominic Raab MP / Secretary of State / Overall responsibility for the department; Policy Unit; intelligence policy; honours.

The Rt Hon. Christopher Pincher MP / Minister of State for Europe and the Americas / The Americas (including Cuba and the Falkland Islands); Europe (including Turkey, Gibraltar and Sovereign Base Areas); deputy to the Foreign Secretary for EU Exit Cabinet Committees; eastern Europe and central Asia; defence and international security (only Euro-Atlantic security policy); multilateral policy (only OSCE, Council of Europe and sanctions); relations with Parliament.

The Rt Hon. Dr Andrew Murrison MP / Minister of State for the Middle East & North Africa / The Middle East and North Africa; stabilisation (including Stabilisation Unit); national security (excluding intelligence policy); defence and international security (excluding Euro-Atlantic security policy).

Andrew Stephenson MP / Minister of State for Africa / Africa; consular policy; LGBTQ+ equality.

The Rt Hon. Lord Ahmad / Minister of State for the Commonwealth, the UN and South Asia / All Foreign and Commonwealth Office business in the House of Lords; multilateral policy (including the Commonwealth, United Nations and human rights, excluding OSCE and Council of Europe); Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict initiative; south Asia and Afghanistan; Overseas Territories (excluding Gibraltar, Sovereign Base Areas and the Falklands); the Caribbean (excluding Cuba); Foreign and Commonwealth Office operations.

Heather Wheeler MP / Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Asia and the Pacific / East and south-east Asia; Australasia and the Pacific; economic diplomacy (including Foreign and Commonwealth Office representative for Prosperity Fund Ministerial Board and climate change); oceans; communications; British Council; Economics Unit; gender equality (including gender and conflict, and women and girls' rights); protocol; Diplomatic Academy; estates and security.

History of the department

The Foreign Office


The Foreign Office building by Sir George Gilbert Scott, viewed from Horse Guards Road

Eighteenth century

The Foreign Office was formed in March 1782 by combining the Southern and Northern Departments of the Secretary of State, each of which covered both foreign and domestic affairs in their parts of the Kingdom. The two departments' foreign affairs responsibilities became the Foreign Office, whilst their domestic affairs responsibilities were assigned to the Home Office. The Home Office is technically the senior.[4]

Nineteenth century

During the 19th century, it was not infrequent for the Foreign Office to approach The Times newspaper and ask for continental intelligence, which was often superior to that conveyed by official sources.[5] Examples of journalists who specialized in foreign affairs and were well connected to politicians included: Henry Southern, Valentine Chirol, Harold Nicolson, and Robert Bruce Lockhart.[6]

Twentieth century

During the First World War, the Arab Bureau was set up within the British Foreign Office as a section of the Cairo Intelligence Department. During the early cold war an important department was the Information Research Department, set up to counter Soviet propaganda and infiltration. The Foreign Office hired its first woman diplomat, Monica Milne, in 1946.[7]

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The FCO was formed on 17 October 1968, from the merger of the short-lived Commonwealth Office and the Foreign Office.[8] The Commonwealth Office had been created only in 1966, by the merger of the Commonwealth Relations Office and the Colonial Office, the Commonwealth Relations Office having been formed by the merger of the Dominions Office and the India Office in 1947—with the Dominions Office having been split from the Colonial Office in 1925.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office held responsibility for international development issues between 1970 and 1974, and again between 1979 and 1997. From 1997, this became the responsibility of the separate Department for International Development.

The National Archives website contains a Government timeline to show the departments responsible for Foreign Affairs from 1945.[9]

Developments

When David Miliband took over as Foreign Secretary in June 2007, he set in hand a review of the FCO's strategic priorities. One of the key messages of these discussions was the conclusion that the existing framework of ten international strategic priorities, dating from 2003, was no longer appropriate. Although the framework had been useful in helping the FCO plan its work and allocate its resources, there was agreement that it needed a new framework to drive its work forward.

The new strategic framework consists of three core elements:

• A flexible global network of staff and offices, serving the whole of the UK Government.
• Three essential services that support the British economy, British nationals abroad and managed migration for Britain. These services are delivered through UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), consular teams in Britain and overseas, and UK Visas and Immigration.
• Four policy goals:
o countering terrorism and weapons proliferation and their causes
o preventing and resolving conflict
o promoting a low-carbon, high-growth, global economy
o developing effective international institutions, in particular the United Nations and the European Union.

In August 2005, a report by management consultant group Collinson Grant was made public by Andrew Mackinlay. The report severely criticised the FCO's management structure, noting:

• The Foreign Office could be "slow to act".
• Delegation is lacking within the management structure.
• Accountability was poor.
• The FCO could feasibly cut 1200 jobs.
• At least £48 million could be saved annually.

The Foreign Office commissioned the report to highlight areas which would help it achieve its pledge to reduce spending by £87 million over three years. In response to the report being made public, the Foreign Office stated it had already implemented the report's recommendations.[10]

In 2009, Gordon Brown created the position of Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA) to the FCO. The first science adviser was David C. Clary.[11]

On 25 April 2010, the department apologised after The Sunday Telegraph obtained a "foolish" document calling for the upcoming September visit of Pope Benedict XVI to be marked by the launch of "Benedict-branded" condoms, the opening of an abortion clinic and the blessing of a same-sex marriage.[12]

In 2012, the Foreign Office was criticised by Gerald Steinberg, of the Jerusalem-based research institute NGO Monitor, saying that the Foreign Office and the Department for International Development provided more than £500,000 in funding to Palestinian NGOs which he said "promote political attacks on Israel." In response, a spokesman for the Foreign Office said "we are very careful about who and what we fund. The objective of our funding is to support efforts to achieve a two-state solution. Funding a particular project for a limited period of time does not mean that we endorse every single action or public comment made by an NGO or by its employees."[13]

In September 2012, the FCO and the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs signed a Memorandum of Understanding on diplomatic cooperation, which promotes the co-location of embassies, the joint provision of consular services, and common crisis response. The project has been criticised for further diminishing the UK's influence in Europe.[14]

Overseas Territories Directorate

The Overseas Territories Directorate is responsible for the British Overseas Territories.[15]

FCO Services

In April 2006, a new executive agency was established, FCO Services, to provide corporate service functions.[16] It moved to Trading Fund status in April 2008, so that it had the ability to provide services similar to those it already offers to the FCO[17] to other government departments and even to outside businesses.

