Living Manchester University Press Studies in Imperialism- Living in the shadow of empire

Drawing on a range of public and private sources, including multiple micro-histories, the book examines how the wives of China consular officials shaped, and were shaped by, the treaty port world, and how, despite facing significant challenges, they helped forge and sustain the British presence and connections across the British world.

Drawing on a wide range of public and private sources, including multiple micro-histories, this book examines how the wives of China consular officials shaped, and were shaped by, the treaty port world. Building on scholarship about women in empire and Britain in China, Hillier shows that these women played a significant role in forging and legitimising Britain's presence in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
These contributions occurred on three distinct levels. In the public sphere, they acted as incorporated wives, carrying out a range of duties, as well as supporting their husbands in their multiple roles. On an intimate level, they were responsible for setting up and managing the consular household, providing exemplars of Western familial practices and maintaining relationships with local Chinese people. And, on a wider level, they forged networks of information and support that linked the treaty port world and beyond.
Overlooked by the Foreign Office and marginalised in the literature, these women nonetheless became influential actors in their own right. This study brings their experiences to light, demonstrating their importance in consolidating Britain’s semi-imperial presence from the opening of the first treaty ports in 1843 to the Siege of the Legations in 1900, when Sino-British relations entered a new phase.

Through multiple stories of courage and determination, never previously explored, the book shows how, in the masculineworld of treaty port China, the wives of consular officials forged and sustained the British presence, despite facing significant challenges and being systematically ignored by the Foreign Office. It goes on to show how through family connection, correspondenceand travel, they extended the British world by building networks linking the metropole to treaty port China and passing on their experiences on to the next generation.Focussing on a category of women who, until now, have been ignored, it demonstrates how such lives can be drawn out of the shadows to present a new and important aspect of Britain’s imperial project.