josshouse

As it happened: www.diomedia.com/public/;jsessionid=B274CB94F3FECA52F26EE...

The picture seems somewhat at odds with the description:

Chapoo

The aim at Chapoo was to destroy the Chinese arsenal before the fleet sailed up the Yangtse. 300 Tartars took refuge in a stone building and laid a trap for the British. They made it very dark inside and difficult to penetrate so that soldiers entering could be shot before they became accustomed to the gloom. The 18th hesitated to go in and decided to wait for the artillery, but when men of the 49th realised what was going on they made comments that stung the CO, Lieut-Colonel Nick Tomlinson. He immediately organised a detail of men to follow him in and face whatever danger they found. The result was the death of Tomlinson, a sergeant and 3 men. Thirty others were wounded. The building was eventually torched and most of the Tartars who wore cotton padded uniforms, burned to death.

www.britishempire.co.uk/forces/armyunits/britishinfantry/...

The confrontation at Chapu gave the British a martyred officer: a Lieutenant-Colonel Tomlinson, who died instantly after being struck in the neck by a bullet. (Total British losses at Chapu were 10 killed and fifty wounded, against five to six hundred Chinese dead.) Tomlinson’s fatal encounter occurred near a “joss house”—a building in which an eclectic mixture of saints and deities was venerated—that became remembered for various reasons in subsequent war stories

ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/opium_wars_01/ow1_essay03...

Off to work in the stacks for the morning. When I get back, will we have stories for Vavasour, Hammall, Wilson, Swinburn, as well as Lieut-Col. Tomlinson?? :)

K=L=A=X=O=N=! There's controversy about this memorial (or is it another China War Memorial?) . See this open letter to the Church - www.indymedia.ie/article/75277?search_text=irish%20soldie...

I believe that the term "Joss" has been found to be a derogatory term.

Marjorie Earl When describing historic images in our collection we use descriptive information that might accompany the photograph, as in this case as well as more contemporary subject headings. The term "Joss" does now have deragatory overtones, but it was the term in common usage at the time this photograph was taken, when joss houses were part of the architecture and culture of the Chinese community in Queensland. Our catalogue records also reflect the term "Chinese Temple" which we have added as a tag to this record. Thanks for your comment.