Maze, Sir Frederick

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0102 PP MS 2
Held at	: School of Oriental and African Studies   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.soas.ac.uk/Archives/home.html ›
Full title	: Maze, Sir Frederick
Date(s)	: Created 1882-1943
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 63 volumes
Name of creator(s)	: Maze | Sir | Frederick | 1874-1959 | Knight | Inspector-General of Chinese Maritime Customs

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Frederick Maze was born in Belfast. He was educated at Wesley College, Dublin, and privately. He entered the Chinese Maritime Customs in 1891, at the close of Sir Robert Hart's regime. In 1899 he was made Acting Audit Secretary at the Inspectorate General in Peking and the following year became Acting Commissioner at Ichang. In 1901 he became Deputy Commissioner firstly at Foochow and then from 1902-1904 in Canton. He opened the Custom House at Kongmoon, West River in 1904, and was subsequently Commissioner in Tengyueh (Burma Frontier) 1906-1908, Canton (1911-1915), Tientsin (1915-1920), Hankow (1921-1925) and Shanghai (1925-1929). In 1928 he was appointed by the Chinese Government to be Deputy Inspector-General of Customs, serving as Inspector-General from 1929-1943, a period of great upheaval in Chinese politics. He continued to run the service when the Japanese occupied in 1937 but after Pearl Harbour he was interned. On his release he went to Chungking where a temporary base for the Customs had been established, but after a few months he resigned and returned to England. Other positions included his appointment by the Chinese Government as Advisor to the National Board of Reconstruction in 1928, and his membership of the Loans Sinking Fund from 1932. He was married to Laura Gwendoline. He died on 25 March 1959.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers, 1882-1943, of Sir Frederick Maze, including personal and semi-official letters, letter-books, reports and circulars, relating to his work with the Chinese Maritime Customs.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

The papers are arranged into three main groups, and into categories within the groups. Group I: confidential letters and reports (1900-1943); confidential letters (1882-1923 and 1940-1941); miscellaneous correspondence (1929-1930); letter-books (1900-1905). Group II: semi-official letters (1904-1928); semi-official circulars (1911-1913). Group III: Inspector General's personal correspondence (1937-1941); Inspector General's personal correspondence with non-resident Secretary in London (1939-1940); Inspector General's personal correspondence with British Embassy (1938-1940). Within these groups, material is arranged chronologically.

Conditions governing access:

Unrestricted.

Conditions governing reproduction:

No publication without written permission. Apply to archivist in the first instance.

Finding aids:

Published guide: Papers Relating to the Chinese Maritime Customs 1860-1943 (SOAS, 1973).

Archival Information

Archival history:

Formerly MS 285232.

Immediate source of acquisition:

Donated in 1959.

Allied Materials

Related material:

See published guide: Papers Relating to the Chinese Maritime Customs 1860-1943 (SOAS, 1973). In addition to papers of Sir Frederick Maze, these include the papers of George H Fitzroy (Ref: MS 258361); Sir Robert Hart and his correspondence with James Duncan Campbell (Ref: MS 191931); Edward Charles Macintosh Bowra and Cecil Arthur Verner Bowra (Ref: MS 201813); and Sir Francis Arthur Aglen (Ref: MS 211355).

Memoirs and papers of Sir Frederick Maze are held at the National Maritime Museum, Manuscripts Section (Ref: MS79/165). Correspondence, 1929-1941, of Sir Frederick Maze is held at the Science Museum Library, London (Ref: MS 2084).

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:

Date(s) of descriptions:
15 May 2000