Son of Arthur Manico Gull and Clara Richards, born 1883
Married Mary Beatrix Bulstrode (née Nunns) between 1914 and 1915
Working for the Chinese Maritime Customs Service in 1913, he joined up with Beatrix Bulstrode for a trip across Mongolia. They later married.
Secretary between at least 1932 and 1942 of the China Association representing British business interests in far eastern trade5.
In 1931 published "Facets of the Chinese Question" and in 1943 "British economic interests in the Far East"
1 The next thing that happened was that one afternoon at the British Legation, forty-eight hours only after my return from the north, I met Mr. Edward Manico Gull, then of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service, who, like myself, undeterred by the question of risks, was keenly desirous of crossing the Gobi and of visiting Urga with a view of learning at first hand something of the political conditions which led up to the rebellion of Mongolia against Chinese rule. A few days later he propounded the very practical suggestion that it would be decidedly economical, and, what was of far greater importance, very much safer, if we joined forces in order to make the attempt. Plans then grew apace. Mr. Gull left for Kalgan almost immediately, and spent a weary fortnight in making strenuous efforts to secure first camels, and then a Mongol to accompany us as guide.
A tour of Mongolia, published 1920 http://www.oldandsold.com/articles38/mongolia-7.shtml apparently carried out in 1913
2 Facets of the Chinese Question Gull, E. Manico 1931
3 Type of Material: None Author(s): Gull, E. M. (Edward Manico), 1883- Title: British economic interests in the Far East. Published: New York : International Secretariat, Institute of Pacific Relations, 1943. Description 272 p.
4 Wrote a number of letters to Dr. George Ernest Morrison (1862-1920), Times Correspondent in Peking and Political Adviser to the Chinese President between 1911 and 1920
5 Various references, e.g.
"A meeting was held at the DOT in
September which included the usual China worthies. (Including Crowe, Sir Charles
Addis, Arthur Balfour, Robert Waley Cohen, Hughes, E.M. Gull
(secretary of the China Association) Stanley Dodwell and Pratt: "Minutes of a
Meeting Held at the Department of Overseas Trade in 13th September 1932 to
Discuss Anglo-Chinese Relations"
http://rose.bris.ac.uk/dspace/bitstream/1983/904/1/Changing%20Shanghai's%20mind.pdf
Delegate to Quebec Conference 1942
E. M. Gull was formerly in the Chinese customs service and was secretary, ... Shanghai British Chamber of Commerce and to the China Association in London. ... (Reference in review of British Economic Interests in the Far East by E. M. Gull)
When in 1935 E. M. Gull, speaking on behalf of the
China Association, presented Song Ziwen with a list of complaints, Song
advised him " not to take any ... (Imperialism
in Transition: British Business and the Chinese Authorities, 1931-37
Jurgen OsterhammelThe China Quarterly, No. 98 (Jun., 1984), pp. 260-286
This article consists of 27 page(s).)
6 Not found in 1901 census.
7 Back to the front
The heroic contribution made by Chinese labourers in the first world war has
been largely forgotten, writes Mark O'Neill
BEHIND THE NEWS
Oct 08, 2007
A bronze plaque on the wall of a Paris railway building and a modest monument in
a small park are the only reminders of a remarkable but forgotten story of the
first world war - 150,000 Chinese volunteers who cleared mines, removed the dead
and made munitions, and became the first wave of Chinese to settle in Europe.
"In memory of Chinese workers and fighters who died for France in the Great
War", reads the inscription on the park monument, in Chinese and French. It pays
tribute to up to 10,000 workers killed by German bombing raids, disease,
accidents and mine explosions.
Each year, on Ching Ming festival, the Chinese community in Paris leaves
wreathes at the monument and the plaque, and at cemeteries in northern France
where the men are buried.
The park is in the centre of the 13th district of Paris, the Chinatown that was
born when several thousands of the workers decided to remain in France after the
Great War, forming the first Chinese community in Europe. The community today
numbers more than 500,000, according to official figures, and may be double that
if illegals are included.
The bustling district is home to thousands of Chinese-owned factories, trading
companies, shops and restaurants, whose number swelled with the arrival of the
thousands of Chinese refugees from Indochina after the communist conquest of
Vietnam in 1975. Among the biggest businesses is a giant supermarket owned by
the Tang brothers, who arrived from Thailand in the 1970s and whose president,
Chen Ke-guang, is an advocate of official recognition of the workers. Mr Chen is
the secretary-general of the Association for the Advancement of Chinese in
France.
"The history of the workers had been forgotten," said an official of the
association. "The community pushed for recognition but nothing happened until
1988. I don't know the reason for the change, from the city or central
governments. They put up the plaque [in 1988] and gave awards to two of the
workers who were still alive."
