Abstract
BY the death, at fifty-eight years of age, of DR. GEORGE ERNEST MORRISON, “Morrison of Peking,” as he was familiarly known, the Empire has lost a great explorer and expert in the politics of the Far East. An Australian by birth, Dr. Morrison began by explorations in that continent, New Guinea, and the South Sea Islands, his most notable exploit being his famous crossing from the Gulf of Carpentaria to Melbourne in 1882, when he marched 2043 miles on foot in 123 days. Coming to Europe, he took his degree of M.D. at Edinburgh, and wandered in the United States, Spain, and Morocco. Reaching China, he crossed to Rangoon and explored Siam. His life-work really began in 1897, when he was appointed correspondent of the Times at Peking. Here he recorded from day to day with the prescience of a statesman and the accuracy of a historian the momentous struggle which resulted from the German occupation of Kiao-chao, and he took an active part in the defence of the Peking Legations during the Boxer rising of 1900. In 1907 Dr. Morrison crossed China from Peking to Tonquin, and in 1910 he rode from Honan City to Andijan in Russian Turkestan. Two years later he resigned his post as correspondent of the Times, and became political adviser to the first President of the Chinese Republic. During his stay in Peking he collected one of the most comprehensive libraries of Chinese literature. His contributions to the study of the Far East, except his well-known book, “An Australian in China,” largely consist of newspaper articles.
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[Obituaries]. Nature 105, 431 (1920). https://doi.org/10.1038/105431a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/105431a0