It may not surprise you to know that travel was a pretty big deal in the 1790s and took a lot of preparation and a lot of people.
Accompanying the two Georges to China were;
Earl McCartney – leader of the expedition
Two Chinese language translators
Two Medical professionals
Two Artists: Thomas Hickey (portrait)
and William Alexander (landscape)
One Mechanic
One Metallurgist
One Watchmaker
One Mathematical Instrument Maker
Two Botanists
Five German Musicians
53 Attendants (personal entourage)
95 Military Escort
Two Tutors
700 ‘men on voyage’
The gifts for the Emperor were meant to amaze and astound – astronomical devises of the day, including a large planetarium, a telescope, and a large lens, 4 Vuliamy English made clocks and watches, musical automata, Birmingham made garden tools, Argand oil lamp.
In all these gifts amounted to the value of some £78,000.
In today’s money, that’s somewhere very close to £6 million.
In the 1790s, you could have bought any one of the following:
7,428 horses
15,600 cows
86,666 stones of wool (who knew wool was weighed in stones?)
13,708 quarters (1/4 tons) of wheat
520,000 days wages of a skilled tradesman
