Lot Essay
John Robert Morrison was born in Macao in 1814, the son of Robert Morrison (1782-1834), the first Protestant missionary to China, and first translator of the Bible into Chinese. In 1830 John Robert Morrison went to Canton and became translator to the English merchants. He published 'The Chinese Commercial Guide' in 1833. He succeeded his father as Chinese Secretary and interpreter under the new system adapted by the British Government after the withdrawal of the East India Company's charter. During the diplomatic troubles which led to war between England and China in 1839, all the official correspondence of the British Government with the Chinese authorities passed through Morrison's hands. During the campaigns of 1840-42 he was attached to the British forces and when peace was made, and Hong Kong was ceded to England, Morrison became a member of the legislative and executive council and officiating colonial secretary to the Hong Kong government. He died of malaria in Hong Kong in 1843. The English plenipotentiary there, Sir Henry Pottinger, decribed his death as 'a positive national calamity'.