thumb|sir george thomas staunton, 2nd baronet. sir george thomas staunton, 2nd baronet (26 may 1781 &ndash; 10 august 1859) was an english traveller and orientalist. ==early life== born at milford house near salisbury, he was the son of sir george leonard staunton (1737â1801), first baronet, diplomatist and orientalist. in 1792, at the age of 12, he accompanied his father, who had been appointed secretary to lord macartney's mission to china, to the far east (1792â1794). prior to the trip the young george staunton had begun to learn chinese alongside sir john barrow, 1st baronet and for the duration was therefore given the role of page to lord macartney. during the mission his chinese proved good enough to engage in diplomatic banter and he received a personal gift from the qianlong emperor. in 1797 he spent two terms at trinity college, cambridge. ==in the employ of the east india company== in 1798 was appointed a writer in the british east india company's factory at canton (guangzhou), and subsequently its chief. during this time his knowledge of chinese increased. in 1805 he translated a work of dr george pearson into chinese, thereby introducing vaccination into china. five years later he published a translation of a significant part of the chinese legal code. in april 1803 he was elected a fellow of the royal society. in 1816 staunton proceeded as second commissioner on a special mission to beijing with lord amherst and sir henry ellis. during the mission he landed in hong kong in july, 1816. he walked from the shore of [[aberdeen, hong ko
1781_births 1859_deaths Alumni_of_Trinity_College,_Cambridge Baronets_in_the_Baronetage_of_Ireland English_orientalists Fellows_of_the_Royal_Society Members_of_the_Parliament_of_the_United_Kingdom_for_English_constituencies Members_of_the_Parliament_of_the_United_Kingdom_for_constituencies_in_Cornwall People_from_Salisbury UK_MPs_1818a20 UK_MPs_1820a26 UK_MPs_1830a31 UK_MPs_1831a32 UK_MPs_1832a35 UK_MPs_1837a41 UK_MPs_1841a47 UK_MPs_1847a52