The British ambassador to China is the United Kingdom's foremost diplomatic representative in the People's Republic of China, and in charge of the UK's diplomatic mission in China. The ambassador's official title is His Brittanic Majesty's Ambassador to the People's Republic of China.
The UK recognized the People's Republic of China in 1950, although the PRC did not agree to the exchange of ambassadors until 1972. Prior to this, the United Kingdom had sent ministers to the Qing Empire and variously ministers and ambassadors to the Republic of China. The Embassy offices have been located in Peking (Beijing), Nanking (Nanjing), or both. Currently, the British Ambassador to China is Peter Wilson, who was appointed in August 2025, and presented his letter of credence to the President of China, Xi Jinping, on 16 January 2026.
List of heads of mission 1792–1794: George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney 1815-1817: William Pitt Amherst, 1st Earl Amherst
Envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary Imperial China (during the First Opium War)
NameTenure beginTenure endBritish MonarchChinese Emperor Sir George ElliotFebruary 1840November 1840Queen VictoriaDaoguang EmperorSir Charles ElliotNovember 184012 August 1841
Imperial China (held by the governor of Hong Kong) NameTenure beginTenure endBritish MonarchChinese EmperorSir Henry Pottinger12 August 18418 May 1844Queen VictoriaDaoguang EmperorSir John Francis Davis8 May 184418 March 1848Sir George Bonham18 March 18481853Sir John Bowring20 December 185317 April 1857Xianfeng Emperor
Imperial China NameTenure beginTenure endBritish Monarch Chinese EmperorThe Earl of Elgin18571860Queen Victoria Xianfeng EmperorSir Frederick Bruce7 November 186019 June 1864Sir Thomas Francis Wade19 June 18647 December 1865Tongzhi EmperorSir Rutherford Alcock7 December 18651 November 1869Hugh Fraser1 November 186928 November 1869Sir Thomas Francis Wade28 November 18696 November 1876Hugh Fraser6 November 187629 June 1879Guangxu EmperorSir Thomas Francis Wade29 June 187914 August 1882Thomas Grosvenor14 August 188217 September 1883Sir Harry Smith Parkes died in office28 September 188321 March 1885Sir Nicholas Roderick O'Conor (chargé d'affaires)22 March 188515 June 1886Sir John Walsham, Bt15 June 188628 September 1892William Nelthorpe Beauclerk chargé d'affaires28 September 189219 November 1892Sir Nicholas Roderick O'Conor19 November 1892September 1895William Nelthorpe Beauclerk chargé d'affairesSeptember 189524 April 1896Sir Claude Maxwell MacDonaldE. W. Edwards, 'MacDonald, Sir Claude Maxwell (1852–1915)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 , accessed 5 November 200824 April 189625 October 1900Sir Ernest Mason Satow25 October 19001906Edward VIIWalter Beaupré Townley chargé d'affaires3 December 190221 August 1903Sir John Jordan19 September 190612 March 1910William Grenfell Max-Muller12 March 191028 November 1910Xuantong Emperor
Republic of China NameTenure beginTenure endBritish MonarchChinese President Sir John Jordan28 November 19101 March 1920George VSun Yat-sen→Yuan Shikai→Li Yuanhong→Feng Guozhang→Xu ShichangSir Beilby Alston1 March 19201922Xu Shichang→Zhou Ziqi→Li YuanhongRobert Clive chargé d'affaires19221922Sir James Ronald Macleay192220 December 1926Li Yuanhong→Gao Lingwei→Cao Kun→Huang Fu→Duan Qirui→Hu Weide→Yan Huiqing→Du Xigui→Wellington KooSir Miles Lampson20 December 19263 September 1933Wellington Koo→Zhang Zuolin→Chiang Kai-shek→Lin SenEdward Ingram5 May 19323 September 1933Lin SenHon. Sir Alexander Cadogan3 September 193319 May 1935
Ambassadors to the Republic of China
NameTenure beginTenure endBritish MonarchChinese President Hon. Sir Alexander Cadogan15 June 19355 April 1936George VLin SenSir Robert George Howe5 April 19362 September 1936Edward VIIISir Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen23 September 193620 December 1937Sir Archibald Clark Kerr1 February 193816 January 1942George VISir Horace James Seymour16 January 194223 May 1946Ralph Stevenson21 June 19461948Chiang Kai-shek
Chargés d'affaires to the People's Republic of China
The United Kingdom recognised Communist China in January 1950 and posted a chargé d'affaires in the new capital of Beijing. However, China was unwilling to exchange ambassadors until the British consulate in Taipei was withdrawn in 1972.
NameTenure beginTenure endBritish monarchChinese leaderJohn HutchisonThe Diplomatic Service List 1966, p. 120.12 October 19491951George VIMao ZedongLeo LambHoare, J. E., Embassies in the East, 1999, 2013 Routledge. "Chapter 5: Last years in the old Legation."13 February 19511953Humphrey Trevelyan22 August 19531955Elizabeth IICon O'Neill26 June 19551957Duncan Wilson19571959Michael Stewart28 August 19591962Terence Garvey19621965Donald Hopson19651968Percy CradockAugust 1968February 1969John Denson196918 November 1971
Ambassadors to the People's Republic of China
NameTenure beginTenure endBritish MonarchParamount leaderSir John Addis26 January 197217 June 1974Elizabeth IIMao ZedongSir Edward Youde29 August 19741978Sir Percy Cradock15 June 19781984Hua GuofengSir Richard Evans23 January 19841988Deng XiaopingSir Alan Donald26 May 19881991Sir Robin McLaren20 June 19911994Sir Leonard Appleyard24 September 19941997Jiang ZeminSir Anthony Galsworthy29 December 19972002Sir Christopher Hum4 April 20022006Sir William Ehrman15 March 20062010Hu JintaoSir Sebastian Wood3 March 20102015Dame Barbara Woodward14 April 20152020Xi JinpingDame Caroline WilsonSeptember 2020August 2025 Charles IIIPeter WilsonAugust 2025
See also List of ambassadors of China to the United Kingdom China–United Kingdom relations Taiwan–United Kingdom relations Ambassadors of China Heads of diplomatic missions of the United Kingdom Foreign relations of China Foreign relations of the United Kingdom
References
External links UK and China, gov.uk