beijing

A remarkable image from the collection of George Ernest (Chinese) Morrison (1862-1920), journalist, traveller and political adviser to the Chinese government, born on 4 February 1862 at Newtown, Geelong, Victoria, eldest son of George Morrison and his wife Rebecca, née Greenwood.
In 1900 Morrison, as The Times of London special correspondent, wrote the last terse and reliable reports before the Boxer siege of the foreign legations and the first full account after it. He also proved his physical courage, being severely wounded while rescuing another defender. His own newspaper, accepting a Daily Mail report of the massacre of all Europeans in Peking, published on 17 July three lengthy obituaries, bracketing Morrison with the British minister, Sir Claude MacDonald, and the head of the Imperial Customs Service, Sir Robert Hart. All three in fact survived. Morrison was praised as 'in every way a striking personality, essentially modest and unassuming, yet at the same time resolute and virile' who had sent reports which 'savoured of genius'.
adb.anu.edu.au/biography/morrison-george-ernest-chinese-7663

Some items are described as 'Photographs taken by William Meyrick Hewlett during the siege of Peking'.

From the Trove article:
'Hewlett was pre-destined to the service of Britain in China from childhood. When at Harrow, for he come from an English family which could afford to send its sons to "the school upon the hill," young Hewlett chose the Modern Side and began preparation for a student interpretership in China, Japan, Siam or some other centre in the East in which ferment and diplomatic trouble were unceasing.'
Great Friend of China (1943, November 30). North-Eastern Advertiser (Scottsdale, Tas. : 1909 - 1954), p. 1. Retrieved March 30, 2026, from nla.gov.au/nla.news-article151477259

The Nordenfelt gun was a multiple-barrel organ gun that had a row of up to twelve barrels. It was fired by pulling a lever back and forth and ammunition was gravity fed through chutes for each barrel. It was produced in a number of different calibres up to 25 mm (0.98 in). Larger calibres were also used, but for these calibres the design simply permitted rapid manual loading rather than true automatic fire.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordenfelt_gun

He would have been a crew member of the USS South Dakota (renamed USS Huron on 27 October 1919). www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5229890 "She served in the Asiatic Fleet [from 1919 to 1926], operating in Philippine waters during the winter and out of Shanghai and Chefoo during the summer." (Source: Wikipedia) The film, The Sand Pebbles takes place in 1926 and is about US Navy ships in China www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q916287

Well, I didn't know about this. What an amazing panorama.

Exceptional.

Congrats on Explore! ⭐ November 7, 2024

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