2nd China War

2nd China War
1856-60
Chronological list of Wars and Campaigns
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Location: China
Combatants:
East India Company	China
Result: British and French victory
Medals: 2nd China War Medal Clasps: Fatshan 1857, Canton 1857, Taku Forts 1858, Taku Forts 1860, Pekin 1860
Links:
Category: 2nd China War
Phases: First Campaign 1856
Second Campaign 1860

	See our interactive map of 2nd China War First Campaign 1856 locations and routes on Google Maps

	See our interactive map of 2nd China War Second Campaign 1860 locations and routes on Google Maps

Also known as the 2nd Opium War, the 2nd Anglo-Chinese War and The Arrow War.

Summary

In the 1850s the Western Powers sought to renegotiate their commercial treaties with China. The British wanted the opening of all China to merchants, legalization of the opium trade and exemption of import tariffs. The Qing Government refused and relations deteriorated when a Hong Kong vessel was boarded by the Chinese and there was an attempt to poison Europeans in Hong Kong. The French were drawn in following the execution of a missionary and the Russians and Americans also made representations. In the First Campaign British and French forces captured Canton and then took the Taku Forts outside Tianjin. There was a temporary end to hostilities in June 1858 with the Treaty of Tianjin which gave extensive rights to the Western Powers.

The Qing Government rejected the treaty and this led to a Second Campaign. In June 1859 Anglo-French forces tried unsuccessfully to take the Taku Forts. In the summer of 1860 a larger Anglo-French force from Shanghai landed north of Tianjin which they captured. The Battle of Pa-li-chao in September defeated the Chinese finally and the Summer Palace in Peking was destroyed. The Convention of Peking ratified the Treaty of Tianjin, the opium trade was legalized, China was opened to western merchants and Britain and France were paid a huge indemnity.

Biographies

Entries in the Dictionary of Indian Biography 1906:
Lord Elgin (1811-1863)
James Hope Grant (1808-1875)
Robert Napier (1810-1890)

Medals

Also see Medals and Medal Rolls

• The Second China War Medal northeastmedals.co.uk
• Details of the 3 volume China Medal Roll 1856-60 by K.J. Asplin Savannah Publications London 2004 from The Asplin Military History Resources. Includes Royal Navy including Indian Marine (Volume 1), British Army (Volume 2), and selected despatches of the Royal Navy and British Army during their presence in China during the years 1856-60 (Volume 3).

External Links

• Opium Wars Wikipedia
  
• 2nd Opium War 1856-60 Wikipedia
  
• Queen's Dragoon Guards in China 1860 www.qdg.org.uk
• Telegraph at War 1854–1868 (distantwriting.co.uk) Scroll down to "After the Crimea" which includes a short section on the field telegraph in China which followed the headquarters of the advancing expedition many miles inland from the port of Canton
• The 67th Regiment of Foot (South Hampshire) in China – 1860 Blog by Phil Curme 17 August 2013 walkingthebattlefields.com
• The Taku Forts, China Blog by Phil Curme 18 May 2013 regarding a recent visit. walkingthebattlefields.com
• Letters of forgotten VC winner found. 27 February 2008 The Telegraph. Retrieved 23 August 2014. Brevet Captain Robert Shebbeare won his medal during the infamous siege of Delhi in September 1857. Afterwards he put together a Sikh regiment, the 15th Punjab [Pioneers], which later saw action in China. Includes photograph with officers of his 15th Punjab regiment, "taken by Mr Beato in the British camp at Talien Hwan, Manchuria, on either 10 or 11 July 1860".

Historical books online

• Papers relating to the Opium Trade in China, 1842-1856 presented to the House of Commons by command of Her Majesty, 1857 Archive.org
  
• Papers Relating to the Proceedings Of Her Majesty's Naval Forces st Canton with Appendix Presented to both Houses of Parliament 1857. Catalogued by Google Books as Papers relating to the China war, 1856-58 Google Books
  
• China: being "The Times" special correspondence from China in the years 1857-58 George Wingrove Cooke 1858 Google Books
  
• Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission to China and Japan in the years 1857, '58, '59. Volume I, Volume II by Laurence Oliphant, Private Secretary to Lord Elgin. 1859 Archive.org
• Map: the operations against the Taku Forts August 1860 from A History of the British Army by Sir John William Fortescue. Maps and Plans for Volume 13. Archive.org
• The British Arms in North China and Japan: Peking 1860; Kagosima 1862 
by D.F. Rennie MD, Senior Medical Officer of the Force in the North of China 1864 Google Books
• Incidents in the China War of 1860: compiled from the private journals of General Sir Hope Grant Henry Knollys 1875 (archive.org)
  
• Narrative of the North China Campaign of 1860 by Robert Swinhoe of HM’s Consular Service in China, Staff Interpreter during the Campaign to H E Sir Hope Grant 1861 Google Books
• The Arrow War with China Charles Leavenworth 1901 (archive.org)
  
• China War 1860 Letters and Journal by Maj-Gen G Allgood 1901 (archive.org)
  
• 'China Jim', Incidents and Adventures in the Life of an Indian Mutiny Veteran by Major General J T Harris 1912 Archive.org. He joined the Bengal Army in 1849. He probably retired c late 1870s. He took part in the 2nd Burma War, the Indian Mutiny and the 2nd China War.
• Frontier and Overseas Expeditions from India Vol VI Intelligence Branch Army HQ India 1911

Events in China from 1842-60 page 400

Scene of Operations 1860 page 413. Archive.org

• Minutes of Proceedings of the Royal Artillery Institution Volume 2 1861 The Royal Artillery at Canton 1857 Google Books
  
• History of the Corps of Royal Engineers Vol I by Maj-Gen Whitworth Porter 1889 The China War 1857-60 archive.org
  
• China despatches page 2656 Bulletins and other State Intelligence, 1860 Part 2 (published 1864), originally from The London Gazette 1860 Google Books
  
• The Second China War page 91, The Royal Navy: a History from the Earliest Times to the Present, Volume VII by Wm. Laird Clowes 1903 Archive.org
  
• The Indian Navy and the Expedition to China in 1860, page 528 History of the Indian Navy (1613-1863) Volume 2 by Charles Rathbone Low 1877 Archive.org
  
• From Calcutta to Pekin: being notes taken from the journal of an officer between those places by John Hart Dunne, Captain 99th Regiment 1861 Google Books
• China War, 1860: Letters and Journal by Major-General G. Allgood 1901 Archive.org. With Illustrations and Plans
  
• Narrative of the War with China in 1860: to which is added the account of a short residence with the Tai-ping rebels at Nankin and a voyage from thence to Hankow by Lieut-Colonel G J Wolseley 1862 Google Books
  
• "China War 1859-1860" page 61, Recollections of a Life in the British Army during the latter half of the 19th Century by Gen. Sir Richard Harrison, Royal Engineers 1908 Archive.org
  
• "Medical History of the War in the North of China" by W M Muir, Principal Medical Officer of the Expeditionary Army , page 375 Army Medical Department: Statistical Sanitary and Medical Reports for the year 1860 (published 1862) Google Books
  
• "The Foreign Stations of the Army: China", page 289 Army Medical Department: Statistical Sanitary and Medical Reports for the year 1860 (published 1862) Google Books
• "Notes on the operations around Shanghai in 1862-63-64" by Lieut Colonel C G Gordon R E, page 109 Papers on subjects connected with the duties of the Corps of Royal Engineers Volume 19 1871 Google Books