John Fitzgerald Brenan


Sir John Fitzgerald Brenan KCMG, was a British diplomat in China who served as British Consul General in Shanghai in the 1930s.
Brenan was from a family of diplomats of with English and Irish heritage. He was born in 1883 in Newchwang, China. His father, Edward Vincent Brenan, worked for many years in Chinese Maritime Customs Service. His uncle Byron Brenan was also the British Consul General in Shanghai from 1899 to 1901. His brothers were also diplomats.
Brenan joined the UK Foreign Office in 1903 and transferred to China in 1905 after two years in Siam. He then served in Tianjin, Fuzhou, Beijing, Nanjing and Shanghai and other places. He qualified as a barrister in the Middle Temple in 1913. He went to Europe with Chinese Labour Corps during World War I from 1917 to 1918.
Between 1926 and 1929, he served as British Consul General in Canton. He was involved in seeking to resolve the Canton–Hong Kong strike and worked actively to improve the bilateral relations between China and Britain and China and Hong Kong. He arranged for the Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Cecil Clementi's official visit to Canton in 1928.
Between 1930 and 1937, he served as British Consul General in Shanghai. He took a position of goodwill towards China and helped mediate during the 1932 January 28 incident conflict between China and Japan. He made a knight in the same year. The British position in Shanghai was repeatedly attacked by the Japanese in the mid-thirties and not long after left the post in Shanghai, in July 1937 Japan instigated the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, marking the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War.
After returning to Britain, Brenan served as a Chinese affairs adviser to the Foreign Office. With regard to the future of Hong Kong, he proposed during World War II that Britain give up sovereignty, but his view was strongly opposed by Colonial Office, and the Foreign Office did not take his view seriously. Brenan officially retired in 1943, ending his 40-year diplomatic career. He died of illness in Royal Tunbridge Wells in 1953, at the age of 69.

English reference materials