It is accountable to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, and provides secure support services to the FCO, other government departments and foreign governments and bodies with which the UK has close links.[18]

Since 2011, FCO Services has been developing the Government Secure Application Environment (GSAE) on a secure cloud computing platform to support UK government organisations.[19]

For over 10 years, FCO Services has been working globally, to keep customer assets and information safe. FCO Services is a public sector organisation, it is not funded by Vote and has to rely on the income it produces to meet its costs, by providing services on a commercial basis to customers both in the UK and throughout the world. Its Accounting Officer and Chief Executive is accountable to the Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs and to Parliament, for the organisation's performance and conduct.

Buildings


The western end of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's building in 1866, facing St. James's Park. It was then occupied by the Foreign and India Offices, while the Home and Colonial Offices occupied the Whitehall end.

As well as embassies abroad, the FCO has premises within the UK:

• Foreign and Commonwealth Office Main Building, Whitehall, King Charles St, London (abbreviated to KCS by FCO staff)
• Old Admiralty Building, Whitehall, London (abbreviated to OAB by FCO staff)
• Hanslope Park, Hanslope, Milton Keynes (abbreviated to HSP by FCO staff). Location of FCO Services, HMGCC and Technical Security Department of the UK Secret Intelligence Service)
• Lancaster House, St James's, London. A mansion in the St James's district in the West End of London which the Foreign Office holds on lease from the Crown. It is used primarily for hospitality, entertaining foreign dignitaries and housing the Government Wine Cellar.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office Main Building


The Grand Staircase in September 2013

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office occupies a building which originally provided premises for four separate government departments: the Foreign Office, the India Office, the Colonial Office, and the Home Office. Construction on the building began in 1861 and finished in 1868, and it was designed by the architect George Gilbert Scott.[20] Its architecture is in the Italianate style; Scott had initially envisaged a Gothic design, but Lord Palmerston, then Prime Minister, insisted on a classical style.[20] English sculptors Henry Hugh Armstead and John Birnie Philip produced a number of allegorical figures ('Art', 'Law', 'Commerce', etc.) for the exterior.

In 1925 the Foreign Office played host to the signing of the Locarno Treaties, aimed at reducing tension in Europe. The ceremony took place in a suite of rooms that had been designed for banqueting, which subsequently became known as the Locarno Suite.[21] During the Second World War, the Locarno Suite's fine furnishings were removed or covered up, and it became home to a Foreign Office code-breaking department.[21]

Due to increasing numbers of staff, the offices became increasingly cramped and much of the fine Victorian interior was covered over—especially after the Second World War. In the 1960s, demolition was proposed, as part of major redevelopment plan for the area drawn up by architect Sir Leslie Martin.[20] A subsequent public outcry prevented these proposals from ever being implemented. Instead, the Foreign Office became a Grade I listed building in 1970.[20] In 1978, the Home Office moved to a new building, easing overcrowding.

With a new sense of the building's historical value, it underwent a 17-year, £100 million restoration process, completed in 1997.[20] The Locarno Suite, used as offices and storage since the Second World War, was fully restored for use in international conferences. The building is now open to the public each year over Open House Weekend.

In 2014 refurbishment to accommodate all Foreign and Commonwealth Office employees into one building was started by Mace.[22]


Ceiling above the Foreign Office’s Grand Staircase, 2008


The Grand Staircase, 2008


The Locarno Suite in September 2013


The Durbar Court at the former India Office, now part of the FCO

Devolution

International relations are handled centrally from Whitehall on behalf of the whole of the United Kingdom and its dependencies. However, the devolved administrations also maintain an overseas presence in the European Union, the USA and China alongside British diplomatic missions. These offices aim to promote their own economies and ensure that devolved interests are taken into account in British foreign policy. Ministers from devolved administrations can attend international negotiations when agreed with the British Government e.g. EU fisheries negotiations.[23] Similarly, ministers from the devolved administrations meet at approximately quarterly intervals through the Joint Ministerial Committee (Europe), chaired by the Foreign Secretary to "discuss matters bearing on devolved responsibilities that are under discussion within the European Union."

