INTRODUCTION

IT IS IN the nature of history that some figures who were prominent in their own times leave relatively little trace of their existence and, accordingly, largely disappear from the historical record. In the case of Anglo-Japanese relations in the first half of the twentieth century one such individual was the businessman Charles Sale. When he died in June 1943 at the age of seventy-five, Sale was a major figure in the City Of London. He was the chairman of the Amalgamated Metal Corporation, which he had helped to found, and, in addition, held positions in the Anglo-Caucasian Oil Company, Messrs Bessler, Waechter&Company and the Sun Insurance Company. He had also served during part of his career as the deputy governor and then the governor of the Hudson Bay Company. The centrepiece of his business interests was, though, the trading firm that his father George had established in Yokohama and London in 1880 and 1882, respectively, Messrs Sale & Company, which then, due to Charles’ talent as a businessman, metamorphosed in the early twentieth century into a merchant bank. Given that Sale was a very wealthy and well-connected man who maintained strong links with Japan throughout his life, it is no surprise to learn that he was an important figure in Anglo-Japanese relations. However, as he left behind no private papers or much correspondence with other individuals, he has slipped from view with only occasional references to his existence appearing in the literature. The same plight has also affected his son, George Sale, who from the 1920s appears to have taken over the daily running of Sale & Company. But he too played his role in Anglo-Japanese relations, especially in the dark days before war broke out in 1941.

CHARLES SALE IN JAPAN

The details of Charles Sale's early years in Japan are lost in the mists of time, but according to Britain's minister (later ambassador) to Tokyo in 1904, Sir Claude Macdonald, he first worked as a missionary before becoming a servant of Mammon. Once he found his calling, Sale's skill at business quickly led to his firm becoming an important player in Yokohama and Kobe. In 1903 his ambition led him to make two important steps. The first was to merge the business in Japan with an American trading firm, Frazar & Company, to form Sale and Frazar Ltd.