Sir George Staunton, 2nd Baronet

Sir George Thomas Staunton ( born May 26, 1781 Salisbury, † August 10 1859 in London) was a British traveler, diplomat and politician.

Staunton escorted from 1792 to 1794 his father George Leonard Staunton ( 1737-1801 ) to China, where he adopted good Chinese language skills, then studied at Cambridge and in 1799 at the trading post of the British East India Company in Canton, first as secretary, then as President of the Committee of Faktorei employed. In 1805 he translated a publication of Doctor George Pearson into Chinese and made it known vaccination in China. 1810 published the first translation of a Chinese book into English, the great law book of the Qing Dynasty, The Fundamental Laws of China.

When in 1816 Lord Amherst was sent as an envoy to China, accompanied him Staunton as royal commissioner and made in the negotiations with the Chinese government important services. In 1817 he left China and has been since 1818 with few interruptions deputy various British communities in the British Parliament, most recently for Portsmouth. Staunton retired in 1852 back from political life.

1823 Staunton founded together with Henry Thomas Colebrooke the Royal Asiatic Society. From 1829 to 1856 he was a member of the Society of Dilettanti in London.

George Thomas Staunton died on 10 August 1859 in London.

Publications

• The fundamental laws of China. London 1810 translation of the Chinese Criminal Code ' into English.
• Narrative of the Chinese embassy to the Khan of the Tartars Tourgouth in the years 1712, 1713, 1714, and 1715. London ( 1822).
• Miscellaneous notices Relating to China and the British commercial intercourse with country did. London ( 1822).