Battle of Canton (1857)

Battle of Canton
Part of the Second Opium War
British and French bombardment, 28 December
Date 28–31 December 1857 Location Canton, Guangdong, China Coordinates: 23°07′35″N 113°15′29″E / 23.1265°N 113.258°E / 23.1265; 113.258 Result Franco-British victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom  France	Qing China
Commanders and leaders
Michael Seymour Charles van Straubenzee Charles Rigault de Genouilly	Ye Mingchen (POW)
Strength
5,679	30,000
Casualties and losses
15 killed 113 wounded	200–650 casualties (est.)

The Battle of Canton was fought by British and French forces against China on 28–31 December 1857 during the Second Opium War. The British High Commissioner, Lord Elgin, was keen to take the city of Canton (Guangzhou) as a demonstration of power and to capture Chinese official Ye Mingchen who had resisted British attempts to implement the 1842 Treaty of Nanking. Elgin ordered an Anglo-French force to take the town and an assault began on 28 December. Allied forces took control of the city walls on 29 December but delayed entry into the city itself until 5 January. They subsequently captured Ye and some reports state they burnt down much of the town. The ease with which the allies won the battle was one of the reasons for the signing of the Treaty of Tientsin in 1858.

The British had been permitted access to Canton (Guangzhou) at the end of the First Opium War under the terms of the 1842 Treaty of Nanking, but were being illegally barred from entry by its viceroy Ye Mingchen. In 1856, there had been a series of attacks on the Thirteen Factories and its residences, culminating with their complete destruction by fire. This and the seizure of a foreign ship led the British to assemble a force to demand reparations. Although the British Royal Navy had destroyed the Chinese junks during the summer, an attack on Canton was delayed by the Indian Mutiny. On 12 December 1857 the British High Commissioner to China, Lord Elgin, wrote to Ye demanding that he implement in full the trade and access agreements made in the 1842 Treaty of Nanking that ended the First Opium War and that he pay reparations for British losses in the war so far. Elgin promised that if Ye agreed within ten days then British and French forces would cease offensive actions, though they would retain possession of key forts until a new peace treaty was signed.

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