Hugh Fraser

Hugh Fraser (February 22, 1837 – June 4, 1894) was a British diplomat.[1]

Fraser headed the British Legation in Tokyo as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary.[2] He headed the British delegation in the final stages of the negotiations which led to the signing on July 16, 1894 of the revised treaty (called the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation) between the United Kingdom and the Empire of Japan. This replaced the 'unequal treaty' signed by James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin in 1858 and led to the abolition of extraterritoriality in Japan in 1899. Thus was Japan freed from the semi-colonial status imposed by the unequal treaties signed with foreign countries.

Contents

   * 1 Life and career

   * 2 Death in Japan

         o 2.1 Gravesite

   * 3 Selected works

   * 4 See also

   * 5 Notes

   * 6 References

   * 7 External links

Life and career

Fraser came from the Balnain (Inverness) branch of Clan Fraser, Scotland.

He was born on 22 February 1837, and sent to Eton College from 1849 to 1854. He was appointed to the British legation in Central America in September 1862.

Fraser later served in Stockholm, Beijing and Rome. In 1874, he met and married Mary Crawford in Italy. She is better known than her husband for her book A Diplomatist's Wife in Japan: Letters from Home to Home. [edit] Death in Japan The grave of Hugh Fraser at Aoyama, Tokyo with the notice of removal and reburial

Fraser died aged 57 in his post at Tokyo and was buried on June 6, 1894 in the foreigners' section of the municipal cemetery at Aoyama in central Tokyo. The coffin was carried out of the British Legation at 3.00 pm, and reached St. Andrew's Church at 4.00 pm. Many mourners passed the coffin, including Japanese government ministers and all the Foreign Representatives.

The ceremony was arranged by Josiah Conder, the British architect. Obituaries were published in The Japan Weekly Mail and the Nichi Nichi Shinbun, a semi-official Japanese newspaper. The latter stated: "The singularly just and impartial views taken by him on all occasions were erroneously supposed...to be unwarrantably friendly to Japan....In private life, he was kind, modest, and reserved, winning the respect and love of everybody, both Japanese and foreign, that came into close contact with him. A man of firm resolution, he was never moved from the path of duty by the clamours of his nationals in the settlements."

Gravesite

Many of the graves at the Aoyama cemetery, including Fraser's, are currently (2005) under threat of removal and reburial elsewhere for non-payment of maintenance fees. The deadline was the end of September 2005. Other famous persons buried in the foreign section include Captain Francis Brinkley, Guido Verbeck, Henry Spencer Palmer, Edoardo Chiossone, Joseph Heco and Edwin Dun.

The Foreign Section Trust has recently been formed to campaign to preserve the foreign part of the cemetery.[3] Reports from the Asahi Shimbun, October 20, 2005 appear to indicate that the graves are no longer under threat. Selected works

In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Hugh Fraser, OCLC/WorldCat encompasses roughly 8 works in 10+ publications in 1 language and 200+ library holdings.[4]

   This is an incomplete list, which may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

   * The Queen's Peril (1912)

   * Seven Years on the Pacific Slope (1914)

   * The Bale-fire (1914)

See also

   * List of Ambassadors from the United Kingdom to Japan

   * Anglo-Japanese relations

   * Foreign cemeteries in Japan

Notes

  1. ^ Ian Nish. (2004). British Envoys in Japan 1859-1972, pp. 63-71.

  2. ^ The first British Ambassador to Japan was appointed in 1905. Before 1905, the senior British diplomat had different titles: (a) Consul-General and Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, which is a rank just below Ambassador.

  3. ^ Aoyama Cemetery, Foreign Section Trust

  4. ^ WorldCat Identities: Fraser, Hugh C.

References

   * Ian Nish. (2004). British Envoys in Japan 1859-1972. Folkestone, Kent: Global Oriental. 10-ISBN 1901903516/13-ISBN 9781901903515; OCLC 249167170

External links

   * UK in Japan, Chronology of Heads of Mission

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