Albert Heard

Albert Farley Heard (October 4, 1833 – March 26, 1890) was an American banker and diplomat who was the second-ranked member on the founding committee of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC).[1] He was the son of Elizabeth Ann Farley and George Washington Heard, brother of Augustine Heard. After graduating from Yale University, he went to China to assist his uncle in business and ultimately succeed him in heading the management of his trading firm, Augustine Heard & Co.

Albert Farley Heard, photo by Gustave Le Gray.

Career in China

Heard was born on October 4, 1833 in Ipswich, Massachusetts[2] and graduated from Yale University in 1853,[3] having submitted his thesis on the late medieval philosopher and reformer John Huss.[4] Thereafter he travelled to Canton (now known as Guangzhou), China to join the family firm of Augustine Heard & Co.[5] becoming a partner in 1856[6] and later managing partner. During his tenure as head of the firm, Heard fought off serious competition in the Yangtze River steamer trade from rival American firm Russell & Company.[7]

Along with the three other Shanghai businessmen, R.C. Antrobus, James Whittal and Henry Dent, in 1860 Heard purchased 40 mu (about 24,000 square metres (260,000 sq ft)) of land within the Shanghai Race Club for cricket and other sports.[8] He also later served as the Russian consul general in the city,[9] and as the representative of the Chinese government in Russia.[5] In 1887, he published The Russian church and Russian dissent, comprising orthodoxy, dissent, and erratic sects, covering multiple aspects of Russian orthodoxy.[10] In 1857, during the Second Opium War, Heard traveled from Shanghai to Hong Kong aboard the steamer Antelope.[5] Outside of business, Heard is known to have owned a collection of pictures by the early photographer Felice Beato.[11]

Return to the US

Heard left China in May 1873, having first conveyed a parcel of land at the corner of Aberdeen and Staunton Streets in Hong Kong to his "protected" Chinese woman,[A] Lam Kew-fong.[12] Back in America, Heard married Mary Allen Livingstone.[13] He died on March 26 1890 in Washington, D.C.[2]

Notes
  1. ^
    Defined as "a woman acquired by and living with a foreigner"[14]

References
  1. Liu Shiping (2010). 汇丰帝国 [The HSBC Financial Empire] (in Chinese). Citic Publishing. pp. 18–19. ISBN 978-7-5086-2035-0.
  2. Yale University (1880). Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University ... Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Alumni. p. 582.
  3. "Heard, Elizabeth, 1802–1865. Elizabeth Heard Papers, 1829–1864: A Finding Aid". OASIS, Harvard University. 2011. Archived from the original on June 5, 2014. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  4. University, Yale (1853). Order of Exercises, Yale College, July 23, 1853. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
  5. Albert Farley Heard. "Poisoning by Wholesale: A Reminiscence of China Life" (PDF). Stanford University. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
  6. "After the Opium War: Treaty Ports and Compradores". Historical Collections Exhibit, Harvard Business School. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  7. Kwang-Ching Liu (June 1955). "Administering a Steam-Navigation Company in China, 1862–1867". The Business History Review. Harvard College. 29 (2): 157–188. JSTOR 3111385.
  8. "A Short History of Shanghai". Institute of Chinese History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. 4 March 2007. Archived from the original on 15 July 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
  9. "China Directory 1862" (PDF). Hong Kong: A. Shortrede & Co. 1862. p. 45. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
  10. Albert Farley Heard (1887). "The Russian church and Russian dissent, comprising orthodoxy, dissent, and erratic sects". New York: Harper & Brothers. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
  11. David Harris; Felice Beato (1999). Of battle and beauty: Felice Beato's photographs of China. Santa Barbara Museum of Art. p. 132. ISBN 9780899511016.
  12. Helen F. Siu (2010). Merchants' Daughters: Women, Commerce, and Regional Culture in South China. Hong Kong University Press. p. 135. ISBN 978-988-8083-48-0.
  13. "Heard, Albert Farley, 1833-1890". Social Archive at the University of Virginia. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
  14. Jaschok, Maria; Miers, Suzanne (July 1996). "Women & Chinese Patriarchy: Submission, Servitude and Escape". The China Journal. 36 (36): 232–234. doi:10.2307/2950419. JSTOR 2950419.
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