Sir Harry Smith Parkes in history (1828-1885)
Link to Parkes in the anime. Sections particularly relevant to the anime are in red.
Who was Parkes?
H.S. Parkes was a British diplomat who had earlier worked in in China from 1841 to 1864. He was important as he could understand the Chinese language fairly well and thus communicate with government officials. During this period, he experienced many hardships, including being imprisoned in Peking for a while. He was extremely faithful and proud of his country and would not yield to the Chinese. At the end of his service there he was knighted by Queen Victoria, becoming Sir Parkes.
Support of an Imperial Government
He took over Sir Rutherford Alcock as the British consul in Japan from around 1865 to 1883, later becoming the British Minister to Japan. During his stay there, he supported the anti-Tokugawa Imperial rebels prior to the fall of the Shogunate in 1867, in contrast to the French powers who supported the Tokugawa cause. This was probably more because a government unified under the Emperor offered a better alternative to the highly divided and faltering Shogunate government, whom with he had previously dealt with in demanding another trading port to be opened at Hyogo, Kobe. He even managed to stop foreign powers from interfering in the issue of Edo being taken over until Katsu Kaishuu's negotiations concluded.
Eventually the rebels won and Parkes was supportive of the new Meiji government that emerged, and managed to push his country's agenda at the same time by pushing for modernisation and the continuation of trade between the two countries.
Working with others
It seems, however, that he was not very liked by contemporaries from other foreign nations, possibly because of his (successful?) push to make Britain the foremost foreign power in Japan. Of course, he would be directly opposed to his French counterpart, Léon Roches, who arrived in Japan around the same time, advising and assisting the Tokugawa loyalists even until the very end in Hokkaido.
The notable Ernest Satow (Wikipedia link), a keen observer of events during the Bakumatsu, worked under Parkes as a translator.
He returned to Peking in 1882-3 and died a few years later from malarial fever.
Some links you may like to follow:
The Story of China - How a Poor Boy Made A Name by R. Van Bergen
Unbeaten Tracks in Japan - Letter II - A letter with a short interesting description of Parkes by Isabella L. Bird
Wikipedia Entry on Harry Parkes
Relationships between Bakumatsu Japan and West Europe (Japanese) - has a small section on Parkes with a comment on his personality by the novelist Shiba Ryoutarou.
If you're really interested, you can try writing in to look at letters and documents related to Parkes from the Cambridge University Library here.
Harry Smith Parkes in the anime
Return to History
Link to Parkes in the anime. Sections particularly relevant to the anime are in red.
Who was Parkes?
H.S. Parkes was a British diplomat who had earlier worked in in China from 1841 to 1864. He was important as he could understand the Chinese language fairly well and thus communicate with government officials. During this period, he experienced many hardships, including being imprisoned in Peking for a while. He was extremely faithful and proud of his country and would not yield to the Chinese. At the end of his service there he was knighted by Queen Victoria, becoming Sir Parkes.
Support of an Imperial Government
He took over Sir Rutherford Alcock as the British consul in Japan from around 1865 to 1883, later becoming the British Minister to Japan. During his stay there, he supported the anti-Tokugawa Imperial rebels prior to the fall of the Shogunate in 1867, in contrast to the French powers who supported the Tokugawa cause. This was probably more because a government unified under the Emperor offered a better alternative to the highly divided and faltering Shogunate government, whom with he had previously dealt with in demanding another trading port to be opened at Hyogo, Kobe. He even managed to stop foreign powers from interfering in the issue of Edo being taken over until Katsu Kaishuu's negotiations concluded.
Eventually the rebels won and Parkes was supportive of the new Meiji government that emerged, and managed to push his country's agenda at the same time by pushing for modernisation and the continuation of trade between the two countries.
Working with others
It seems, however, that he was not very liked by contemporaries from other foreign nations, possibly because of his (successful?) push to make Britain the foremost foreign power in Japan. Of course, he would be directly opposed to his French counterpart, Léon Roches, who arrived in Japan around the same time, advising and assisting the Tokugawa loyalists even until the very end in Hokkaido.
The notable Ernest Satow (Wikipedia link), a keen observer of events during the Bakumatsu, worked under Parkes as a translator.
He returned to Peking in 1882-3 and died a few years later from malarial fever.
Some links you may like to follow:
The Story of China - How a Poor Boy Made A Name by R. Van Bergen
Unbeaten Tracks in Japan - Letter II - A letter with a short interesting description of Parkes by Isabella L. Bird
Wikipedia Entry on Harry Parkes
Relationships between Bakumatsu Japan and West Europe (Japanese) - has a small section on Parkes with a comment on his personality by the novelist Shiba Ryoutarou.
If you're really interested, you can try writing in to look at letters and documents related to Parkes from the Cambridge University Library here.
Harry Smith Parkes in the anime
Return to History
