Stirling Fessenden
| Stirling Fessenden | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council | |
|
In office 12 October 1923 – 5 March 1929 |
|
| Preceded by | H.G. Simms |
| Succeeded by | Harry Edward Arnhold |
| Secretary General of the Shanghai Municipal Council | |
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In office 6 March 1929 – 30 June 1939 |
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| Preceded by | New position |
| Succeeded by | G. Godfrey Philips |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
September 29, 1875 Fort Fairfield, Maine, United States |
| Died |
February 1, 1944 (aged 68) Shanghai |
| Profession | lawyer |
Stirling Fessenden (29 September 1875 – 1 February 1944) was an American lawyer who practised in Shanghai. He was the chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council from 1923 to 1929 and then Secretary-General of the Council from 1929 to 1939.
Stirling Fessenden was born September 29, 1875 in Fort Fairfield, Maine, United States. The son of Nicholas Fessenden, Judge and later Secretary of State of Maine, and Laura Stirling, he came from a prominent New England family which included Samuel Fessenden, a Massachusetts state senator and US Treasury Secretary William P. Fessenden.
In 1896, he graduated from Bowdoin College with a B.A.. Bowdoin College, in 1932, awarded him an honorary LLD.
Fessenden came to Shanghai in April 1903 to work as a sub-manager with the American Trading Company. In 1905, he commenced practicing law in partnership with Mr Thomas R. Jernigan. In 1907, he was admitted to practice in the newly established United States Court for China. He and Jernigan, were, initially, the only American lawyers to pass the strict bar exam introduced by the new judge, Lebbeus Wilfley. Later he formed a partnership with Major Chauncy Holcomb in the firm of Fessenden & Holcomb. He served as Chairman of the Far Eastern Bar Association in Shanghai for many years.
In 1920, Fessenden was elected a member of Shanghai Municipal Council Board of Trustees and in October 1923 he became chairman of the Municipal Council.
Following the outspring on violence in Shanghai from 1925, he re-organized the Shanghai Volunteer Corps. He created the American Mercantile Company, mostly dealing with Shanghai real-estate in 1925 along with Harry Virden Bernard.
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