From Belfast To Peking 1866 1869

This is a collection of fifty-eight letters, written by an interpreter attached to the British legation in Peking, to his family between 7 January 1866 and 27 March 1869. The author was a man in his early twenties, the son of the Revd John Scott Porter, minister of the First Presbyterian Church in Rosemary Street, Belfast, a non-subscribing Presbyterian or Unitarian congregation. Written in the very early days of Western intrusion into China, the letters (which also cover Porter's journey east) comment on many of the events which had significance for the future as well as revealing the daily life and social activities of this first generation of ex-patriots. The manuscript transcription (now the property of Mr John Donnellan) of the letters was made by a member of his family after Porter's early death.