See also

• United Kingdom portal
• International relations portal
• Department for International Development
• Foreign and Commonwealth Office migrated archives
• National Security Adviser (United Kingdom)
• National Security Council (United Kingdom)
• Conflict, Stability and Security Fund
• Stabilisation Unit

References

1. Foreign Office Settlement. London: HM Treasury. 2015. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
2. "Our ministers". GOV.UK. Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
3. "Her Majesty's Official Opposition". UK Parliament. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
4. A brief history of the FCO Foreign and Commonwealth Office
5. Weller, Toni (June 2010). "The Victorian information age: nineteenth century answers to today's information policy questions?". History & Policy. United Kingdom: History & Policy. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
6. Berridge, G. R. "A Diplomatic Whistleblower in the Victorian Era" (PDF). grberridge.diplomacy.edu. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
7. "Women and the Foreign Office". Issu.com. Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
8. "The Foreign and Commonwealth Ministries merge". The Glasgow Herald. 17 October 1968. p. 1. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
9. Archives, The National. "The National Archives - Homepage". labs.nationalarchives.gov.uk.
10. "BBC NEWS - UK - UK Politics - Foreign Office management damned".
11. Clary, David (16 September 2013). "A Scientist in the Foreign Office". Science & Diplomacy. 2 (3).
12. "Apology over Pope 'condom' memo". BBC News. 25 April 2010.
13. "'Investigate UK funding of Palestinian NGOs'". thejc.com.
14. Gaspers, Jan (November 2012). "At the Helm of a New Commonwealth Diplomatic Network: In the United Kingdom's Interest?". Retrieved 26 November 2012.
15. Foreign & Commonwealth Office (June 2012). The Overseas Territories: Security, Success and Sustainability(PDF). ISBN 9780101837422.
16. "Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs". Hansard. March 2006.
17. "The FCO Services Trading Fund Order 2008". UK Legislation. National Archives. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
18. "Who we are". FCO Services. 24 May 2011. Archived from the original on 22 February 2013. Retrieved 18 June2011.
19. Say, Mark (21 July 2011). "FCO Services pushes secure cloud platform". Guardian Government Computing. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
20. Foreign & Commonwealth Office History Archived 24 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine
21. Jump up to:a b "Foreign & Commonwealth Office: Route" (PDF). FCO. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2012.
22. "Mace wins £20m Whitehall Foreign Office refit". constructionenquirer.com.
23. Scottish gains at Euro fish talks, Scottish Government, 16 December 2009

External links

• Media related to Foreign and Commonwealth Office at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website
• Cockerell, Michael (1998). How to Be Foreign Secretary (Television production). BBC.
• Cockerell, Michael (2010). The Great Offices of State: Palace of Dreams (Television production). BBC.

Indian Political Department
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 9/9/19

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YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.

The Indian Political Department (IPD) was a government department in British India. It originated in a resolution passed on 13 September 1783 by the Board of Directors of the East India Company; this decreed the creation of a department which could help “relieve the pressure” on the administration of Warren Hastings in conducting its "secret and political business".

In 1843, Governor-General Ellenborough reformed the administration, organizing Secretariat of the Government into four departments – Foreign, Home, Finance and Military. The officer in charge of the foreign department was supposed to manage the “conduct of all correspondence belonging to the external and internal diplomatic relations of the government”. Its political officers were responsible for the civil administration of frontier districts,[1] and also served as British agents to rulers of Princely states. A distinction was made between the “foreign” and “political” functions of the department; relations with all “Asiatic powers” (including native princely states of India) were treated as “political” and those with all European powers as “foreign”. At independence in 1948, the Foreign and Political department of the British India government was transformed into the new Ministry of External Affairs and Commonwealth Relations. A small number of British officers continued to serve as employees of the Union of India.[2]

"Politicals"

The staff employed by the IPD, known as the Indian Political Service, were generally referred to as political officers, or colloquially as "politicals", and were recruited from four areas:[3]

• Two thirds were recruited from the Indian Army
• Next most numerous were those recruited from the Indian Civil Service
• Some came from the Indian Medical Service
• Some came from the Indian Public Works and Engineering Department

Employees of the political service were predominantly racially European, although small numbers of Indians were employed.[4]

References

1. James Onley, The Raj Reconsidered: British India’s Informal Empire and Spheres of Influence in Asia and Africa (2009)
2. Hansard 11 December 1947
3. Wendy Palace (2004), The British Empire & Tibet 1900 - 1922, London: Routledge, ISBN 0415346827, OCLC 834529138, 0415346827
4. Hansard 26 June 1939

External links

• Indian Foreign Service: A Backgrounder

Dominion of India [Union of India]
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 9/9/19

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

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Union of India
1947–1950

Flag of India

Emblem[1]
Status: Dominion of the British Commonwealth
Capital New Delhi
Government Federation
Governor-General
• 1947–1948: Louis Mountbatten
• 1948–1950: Chakravarti Rajagopalachari
Prime Minister
• 1947–1950: Jawaharlal Nehru[2]
Legislature Constituent Assembly
History
• Indian Independence Act: 15 August 1947
• Indo-Pakistani War: 22 October 1947
• Republican constitution adopted: 26 January 1950
Area
1950 3,287,263 km2 (1,269,219 sq mi)
Currency Indian rupee
ISO 3166 code IN
Preceded by British Raj
Succeeded by Republic of India

India, officially the Union of India,[3] was an independent dominion in the British Commonwealth of Nations between 15 August 1947 and 26 January 1950. It was created by the Indian Independence Act 1947 and was transformed into the Republic of India by the promulgation of the Constitution of India in 1950.[4]

The King was represented by the Governor-General of India. However, the Governor-General was not designated Viceroy, as had been customary under the British Raj. The office of Viceroy was abolished on independence. Two governors-general held office between independence and India's transformation into a republic: Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (1947–48) and Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (1948–50). Jawaharlal Nehru was Prime Minister of India throughout.

History

Partition of India

Main article: Partition of India

The Partition of British India on 15 August 1947[5] led to the creation of two sovereign states, both dominions: Pakistan (which later split into the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the People's Republic of Bangladesh in 1971) and India (later the Republic of India).

