Francis Taylor Piggott

[1] In 1887, he was appointed to a three-year term as constitutional adviser to the Japanese Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi, while, in 1893, he was Secretary of Sir Charles Russell in the Bering Sea Arbitration.

The Times obituary referred to: "his energy, enthusiasm, and cultured mind" which "did much to stimulate the study of international law".

This was a rude shock to him, even though an amendment, known colloquially as ‘the Piggott Relief Ordinance’, had been made to the local pensions legislation precisely to facilitate his removal.

On losing his Hong Kong post he sought employment in Peking (Beijing), but the Foreign Office advised the Chinese government not to appoint him.

His return to Hong Kong to practise at the private bar was considered almost scandalous, and when he left for England in 1914 his passage was paid for out of the vote for the relief of destitutes.