Shows layout of the British Legation in the Siege of 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion. Depicts barricades and defensive lines as well as the enemy attack works. Covers the Legation quarter in Beijing concentrating on the area of the British Legation, with the boundaries of the Russian Legation to the South, the Japanese Legation to the West and the Han-Lin Great Library to the North. The Su Wang Fu residence is depicted as well. Scale 1:960. This is the first and largest official map of Beijing's British Legation to illustrate the events of the Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901) and the siege of the Legation quarter. The map is the product of on-site surveys and post-siege interviews conducted by British Engineer Henry Edward Colvin Cowie. When the Boxer Rebellion laid siege to the Beijing Legation Quarter (Dong Jiaomin Xiang / 東江米巷), Cowie was drafted from his civilian position with the Indian Public Works Department and sent to Beijing as part of the Bombay Sappers and Miners contingent of the China Relief Expedition. The map was printed on site and bears the Bo. S. and M. (Bombay Sapper's and Miners) imprint, suggesting it was printed with field lithography equipment carried with the Relief Expedition. Scale statement on map given as "80 feet to 1 inch." "Litho. Bo. S & M." [i.e. Bombay Sappers and Miners]. Lithograph signatures of both Lieutenant H. E. C. Cowie and his superior, Lieutenant Colonel George Kenneth Scott-Moncrieff, appear in the lower right.
Signed in manuscript by Captain Francis Garden Poole (1870-1950). Poole was in charge of the civilian volunteer combat force during the Siege. Acquired with another map, Defense of Foreign Legations, Peking, China, June 20th to Aug. 14th, 1900 (call number 647412), which is unsigned. It appears that both maps share the Poole provenance. Purchased by the Library Collectors' Council from Geographicus Rare Antique Maps, January 19, 2019.
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