Since the 1920s the Indian independence movement had been demanding Pūrṇa Swarāj (complete self-rule) for the Indian nation and the establishment of the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan was a major victory for the Swarajis. Nevertheless, the Partition was controversial among the people, and resulted in significant political instability and displacement.[6]

Aftermath

Most of the 565[7] princely states within Indian territory acceded to the Dominion of India. The Hindu-majority Junagadh State located in modern-day Gujarat attempted to accede to Pakistan under Nawab Sir Muhammad Mahabat Khanji III, who was a Muslim. It was annexed militarily by the Indian government. Similarly, the State of Hyderabad sought to remain independent and was also annexed by India in 1948.[6]

Conflict with Pakistan

See also: Indo-Pakistani War of 1947

The newly created states of Pakistan and India both joined the Commonwealth, a platform for cooperation between the countries that had been part of the British Empire. Nevertheless, they soon found themselves at war beginning in October 1947, over the contested princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistani militants entered the state, alarming Maharaja Hari Singh who appealed to India for military intervention, in exchange for the signing of the Instrument of Accession and annexation into India. The region is contested to this day and two other Indo-Pakistan wars occurred as part of the Kashmir conflict.[6]

The Dominion of India began working towards a constitution based on liberal democracy immediately after independence.

Republic of India

Main article: India

The Constituent Assembly adopted the Constitution of India, drafted by a committee headed by B. R. Ambedkar, on 26 November 1949. India abolished the role of the constitutional monarchy and became a federal, democratic republic after its constitution came into effect on 26 January 1950; henceforth celebrated as Republic Day. The governmental structure was similar to that of the United Kingdom but within a federal system. Rajendra Prasad became the first President of India.

Government

List of Governors-General

Main article: List of Governors-General of India

Name (birth–death) / Picture / Took office / Left office / Appointer

Governors-General India, 1947–1950

The Viscount Mountbatten of Burma[8] (1900–1979) / Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, 1943. / 15 August 1947 / 21 June 1948 / George VI

Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (1878–1972) / C Rajagopalachari 1944 / 21 June 1948 / 26 January 1950 / George VI

List of Prime Ministers

Main article: List of Prime Ministers of India

№ / Name (birth–death); constituency / Portrait / Party (Alliance) / Term of office[9] / Elections (Lok Sabha) / Council of Ministers / Appointed by

1 / Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) MP for Phulpur / Jnehru / Indian National Congress / 15 August 1947 / 26 January 1950 / — / Nehru I / Lord Mountbatten

See also

• India portal
• Monarchy portal
• Interim Government of India
• History of the Republic of India
• Indian independence movement

References

1. "Press Communique' - State Emblem" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 February 2018.
2. As Prime Minister of India until 1964.
3. *Winegard, Timothy C. (2011), Indigenous Peoples of the British Dominions and the First World War, Cambridge University Press, p. 2, ISBN 978-1-107-01493-0 Quote: “The first collective use (of the word "dominion") occurred at the Colonial Conference (April to May 1907) when the title was conferred upon Canada and Australia. New Zealand and Newfoundland were afforded the designation in September of that same year, followed by South Africa in 1910. These were the only British possessions recognized as Dominions at the outbreak of war. In 1922, the Irish Free State was given Dominion status, followed by the short-lived inclusion of India and Pakistan in 1947 (although India was officially recognized as the Union of India). The Union of India became the Republic of India in 1950, while the became the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in 1956.”
4. Winegard, Timothy C. (2011), Indigenous Peoples of the British Dominions and the First World War, Cambridge University Press, pp. 2–, ISBN 978-1-107-01493-0
5. Section 1 of the Indian Independence Act, 1947
6. India: A History. New York, USA: Grove Press. 2000. ISBN 978-0-8021-3797-5.
7. "Indian Princely States before 1947 A-J".
8. Created Earl Mountbatten of Burma on 28 October 1947.
9. "Former Prime Ministers". PM India. Retrieved 2 January 2015.

Warren Hastings
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 9/10/19

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.

-- Impeachment of Warren Hastings, by Wikipedia

The Right Honourable Warren Hastings
Governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal)
In office
28 April 1772 – 20 October 1774
Preceded by John Cartier
Succeeded by Position Abolished
Governor-General of the Presidency of Fort sala
In office
20 October 1782 – 8 February 1785[1]
Monarch George III
Preceded by Position Created
Succeeded by Sir John Macpherson, Bt
As Acting Governor-General
Personal details
Born 6 December 1732
Churchill, Oxfordshire
Died 22 August 1818 (aged 85)
Daylesford, Gloucestershire
Nationality British
Alma mater Westminster School

Warren Hastings (6 December 1732 – 22 August 1818), an English statesman, was the first Governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal), the head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and thereby the first de facto Governor-General of India from 1774 to 1785. In 1787, he was accused of corruption and impeached, but after a long trial, he was acquitted in 1795. He was made a Privy Counsellor in 1814.

Early life

Hastings was born in Churchill, Oxfordshire in 1732 to a poor father, Penystone Hastings, and a mother, Hester Hastings, who died soon after he was born.[2] Despite Penystone Hastings's lack of wealth, the family had been lords of the manor and patrons of the living of Daylesford in direct line from 1281 until 1715. It was relinquished after there had been a considerable loss of family wealth due to support given to Charles I.[3] Warren Hastings attended Westminster School, where he coincided with the future Prime Ministers Lord Shelburne and the Duke of Portland and with the poet William Cowper.[4] He joined the British East India Company in 1750 as a clerk and sailed out to India, reaching Calcutta in August 1750.[5] There he built up a reputation for diligence and spent his free time learning about India and mastering Urdu and Persian.[6] His work won him promotion in 1752 when he was sent to Kasimbazar, a major trading post in Bengal, where he worked for William Watts. While there he gained further experience in the politics of East India.

