Boxer , Charles Ralph , 1904-2000 , Professor of History

Born 8 March 1904; educated Wellington College and Royal Military College, Sandhurst; commissioned Lincolnshire Regt, 1923; language officer, interpreter and intelligence officer, travelling in Japan, China, Dutch East Indies, Manchuria and Korea, 1930-1939; served World War Two, 1939-1945 (wounded, POW in Japanese hands, 1941-1945); married Emily Hahn, 1945; retired from Army with rank of Major, 1947; appointed Camões Professor of Portuguese, King's College London, 1947-1951; Professor of the History of the Far East, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1951-1953; re-appointed Camões Professor, 1953-1967; elected Fellow of the British Academy 1957; Trustee of the National Maritime Museum, 1961-1968; Fellow of King's College London, 1967; Emeritus Professor of Portuguese, University of London, 1968; Professor of the History of Expansion of Europe Overseas, Yale, 1969-1972; Visiting Research Professor, Indiana University, 1967-1979; Emeritus Professor of History, Yale, 1972; Honorary Fellow, SOAS, 1974; Foreign Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences, 1976; Honorary doctorates of the Universities of Utrecht (1950), Lisbon (1952), Bahia (1959), Liverpool (1966), Hong Kong (1971), Peradeniya (1980); Gold Medal, Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro, 1986; Order of Santiago da Espada (Portugal, 1990); Grand Cross of the Order of the Infante Dom Henrique (Portugal); Kt Order of St Gregory the Great, 1969; died 27 April 2000.

Publications: (selection of principal works only), The commentaries of Ruy Freyre de Andrade (Routledge, London, 1930); The journal of Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp, Anno 1639 (Cambridge University Press, London, 1930); A true description of the mighty kingdoms of Japan and Siam (Argonaut Press, London, 1935); Jan Compagnie in Japan, 1600-1817 (M Nijhoff, The Hague, 1936); Fidalgos in the Far East, 1550-1770, (M Nijhoff, The Hague, 1948); The Christian century in Japan, 1549-1640 (University of California, Berkeley, 1951); Salvador Correia de Sá and the struggle for Brazil and Angola (Athlone Press, London, 1952); South China in the 16th Century (Hakluyt Society, London, 1953); The Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654 (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1957); The tragic history of the sea, 1589-1622 (Hakluyt Society/Cambridge University Press, London/Cambridge, 1959); The great ship from Amacon (CEHU, Lisbon, 1959); Fort Jesus and the Portuguese in Mombasa (Hollis and Carter, London, 1960); The golden age of Brazil, 1695-1750 (University of California, Berkeley, 1962); Race Relations in the Portuguese Colonial Empire, 1415-1825 (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1963); The Dutch seaborne Empire, 1600-1800 (Hutchinson, London, 1965); Portuguese Society in the Tropics (University of Wisconsin Press, London, 1966); Further selections from the tragic history of the sea, (Hakluyt Society/Cambridge University Press, London/Cambridge, 1969); The Portuguese seaborne empire, 1415-1825, (Hutchinson, London, 1969); Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 17th Century (National Maritime Museum, London, 1974); Mary and Misogyny (Duckworth, London, 1975); A descriptive list of the State Papers Portugal, 1661-1780, in the Public Record Office 3 vols (ACL/British Academy, Lisbon/London, 1979, 1983); João de Barros: Portuguese humanist and historian of Asia (Concept, New Delhi, 1981); From Lisbon to Goa 1500-1750 (Variorum reprints, London, 1984); Portuguese Conquest and Commerce in Southern Asia 1500-1750 (Variorum reprints, London, 1985); Portuguese Merchants and Missionaries in Feudal Japan 1543-1640 (Variorum reprints, London, 1986); Dutch Merchants and Mariners in Asia 1602-1795 (Variorum reprints, London, 1988).