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Chapter 13: Professor Johnston (1930–1935)
- Hong Kong University Press, HKU
- Chapter
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Johnston had always hoped that when he left Weihai he would have the opportunity to visit Cherry Glen one last time, but his wish was not granted. Instead, from Shanghai he immediately joined the Empress of Japan, which reached Britain at the end of November. He had two pressing reasons to return without delay. The first was that Eileen Power had agreed to marry him; the second was that he had decided to apply for the Chair of Chinese at the School of Oriental Studies in London. This post had first been proposed to him in 1928. Two years later, he was rather surprised to receive a letter from one of the governors of the university, ‘asking if I would be willing to consider the question of taking the Chair of Chinese’.1 Johnston decided he ‘should be very glad to allow my name to be considered’, mindful that he was due to leave Weihai three months later.2 Stewart Lockhart, who was still on the governing body, sent him all the information about the appointment. The criterion for the appointment—‘a good knowledge of colloquial Mandarin is essential’—was one he could easily fulfil, and the salary of£1000 a year would be a useful addition to his pension.3 Johnston arrived in London in the final week of November. Within days, he was writing that ‘I don’t know how long I shall be here but I am already homesick for China’.4 The mood quickly left him, however. By December, he and Eileen Power had announced their engagement and he had bought her a ring. They planned to marry quickly, in January 1931. However, from the outset their relationship was not a happy one. Johnston found a house to rent in Richmond, on the outskirts of London, and furnished it with his many items of Chinese furniture. He also purchased items of modern furniture by the rising young designer, Betty Joel. Joel, one of the most fashionable young British designers in 1930s London, was a rather strange choice for Johnston. But until her marriage, she had been Mary Stewart Lockhart. Eileen Power found Johnston’s catholic taste in furnishings all too much: ‘She was horrified … to find a hodgepodge of tasteless fittings and decorations with Chapter 13 Professor Johnston (1930–1935) 226 Scottish Mandarin mixtures of modern furnishings and priceless Chinese curtains and artefacts given him by the emperor.’5 It was not the best start to their engagement. Things did not improve in 1931. Johnston changed his mind more than once about a date for the wedding, and Eileen began to have her own second thoughts about their union. In the spring of 1931, Johnston paid scant attention to his fiancée as he travelled up and down the country seeing friends he had not met for years. He was still uncertain as to whether he would get the London post, and made no secret of the fact that, if it fell through, he would almost certainly leave Britain. This was hardly the kind of news Eileen Power wanted to hear, with her own demanding and prestigious career. Eventually, in the summer of 1931, they postponed the wedding. A year later, the engagement was dissolved by Eileen. There were no hard feelings on either side; they continued to remain close friends. Perhaps they both realised that it was never a match made in heaven. Johnston was too used to running his own life. The only surprise is that Eileen took so long to break it off. Johnston heralded the start of 1931 by applying for the Chair of Chinese at the University of London, including a bibliography with his application. He included most of the articles he had written, but perhaps not surprisingly omitted all mention of the two books which had perhaps caused the greatest debate: A Chinese Appeal Concerning Christian Missions and Letters to a Missionary.6 With that task out of the way, he settled into a busy life in London. Invitations to give lectures were accepted with alacrity. He talked to the Royal Geographical Society and to the Central Asiatic Society about Weihai. He read papers at meetings of the Royal Asiatic Society. He saw a great deal of Stewart Lockhart and his family, and continued his on-off relationship with Eileen. He gradually began to unpack his possessions and install them in the house at Richmond. As ever, his library posed the greatest problems. He admitted that it would ‘be some...