British traders still relied on the whims of local rulers, so that the political turmoil in Bengal was unsettling. The elderly moderate Nawab Alivardi Khan was likely to be succeeded by his grandson Siraj ud-Daulah, but there were several other claimants. This made British trading posts throughout Bengal increasingly insecure, as Siraj ud-Daulah was known to harbour anti-European views and be likely to launch an attack once he took power. When Alivardi Khan died in April 1756, the British traders and a small garrison at Kasimbazar were left vulnerable. On 3 June, after being surrounded by a much larger force, the British were persuaded to surrender to prevent a massacre.[7] Hastings was imprisoned with others in the Bengali capital, Murshidabad, while the Nawab's forces marched on Calcutta and captured it. The garrison and civilians were then locked up under appalling conditions in the Black Hole of Calcutta.


Warren Hastings with his wife Marian in their garden at Alipore, c. 1784–87

For a while Hastings remained in Murshidabad and was even used by the Nawab as an intermediary, but fearing for his life, he escaped to the island of Fulta, where a number of refugees from Calcutta had taken shelter. While there, he met and married Mary Buchanan, the widow of one of the victims of the Black Hole. Shortly afterwards a British expedition from Madras under Robert Clive arrived to rescue them. Hastings served as a volunteer in Clive's forces as they retook Calcutta in January 1757. After this swift defeat, the Nawab urgently sought peace and the war came to an end. Clive was impressed with Hastings when he met him, and arranged for his return to Kasimbazar to resume his pre-war activities. Later in 1757 fighting resumed, leading to the Battle of Plassey, where Clive won a decisive victory over the Nawab. Siraj ud-Daulah was overthrown and replaced by his uncle Mir Jafar, who initiated pro-British policies. Today Mir Jafar has the reputation of a traitor in India and Bangladesh.

Rising status

In 1758 Hastings became the British Resident in the Bengali capital of Murshidabad – a major step forward in his career – at the instigation of Clive. His role in the city was ostensibly that of an ambassador but as Bengal came increasingly under the dominance of the East India Company he was often given the task of issuing orders to the new Nawab on behalf of Clive and the Calcutta authorities.[8] Hastings personally sympathised with Mir Jafar and regarded many of the demands placed on him by the Company as excessive. Hastings had already developed a philosophy that was grounded in trying to establish a more understanding relationship with India's inhabitants and their rulers, and he often tried to mediate between the two sides.

During Mir Jafar's reign the East India Company exerted an increasingly large role in the running of the region, and effectively took over the defence of Bengal against external invaders when Bengal's troops proved insufficient for the task. As he grew older, Mir Jafar became gradually less effective in ruling the state, and in 1760 British troops ousted him from power and replaced him with Mir Qasim.[9] Hastings expressed his doubts to Calcutta over the move, believing they were honour-bound to support Mir Jafar, but his opinions were overruled. Hastings established a good relationship with the new Nawab and again had misgivings about the demands he relayed from his superiors. In 1761 he was recalled and appointed to the Calcutta council.

Conquest of Bengal

Further information: Battle of Buxar

Hastings was personally angered when he conducted an investigation into trading abuses in Bengal. He alleged some European and British-allied Indian merchants were taking advantage of the situation to enrich themselves personally. Persons travelling under the unauthorised protection of the British flag engaged in widespread fraud and in illegal trading, knowing that local customs officials would thereby be cowed into not interfering with them. Hastings felt this was bringing shame on Britain's reputation, and he urged the ruling authorities in Calcutta to put an end to it. The Council considered his report but ultimately rejected Hastings' proposals and he was fiercely criticised by other members, many of whom had themselves profited from the trade.[10]

Ultimately, little was done to stem the abuses, and Hastings began to consider quitting his post and returning to Britain. His resignation was only delayed by the outbreak of fresh fighting in Bengal. Once on the throne Qasim proved increasingly independent in his actions, and he rebuilt Bengal's army by hiring European instructors and mercenaries who greatly improved the standard of his forces.[11] He felt gradually more confident and in 1764 when a dispute broke out in the settlement of Patna he captured its British garrison and threatened to execute them if the East India Company responded militarily. When Calcutta dispatched troops anyway, Mir Qasim executed the hostages. British forces then went on the attack and won a series of battles culminating in the decisive Battle of Buxar in October 1764. After this Mir Qasim fled into exile in Delhi, where he later died (1777). The Treaty of Allahabad (1765) gave the East India Company the right to collect taxes in Bengal on behalf of the Mughal Emperor.

Hastings resigned in December 1764 and sailed for Britain the following month. He left deeply saddened by the failure of the more moderate strategy that he had supported, but which had been rejected by the hawkish members of the Calcutta Council. Once he arrived in London Hastings began spending far beyond his means. He stayed in fashionable addresses and had his picture painted by Joshua Reynolds in spite of the fact that, unlike many of his contemporaries, he had not amassed a fortune while in India. Eventually, having run up enormous debts, Hastings realised he needed to return to India to restore his finances, and applied to the East India Company for employment. His application was initially rejected as he had made many political enemies, including the powerful director Laurence Sulivan. Eventually an appeal to Sulivan's rival Robert Clive secured Hastings the position of deputy ruler at the city of Madras. He sailed from Dover in March 1769. On the voyage he met the German Baroness Imhoff and her husband. He soon fell in love with the Baroness and they began an affair, seemingly with her husband's consent. Hastings' first wife, Mary, had died in 1759, and he planned to marry the Baroness once she had obtained a divorce from her husband. The process took a long time and it was not until 1777 when news of divorce came from Germany that Hastings was finally able to marry her.

