The Staunton Collection

George Staunton (1781-1859)

George Thomas Staunton was born on May 26th 1781, son of Sir George Leonard Staunton (1737-1801) of Clydagh, Co. Galway. On his father's death he inherited the title of baronet.

Sir George Leonard Staunton was appointed Secretary to the first British embassy to China, led by Lord Macartney, that left England in 1792 and returned in 1794. On his return, Staunton produced the official account of embassy, An Authentic Account of An Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China (London : G. Nicol, 1797).

Staunton took his young son with him on the embassy, serving as page boy to Lord Macartney. On the voyage out to China, the young George Staunton studied the Chinese language under the tutorship of the embassy's two Chinese interpreters. When the embassy arrived at the Chinese court, and Lord Macartney was presented to the Qianlong Emperor, the emperor enquired whether any of the foreigners could speak Chinese, and on being informed that the page boy had gained some proficiency in the language, young Staunton was called forward for an interview with the emperor. The emperor was so pleased with the young man, that he took an embroidered purse from his girdle, and gave it to him as a token of his favour.

The young Staunton completed his education at Trinity College Cambridge, and then went to work for the East India Company in Canton.

In 1817 he returned to England, and settled in Hampshire, where he bought the estate of Leigh Park. From 1818 to 1854 he sat as a member of parliament for various south Hampshire constituencies.

He died in London on 10th August 1859.

The Staunton Collection

Staunton donated his collection of Chinese books to the library of King's College in 1853.

Staunton's books were presumably transferred to SOAS, along with the other works in Oriental and African languages held by KCL, after the Great War. However, the books would seem to have been integrated into the main Chinese collection, and are not now readily identifiable.

Fortunately, a manuscript catalogue of the collection was made when the books were presented to KCL (perhaps made by Staunton himself). This brief catalogue in seven pages, entitled "Catalogue of Chinese printed Books & Manuscripts Presented to the Library of King's College by Sir George Staunton January 1853", was bound into the back of the 1827 printed catalogue of the Marsden Collection (SOAS callmark EC82.114). Arranged into the following ten subject areas, the catalogue lists a total of seventy-four books.