INTRODUCTION

Britain's Japan Consular Service was not designed to operate outside Japan. Its members were trained for work there, with emphasis on acquiring the language and knowledge of the country, its people and its customs. Three factors changed this. In times of need, the availability of trained and capable staff was a great temptation. Second, promotion was always slow. Finally, with the spread of Japanese influence and the establishment of an empire, it made sense to send members of the consular service to these new places.

KOREA

The first use of staff in Korea arose from Sir Harry Parkes’ interest in Korea that began when he was Minister in Japan from 1865 to 1883. Parkes’ concern was strategic: to keep Korea out of Russian hands. To this end, in the 1870s, he campaigned for the occupation of Komundo (Port Hamilton), a group of islands off Korea's southern coast. This was at variance with the Foreign Office view of Britain's interests in East Asia and Parkes was told that Her Majesty's Government were not in the habit of appropriating other country's territory. Meanwhile, two members his staff, Ernest Satow and W.G.Aston, began studying Korean from the late 1870s because of its links with Japanese, but also providing Parkes with a solid understanding of Korea.

Vice-Admiral Willis negotiated Britain's first treaty with Korea in 1882. Aston accompanied him but Willis appears to have paid little attention to his adviser. The result was a treaty generally deemed unsatisfactory. It was abandoned, and under Parkes’ guidance, a new treaty was negotiated in 1883. To effect this, Aston, with Walter Hillier and C.T. Maude from China, went to Korea in 1883. As well as treaty negotiations, Aston leased the land on which the British Embassy still stands. In November 1883, Parkes, now Minister at Beijing, arrived to finalize and sign the new treaty.

Parkes (and the Treasury) felt there was no need to establish a diplomatic presence in Korea. The minister in Beijing would be sideaccredited, an arrangement that lasted until the late 1890s. However, there was a need for a consular establishment since British merchants were already arriving, and Parkes proposed Aston as consul general. The Treasury would only agree to temporary appointments. Other staff came from China.

Aston's appointment did not last long.