Madras and Calcutta

Hastings arrived in Madras shortly after the end of the First Anglo-Mysore War of 1767–1769, during which the forces of Hyder Ali had threatened the capture of the city. The Treaty of Madras (29 March 1769) which ended the war failed to settle the dispute and three further Anglo-Mysore Wars followed (1780-1799). During his time at Madras Hastings initiated reforms of trading practices which cut out the use of middlemen and benefited both the Company and the Indian labourers, but otherwise the period was relatively uneventful for him.[12]

By this stage Hastings shared Clive's view that the three major British Presidencies (settlements) – Madras, Bombay and Calcutta – should all be brought under a single rule rather than being governed separately as they currently were.[12] In 1771 he was appointed to be Governor of Calcutta, the most important of the Presidencies. In Britain moves were underway to reform the divided system of government and to establish a single rule across all of British India with its capital in Calcutta. Hastings was considered[by whom?] the natural choice to be the first Governor General.

While Governor, Hastings launched a major crackdown on bandits operating in Bengal, which proved largely successful.

He also faced the severe Bengal Famine, which resulted in about ten million deaths.

Governor-General

The Regulating Act of 1773 brought the presidencies of Madras and Bombay under Bengal's control. It elevated Hastings from Governor to the new title Governor-General, but limited his power by making the Governor-General one member of a five-man Supreme Council of Bengal,[13] so confusedly structured that it was difficult to tell what constitutional position Hastings actually held.[14]

Bhutan and Tibet

In 1773, Hastings responded to an appeal for help from the Raja of the princely state of Cooch Behar to the north of Bengal, whose territory had been invaded by Zhidar, the Druk Desi of Bhutan the previous year. Hastings agreed to help on the condition that Cooch Behar recognise British sovereignty.[15] The Raja agreed and with the help of British troops they pushed the Bhutanese out of the Duars and into the foothills in 1773.

The Druk Desi, returned to face civil war at home. His opponent Jigme Senge, the regent for the seven-year-old Shabdrung (the Bhutanese equivalent of the Dalai Lama), had supported popular discontent. Zhidar was unpopular for his corvee tax (he sought to rebuild a major dzong in one year, an unreasonable goal), as well as for his overtures to the Manchu Emperors which threatened Bhutanese independence. Zhidar was soon overthrown and forced to flee to Tibet, where he was imprisoned and a new Druk Desi, Kunga Rinchen, installed in his place. Meanwhile, the Sixth Panchen Lama, who had imprisoned Zhidar, interceded on behalf of the Bhutanese with a letter to Hastings, imploring him to cease hostilities in return for friendship. Hastings saw the opportunity to establish relations with both the Tibetans and the Bhutanese and wrote a letter to the Panchen Lama proposing "a general treaty of amity and commerce between Tibet and Bengal."[16]

In February 1782, news having reached the headquarters of the EIC in Calcutta of the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, Hastings proposed despatching a mission to Tibet with a message of congratulation designed to strengthen the amicable relations established by Bogle during his earlier visit. With the assent of the EIC Court of Directors, Samuel Turner was appointed chief of the Tibet mission on 9 January 1783 with fellow EIC employee and amateur artist Samuel Davis as "Draftsman & Surveyor".[17] Turner returned to the Governor-General's camp at Patna in 1784 where he reported that although unable to visit the Tibetan capital at Lhasa, he had received a promise that merchants sent to the country from India would be encouraged.[18]

Turner was also instructed to obtain a pair of yaks on his travels, which he duly did. They were transported to Hasting's menagerie in Calcutta and on the Governor-General's return to England, the yaks went too, although only the male survived the difficult sea voyage. Noted artist George Stubbs subsequently painted the animal's portrait as The Yak of Tartary and in 1854 it went on to appear, albeit stuffed, at The Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace in London.[19]

Hasting's return to England ended any further efforts to engage in diplomacy with Tibet.

Resignation and impeachment


The trial of Warren Hastings, 1788

Main article: Impeachment of Warren Hastings

In 1784, after ten years of service, during which he helped extend and regularise the nascent Raj created by Clive of India, Hastings resigned. He was replaced by General Charles Cornwallis, the Earl Cornwallis; Cornwallis in India served as Commander-in-Chief of British India and Governor of the Presidency of Fort William, also known as the Bengal Presidency.

Upon his return to England, Hastings was impeached in the House of Commons for crimes and misdemeanors during his time in India, especially for the alleged judicial killing of Maharaja Nandakumar. At first deemed unlikely to succeed,[20] the prosecution was managed by MPs including Edmund Burke, who was encouraged by Sir Philip Francis, whom Hastings had wounded during a duel in India,[13] Charles James Fox and Richard Brinsley Sheridan. When the charges of his indictment were read, the twenty counts took Edmund Burke two full days to read.[21]

The house sat for a total of 148 days over a period of seven years during the investigation.[22] The investigation was pursued at great cost to Hastings personally, and he complained constantly that the cost of defending himself from the prosecution was bankrupting him. He is rumoured to have once stated that the punishment given him would have been less extreme had he pleaded guilty.[23] The House of Lords finally made its decision on 24 April 1795, acquitting him on all charges.[24] The Company subsequently compensated him with 4,000 Pounds Sterling annually, retroactive to the date he returned to England, but did not reimburse Hastings' legal fees which he claimed to have been £70,000. He collected the stipend for nearly 29 years.[25][26]

Throughout the long years of the trial, Hastings lived in considerable style at his town house, Somerset House, Park Lane where he was the owner of the lease.[27] He subsequently sold the house at auction for £9,450.

