A01=Andrew Hillier
Author_Andrew Hillier
British Empire
Category=JBSF1
Category=JPSD
Category=NHTB
Category=NHTQ
China
China consular service
consular household
Consular wives
consuls
diplomatic wives
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
familial practices
family
family networks
Foreign Office
forthcoming
imperial network
incorporated wives
informal empire
intimate empire
kinship network
scandalous lives
Siege of Legations
treaty port China
treaty port world
women's agency
Product details
- ISBN 9781526194589
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 22 Sep 2026
- Publisher: Manchester University Press
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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Through multiple stories of courage and determination, never previously explored, the book shows how, in the masculineworld of treaty port China, the wives of consular officials forged and sustained the British presence, despite facing significant challenges and being systematically ignored by the Foreign Office. It goes on to show how through family connection, correspondenceand travel, they extended the British world by building networks linking the metropole to treaty port China and passing on their experiences on to the next generation.Focussing on a category of women who, until now, have been ignored, it demonstrates how such lives can be drawn out of the shadows to present a new and important aspect of Britain’s imperial project.
Andrew Hillier is an Honorary Research Associate at the University of Bristol
