William Tarrant

William Tarrant (died 26 January 1872; ) was a civil servant and newspaper editor in British Hong Kong. He served as Inspector of Land and Roads and subsequently Registrar of Deeds in the Hong Kong colonial administration from 1842 to 1847, but was removed from office and barred from public service owing to allegations he had raised against Colonial Secretary William Caine, which an internal government inquiry held to be fabricated. Tarrant then began a new career in journalism, purchasing the Friend of China newspaper in 1850. He became prominently involved in a scandal involving multiple senior government officers, the Caldwell affair, in 1857, and was ultimately found guilty of libel and imprisoned in 1859. He left the colony after his release in 1860, and made two attempts over the course of the 1860s to restart the Friend of China in Guangzhou and Shanghai, each proving abortive. Finally, he sold the paper in 1869 and retired to England, where he died in 1872.

Early life and civil service career

A man of "humble" origin, Tarrant first arrived in China as a ship steward in 1837, before the cession of Hong Kong in 1841, and spent the next four years as a sailor in East Asia. Upon the transfer of Hong Kong to British control, Tarrant was employed by the new colonial administration as Inspector of Land and Roads in 1842. He is particularly associated in this capacity with the construction of Wong Nai Chung Gap Road. Tarrant's health suffered from working outside in the Hong Kong climate, however, and the Surveyor General, his superior, reshuffled him to the post of Registrar of Deeds, charged with the preparation of land leases. An inquiry by the Chief Magistrate and the Acting Attorney and Solicitor General found Tarrant's charge baseless—Tarrant himself claimed that he had delayed reporting the crime by eight or nine months—and accused Tarrant of conspiring to injure Caine's reputation. He was suspended from his position as Registrar of Deeds.

With the arrival of a new governor, George Bonham, in 1848, Tarrant hoped he could re-enter public service and accordingly petitioned Bonham for a government post. Despite support for Tarrant from Earl Grey, the incumbent Secretary of State for the Colonies in London who considered him to be a victim of political persecution, the governor declined his request on the pretext that no position was available, and wrote privately that "from what he had heard", he judged Tarrant personally unsuitable for such a career.

Ah Lum and Caldwell affairs

In 1857, Tarrant became involved in a series of notable political scandals. In the first case, the so-called Ah Lum affair, Cheung Ah-lum, the proprietor of the Esing Bakery, was accused of plotting to poison European residents of the colony. Despite Cheung's acquittal in court, Tarrant sued him for damages and was awarded HK$1,010. Cheung left Hong Kong, and Tarrant accused William Thomas Bridges, the acting Colonial Secretary, of abetting his escape. Bridges sued Tarrant for libel, the latter being ordered to pay £100 .

Later that year, Tarrant turned his attention to another scandal, the Caldwell affair. As editor of the Friend of China, he helped to publicise allegations that Daniel Richard Caldwell, the Registrar General, had been collaborating with members of the Chinese criminal underworld, including the pirate Ma-chow Wong. The government conducted an inquiry into Caldwell in 1858, in the course of which Tarrant further alleged that, in a "damnable trick", Acting Secretary Bridges had ordered Wong's potentially incriminating account books to be burned to protect Caldwell.

Departure from Hong Kong

The end of Tarrant's career in Hong Kong came when he was sued once again for libel in September 1859, this time by his old enemy William Caine, now Lieutenant-Governor, against whom Tarrant had waged what was by then a twelve-year public vendetta. He was found guilty, and was fined £50 and sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment. The Friend of China suspended publication, and without this source of income Tarrant himself faced financial ruin. Tarrant was confined in debtors' prison for another four months while members of the public once again raised the necessary sum.

Once he regained his liberty on 4 August 1860, Tarrant left Hong Kong for Canton (Guangzhou), where he restarted the publication of the Friend of China. Publication was suspended again the following year, and in 1862 Tarrant moved with the newspaper to Shanghai, where it appeared from 1864 to 1869. In 1869, he finally sold the Friend of China, and returned to London in poor health in 1870.