Edward St. John Neale

Neale, who had been stationed in Beijing from 1860 as Secretary of the Legation following the settlement of the Second Opium War,[1] was transferred to Japan in March 1862, when Rutherford Alcock went home on leave.

Following the murder of Charles Lennox Richardson in September 1862, Neale exercised great caution in his response to the Japanese authorities, earning the furious opprobrium of the Western community in Yokohama, who called for immediate retribution.

[3] Neale was extremely vocal when the Bakufu, under pressure from the Emperor, was finally forced to issue a declaration promulgating the end of relations with foreigners.

[7] Neale received a mixed but ultimately complimentary review in the 2004 book by Cortazzi on the relations between Japan and Great Britain: "My impression is that he was a conscientious man who gave almost all his attention to his work.

He had no previous knowledge of Japan and did not know the language, thus often probably failing to realise all the complexities of translating from Japanese, with its tendency to use vague expressions, via Dutch into English.

Edward St John Neale, British Chargé d'Affaires in Japan in 1864
Lieutenant-Colonel Neale in 1863
Franco-Anglo-Japanese conference on the French ship Sémiramis , 2 July 1863, following the Namamugi incident
Forefront: French interpreter Blekman, Japanese interpreter.
Background (from left to right): Three Japanese governors of Yokohama , Duchesne de Bellecourt , Daimyō Sakai-Hida-no-Kami, Colonel Neale (British representative in Japan), Admiral Jaurès , Admiral Kuper
Colonel Neale led the Bombardment of Kagoshima , on board the flagship Euralyus in August 1863.