The civil war in China (1850–64), also named as the Taiping Rebellion, erupted northward from Guangxi to the Yangtze. During the height of the uprising, French and British forces chose to aid the Qing government to fight with the Taipings. This image relates to an assault on the rebel-held city of Fungwha (Fenghua) in October 1862. This assault involved a British Naval Brigade with 3000 men of the Imperial Chinese Army and 500 men of a Franco-Chinese naval force. This drawing shows these forces landing at Fangchow (Fangqiao). It is signed ‘SES’ in the bottom left.

A print after the drawing was published in the Illustrated London News on 7 February 1863 (p.136). According to the accompanying report (p. 150), ‘A.D. McArthur, Esq. of her Majesty’s ship Encounter, at Ningbo, has courteously placed at our disposal some sketches in connection with the expedition to Fangchow Bridge’. McArthur was a paymaster in the Royal Navy.

This drawing is part of a set of seven drawings showing scenes from the Taiping Rebellion, all of which were engraved in the Illustrated London News. The set was given to the museum in October 1964 in memory of Margaret Maxwell Wood, step-daughter of Captain Alexander Douglas, who was reportedly present at the actions and owned the drawings. They were originally miscatalogued as drawings of the Second Opium War. For the full set, see PAI0719, PAI0720, PAI0721, PAI0722, PAI0723, PAI0724 and PAI0725.