Among the many who supported him in print was the pamphleteer and versifier Ralph Broome.[28] Others disturbed by the perceived injustice of the proceedings included Fanny Burney.[29]

The letters and journals of Jane Austen and her family, who knew Hastings, show that they followed the trial closely.[30]

Later life

His supporters from the Edinburgh East India Club, as well as a number of other gentlemen from India, gave a reportedly "elegant entertainment" for Hastings when he visited Edinburgh. A toast on the occasion went to the "Prosperity to our settlements in India" and wished that "the virtue and talents which preserved them be ever remembered with gratitude."[31]

In 1788 he acquired the estate at Daylesford, Gloucestershire, including the site of the medieval seat of the Hastings family at a cost of £54,000.[32] In the following years, he remodelled the mansion to the designs of Samuel Pepys Cockerell, with classical and Indian decoration, and gardens landscaped by John Davenport. He also rebuilt the Norman church in 1816, where he was buried two years later.

In 1801 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.[33]

In spite of the substantial compensation he had received from the East India Company, Hastings was technically insolvent at the time of his death because of excessive spending.[34]

Hastings's administrative ethos and legacy


Hastings painted by Johann Zoffany, 1783–1784.


Hastings in the late 18th century, as painted by Lemuel Francis Abbott.


His simple memorial in Daylesford churchyard

During the final quarter of the 18th century, many of the Company's senior administrators realised that, in order to govern Indian society, it was essential that they learn its various religious, social, and legal customs and precedents. The importance of such knowledge to the colonial government was clearly in Hastings's mind when, in 1784, he remarked:

Every accumulation of knowledge and especially such as is obtained by social communication with people over whom we exercise dominion founded on the right of conquest, is useful to the state ... it attracts and conciliates distant affections; it lessens the weight of the chain by which the natives are held in subjection; and it imprints on the hearts of our countrymen the sense of obligation and benevolence... Every instance which brings their real character ... home to observation will impress us with a more generous sense of feeling for their natural rights, and teach us to estimate them by the measure of our own. But such instances can only be obtained in their writings: and these will survive when the British dominion in India shall have long ceased to exist, and when the sources which once yielded of wealth and power are lost to remembrance.[35]

Under Hastings's term as governor-general, a great deal of administrative precedent was set which profoundly shaped later attitudes towards the government of British India. Hastings had a great respect for the ancient scripture of Hinduism and set the British position on governance as one of looking back to the earliest precedents possible. This allowed Brahmin advisors to mould the law, because no English person thoroughly understood Sanskrit until Sir William Jones, and, even then, a literal translation was of little use; it needed to be elucidated by religious commentators who were well-versed in the lore and application. This approach accentuated the Hindu caste system and to an extent the frameworks of other religions, which had, at least in recent centuries, been somewhat more flexibly applied. Thus, British influence on the fluid social structure of India can in large part be characterised as a solidification of the privileges of the Hindu caste system through the influence of the exclusively high-caste scholars by whom the British were advised in the formation of their laws.

In 1781, Hastings founded Madrasa 'Aliya at Calcutta; in 2007, it was transformed into Aliah University by the Government of West Bengal.[citation needed] In 1784, Hastings supported the foundation of the Bengal Asiatic Society, now the Asiatic Society of Bengal, by the oriental scholar Sir William Jones; it became a storehouse for information and data on the subcontinent and has existed in various institutional guises up to the present day.[36] Hastings' legacy has been somewhat dualistic as an Indian administrator: he undoubtedly was able to institute reforms during the time he spent as governor there that would change the path that India would follow over the next several years. He did, however, retain the strange distinction of being both the "architect of British India and the one ruler of British India to whom the creation of such an entity was anathema."[37]

Legacy

The city of Hastings, New Zealand and the Melbourne outer suburb of Hastings, Victoria, Australia were both named after him.

"Hastings" is the name of one of the 4 School Houses in La Martiniere for Boys, Calcutta and La Martiniere for Girls Kolkata. It is represented by the colour red.

"Hastings" is also the name of one of the 4 School Houses in Bishop Westcott Boys' School, Ranchi. It is also represented by the colour red.

"Hastings" is a Senior Wing House at St Paul's School, Darjeeling, India, where all the senior wing houses are named after Anglo-Indian colonial figures.

There is also a road in Kolkata, India, named after him.

RIMS "Warren Hastings" was a Royal Indian Marine troopship built by the Barrow Shipbuilding Company. She was launched on 18 April 1893. The ship struck a rock and was wrecked off the coast of Réunion on the night of 14 January 1897.

Literature

Warren Hastings took keen interest in translating the Bhagavad Gita into English, and as a result of his efforts the first English translation appeared in 1785. Warren Hastings wrote the introduction to the English translation of the Bhagavad Gita, which was translated by Charles Wilkins, 4 October 1784, from Benares.[38]

"Warren Hastings and His Bull" is a short story written by Indian writer Uday Prakash. It was adapted for stage under the same name by the director Arvind Gaur. It is a socio-economic political satire that presents Warren Hastings's interaction with traditional India.

In the collection of short stories by the Hindi author Shivprasad Singh 'Rudra' Kashikeya, called "Bahti Ganga," there is a lovely short story that features the then Raja of Banaras and Warren Hastings in conflict. Hastings is imprisoned by the Raja, but escapes, and ordinary people of the city make fun of him.

