Hugh Hamilton Lindsay

Hugh Hamilton Lindsay (1802–1881) was a businessman with especial interest in China, perhaps the first Briton to visit Shanghai. The son of the Hon. Hugh Lindsay, a director of the East India Company and Jane Gordon, Lindsay went to China in 1820 and was a supercargo for the East India Company. He was the company's Secretary in Canton in 1830. Lindsay led a clandestine reconnaissance of Chinese ports in 1832 along with a Lutheran missionary Karl Gützlaff. Both speaking good Chinese, they visited Amoy, Fuzhou, Ningbo, Shanghai and the Shandong coast throughout the six-month expedition He was also vociferous supporter of war against Qing China to advance business interests. He was the Conservative M.P. for Sandwich from 1841 to 1847.