Many Chinese residents, especially recent arrivals, are unaware of the history
of their wartime compatriots.
Philippe Liang, 83, is a native of Xiamen who later moved to Vietnam and then
France, and works in an association for the Chinese from Indochina. "When I
arrived in France in the 1940s, there was racism against Chinese but not now,
when it is directed against blacks and Arabs. The status of Chinese is rising.
Some have very substantial businesses," he said.
While the early arrivals kept a low profile and emphasised their Frenchness, the
Chinese of today have a confidence and self-belief that comes from economic
success and integration into mainstream society and the growth and prosperity of
their homeland.
It was a different reality in 1916, when the British and French governments
conceived the idea of recruiting Chinese workers. The death in battle of their
men on a scale no-one had ever imagined had left them seriously short of labour.
The two governments conducted discreet negotiations with China, then neutral in
the war. Beijing favoured the plan because it believed the workers would learn
skills useful for the country's modernisation and would give it a stronger hand
at the negotiating table at the end of the war.
Those under British command would join the Chinese Labour Corps (CLC) and be
subject to British military rule. Non-combatant, they would build and repair
docks, roads, airfields, railways, man ports and railheads, stores and
ammunition depots, dig trenches, remove the dead, clear mines and work in
factories.
Once agreement was reached, the governments used public notices and missionaries
to spread the news of the CLC, offering a five-year contract, a level of pay
much higher than at home, and free food, clothing and housing.
They would receive one franc (at that time equivalent to US$19.30) for a 10-hour
day, half that of a British private, while their families would receive 10
Mexican dollars (US$5.40) per month.
The first French-bound contingent, of 1,700, arrived in France on August 1916
and the first British-bound contingent, of 1,000, arrived in Plymouth in April
1917, before being sent to France. They were accompanied by missionaries and
Chinese-speaking officers.
In total, 100,000 Chinese went to work for the British, 35,000 for the French,
and 10,000 for the Americans. The majority were farmers and city workers from
Shandong and Hebei provinces. The CLC formed the largest contingent of foreign
workers employed by the Allies during the war, outnumbering the Indians, black
South Africans, Egyptians and West Indians.
They were sent to camps near the front. One of the largest was in the northern
French town of Noyelles-sur-Mer, close to a military base.
The biggest risk came not from carrying the dead and wounded from the front,
because both sides observed a truce while this was being done, but German air
raids. Others died because of long-range bombardments, accidents involving
unstable shells and explosives, and disease.
The French housed their volunteers in camps across the country, putting them to
work in munitions, metallurgy and chemical factories and on construction sites.
Chinese labour built the ferry ports of Calais and Boulogne and a sea defence
wall at Orford Ness in Suffolk, England.
Manico Gull, the British commander of the second group of CLC workers, said in
1918: "Their emigration from the shores of Shandong will take its place
certainly as one of the most important aspects of the Great European War."
According to the Allies, 3,000 Chinese died. Chinese figures put the toll at
9,000 to 10,000. They are buried in cemeteries in northern France, the largest
in Noyelles with 842 graves, maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves
Commission. Some tombstones have the name, number, date of death and native
province of the victim, but others have no name.
With the end of the war in 1918, France still needed thousands of labourers and
the Chinese stayed on to work in factories, hospitals and building sites.
Most returned home in 1919 and 1920 but 3,000 from Qingtian, outside Wenzhou ,
Zhejiang province , stayed behind. They formed the basis of the Chinese
community in France.
One who stayed was Ye Qingyuan, a native of Qingtian who volunteered at the end
of 1917. "My home village was a poor mountain village, a disaster for heaven and
man alike, where you could not make a living," he wrote in his diary. "When
Germany surrendered in November 1918, the government gave us a bonus. With my
cousin, I opened a restaurant near the Gare de Lyons. The French were very
curious and wanted to sample Chinese food. Within six months, we were run off
our feet."
By the end of 1920, he had enough money to return home, marry a local girl and
return to Paris with three brothers. They opened restaurants and shops that sold
groceries and carved stone from Qingtian. In 1985, he retired and returned,
finally, to live in his ancestral village.
In the Versailles Peace Treaty after the war, the Allies did not reward Beijing
for providing the workers and left it with terms so bad the Chinese delegation
refused to sign the document.
Lionel Vairon, a business consultant who travels often to China, said that,
after the first world war, the Chinese who stayed on concentrated on becoming
French and did not speak of the war. "They wanted to de-emphasise their
Chineseness and wanted to integrate. So, the history of the workers is little
known."
http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/ ... sight&s=Opinion