Hastings' career is discussed at length in the historical fiction mystery novel, Secrets in the Stones, by Tessa Harris.[39]

See also

• Company rule in India
• Mughal Empire
• Shah Alam II

References

1. Bengal Public Consultations February 12, 1785. No. 2. Letter from Warren Hastings, 8th February, formally declaring his resignation of the office of Governor General.
2. Lyall, Sir Alfred (1920). Warren Hastings. London: Macmillan and Co. p. 1.
3. Biographical Illustrations of Worcestershire: Including Lives of Persons, Natives or Residents eminent either for piety or talent, John Chambers, Wm. Walcott, 1820, pp. 486–87.
4. Turnbull, Patrick. Warren Hastings. New English Library, 1975. p.17.
5. Turnbull pp. 17–18
6. Turnbull pp. 19–21
7. Turnbull p. 23.
8. Turnbull pp. 27–28
9. Turnbull pp. 34–35
10. Turnbull pp. 36–40
11. Turnbull p. 36.
12. Turnbull p. 52.
13. Wolpert, Stanley (2004) [First published 1977]. A New History of India (7th ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 190. ISBN 978-0-19-516677-4.
14. The Earl of Birkenhead, Famous Trials of History (Garden City: Garden City Publishing Company, 1926) p. 165
15. Minahan, James B. (2002). Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: Ethnic and National Groups Around the World A-Z. ABC-CLIO. p. 1556. ISBN 978-0-313-07696-1.
16. Younghusband 1910, pp. 5–7.
17. Davis, Samuel; Aris, Michael (1982). Views of Medieval Bhutan: the diary and drawings of Samuel Davis, 1783. Serindia. p. 31.
18. Younghusband 1910, p. 27.
19. Harris, Clare (2012). The Museum on the Roof of the World: Art, Politics, and the Representation of Tibet. University of Chicago Press. pp. 30–33. ISBN 978-0-226-31747-2.
20. Macaulay, Thomas Babington. "Warren Hastings (1841), an essay by Thomas Babington Macaulay." Columbia University in the City of New York. (accessed 20 May 2009).
21. The Earl of Birkenhead, Famous Trials of History (Garden City: Garden City Publishing Company, 1926) 170
22. Sir Alfred Lyall, Warren Hastings (London: Macmillan and Co, 1920) 218
23. The Earl of Birkenhead, Famous Trials of History (Garden City: Garden City Publishing Company, 1926) 173
24. Political Trials in History by Ron Christenson, p. 178-179, ISBN 0-88738-406-4
25. https://www.amdigital.co.uk/about/blog/ ... n-hastings, ‘The captain-general of iniquity’: The impeachment of Warren Hastings
26. https://books.google.ca/books?id=G-wOz1 ... 0.&f=false, The British Country House in the Eighteenth Century, page 10
27. 'Park Lane', in Survey of London: volume 40: The Grosvenor Estate in Mayfair, Part 2 (The Buildings) (1980), pp. 264–289, accessed 15 November 2010
28. In: Letters of Simkin the Second to his dear brother in Wales, containing a humble description of the trial of Warren Hastings, Esq. (1788) Letters of Simpkin the Second, Poetic Recorder, of all the proceedings upon the Trial of Warren Hastings (1789), and An Elucidation of the Articles of Impeachment preferred by the last Parliament against Warren Hastings, Esq., later Governor of Bengal (1790).
29. The Journals and Letters of Fanny Burney (Madame d'Arblay) I. 1791–1792, p. 115 ff.
30. https://austenised.blogspot.com/2011/07 ... tions.html, Jane Austen’s Colonial Connections
31. Gilbert, W.M., editor, Edinburgh in the Nineteenth Century, Edinburgh, 1901: 44
32. https://books.google.ca/books?id=G-wOz1 ... 0.&f=false, The British Country House in the Eighteenth Century, page10
33. "Fellows details". Royal Society. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
34. https://www.amdigital.co.uk/about/blog/ ... n-hastings, ‘The captain-general of iniquity’: The impeachment of Warren Hastings
35. Cohn, Bernard S (1997). Colonialism and its forms of knowledge: The British in India. Oxford University Press. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-19-564167-7.
36. Keay, John (2000). India: A History. Grove Press. p. 426. ISBN 0-8021-3797-0. Not the least of Warren Hastings' achievements had been the foundation in 1784 of the Bengal Asiatic Society which, under the presidency of [Sir William] Jones, became a veritable clearing-house for intellectual data about India.
37. Keay, John (1991). The Honourable Company. New York: Macmillan. p. 394.
38. Garrett, John; Wilhelm, Humboldt, eds. (1849). The Bhagavat-Geeta, Or, Dialogues of Krishna and Arjoon in Eighteen Lectures. Bangalore: Wesleyan Mission Press. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
39. https://books.google.ca/books?id=IZCmCQ ... 20&f=false, excerpt from Secrets in the Stones, Postscript

Bibliography

• Davies, Alfred Mervyn. Strange destiny: a biography of Warren Hastings (1935)
• Ghosh, Suresh Chandra. The Social Condition of the British Community in Bengal: 1757–1800 (Brill, 1970)
• Feiling, Keith, Warren Hastings (1954)
• Lawson, Philip. The East India Company: A History (Routledge, 2014)
• Marshall, P.J., The impeachment of Warren Hastings (1965)
• Marshall, P. J. "Hastings, Warren (1732–1818)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004); online edn, Oct 2008 accessed 11 Nov 2014
• Moon, Penderel. Warren Hastings and British India (Macmillan, 1949)
• Turnbull, Patrick. Warren Hastings. (New English Library, 1975)
• Younghusband, Francis (1910). India and Tibet: a history of the relations which have subsisted between the two countries from the time of Warren Hastings to 1910; with a particular account of the mission to Lhasa of 1904. London: John Murray.

Primary sources

• Forrest, G.W., ed. Selections from the State Papers of the Governors-General of India: Warren Hastings (2 vols.), Blackwell's, Oxford (1910)

External links

• "Warren Hastings" an essay by Thomas Babington Macaulay (October 1841)
• Warren Hastings at Project Gutenberg (within Critical and Historical Essays (Macaulay))
• Warren Hastings public domain audiobook at LibriVox
• House of Warren Hastings in Calcutta
• Newspaper clippings about Warren Hastings in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW