INTRODUCTION

JOHN CAREY HALL never acquired the fame of some of his contemporaries in the Japan consular service. Yet he was one of the early student interpreters and was among the longest serving members of the service, holding senior positions at all the main posts. He was particularly attached to Kobe, but ended his career as consul-general in Yokohama. He qualified in Japanese, was called to the Bar and did important legal work at various stages in his career.

EARLY CAREER

Like many of the China and Japan consular services, Hall was from Ireland. He was born in Coleraine on 22 January 1844, and was one of five brothers. In family memory, he was Presbyterian and a ‘moderate Irish nationalist’. He attended Coleraine Academical Institute and then studied at Queen's College Belfast. Applying to the Foreign Office (FO) in August 1867 for a student interpreter post, he wrote that he ‘held a scholarship in each year of [his] undergraduate course, [was] a senior scholar in Ancient Classics and at the last annual examination, had graduated with first class honours in the same subject…’ Hall passed and asked to go to Japan, about which he claimed to know as much as the study of books in English would allow. All the Japan slots were filled, but one of those selected withdrew and Hall took the place. Japan would be his home for forty-six years

He arrived early in 1868. He later recalled that the ship had briefly anchored off the port of Hyogo, where the new foreign settlement at Kobe was in the process of being established. On arrival in Tokyo, he settled down under the guidance of Ernest Satow, the Japanese Secretary, on a salary of £200 a year. Hall was somewhat handicapped by physical problems. A fall while a student left him partially deaf and he grew deafer as the years went by. His eyesight was poor and also deteriorated over the years.

Yet he seems to have made a good start. He applied himself to language study. Then as a junior assistant, he served as acting vice-consul at Tokyo, and become involved in legal work. As early as 1870, he was seconded to the Japanese commission established to devise a new scheme for prisons.