[6] Most legation officials spent their time between Peking, Nanking (the official capital of China since 1928) and Shanghai, which was made even more difficult by the Japanese war with China from 1937; Ambassador Sir Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen was shot and injured when Japanese aircraft strafed his car as he travelled to Shanghai from Nanking in August 1937.

Interned by the Japanese for eight months, in mid 1942 George was repatriated aboard the Kamakura Maru to Lorenco Marques (now Maputo) and then returned to London.

[10] George was later appointed as Consul-General to the US states of Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and Rhode Island, resident in Boston in August 1943.

[11] George, who had never fully recovered from amoebic dysentery contracted during his internment in Shanghai, was continually suffering poor health and went on a visit to Baltimore, Maryland, in January 1944 before planning to return to London on sick leave.

There can be no doubt that his act was a direct result of depression arising from his experiences in Shanghai where, as British consul general, he went through the first eight months of the hostilities with Japan.