author
F. L. Hawks (Francis Lister Hawks) Pott
1864–1947
An American Episcopal missionary and educator, he spent most of his working life in Shanghai and became a central figure in the growth of St. John's University. His writing reflects both his deep involvement in China and his interest in the city's history during a time of major change.
1 Audiobook
Lessons in the Shanghai Dialect
by F. L. Hawks (Francis Lister Hawks) Pott
About the author
Born in New York City on February 22, 1864, Francis Lister Hawks Pott was educated at Columbia College and the General Theological Seminary before joining the Episcopal mission in China. He arrived in Shanghai in the 1880s and was ordained in the Episcopal Church, beginning a long career that combined religious work with education.
Pott is best known for leading St. John's College, later St. John's University in Shanghai, serving as its president from 1888 until 1941. Under his long tenure, the institution became one of the best-known Christian universities in China. He remained in Shanghai until the upheavals of the Second World War era and died in 1947.
As a writer, he is remembered for works such as A Short History of Shanghai and The Emergency in China. Those books grew out of direct experience, giving them the tone of someone who was not just observing events from afar but living through them.