Meadows, Thomas Taylor

Thomas Taylor Meadows (1815–1868) was a British sinologist. Born in Northern England, after studies in Chinese with Karl Friedrich Neumann at the University of Munich, he became a member of the British diplomatic corps, arriving in Hong Kong in 1842, and becoming Acting Consul in Shanghai 1859–63. His best-known work are "Desultory Notes on the Government and People of China and on the Chinese Language" and "The Chinese and their Rebellions." The latter is valued as a close account of the Taiping Rebellion. He died in north China. Historian John S. Gregory considered him both "deeply concerned for China, and a profound student of its history and culture" as well as "an agent of Western imperialism in China." His younger brother was John Armstrong Taylor Meadows.