{"record":{"aliases":[],"appointmentIds":["france-b52358d2ebf767"],"appointmentsDataset":"https://chanceries.org/diplomats.json","archivalSources":[],"canonicalUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/henry-de-bellonnet-5ccd4122c2/","countrySlug":"france","entityId":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/henry-de-bellonnet-5ccd4122c2/#person","eventIds":[],"expandedParagraphs":["Henry de Bellonnet served as France’s chargé d’affaires in Beijing before his Washington assignment. In 1866, after the killing of French Catholic missionaries and Korean converts, he demanded action against Korea and declared that its king had forfeited his throne. His intervention went beyond the policy authorized in Paris. The French foreign minister repudiated his declarations and instructed him to leave military judgments to Admiral Pierre-Gustave Roze; Bellonnet was subsequently posted to Stockholm.","The confrontation also brought him into conflict with Prince Gong and other representatives in Beijing. Bellonnet accused Chinese officials of complicity in the Korean crisis. In a December 1866 report, British minister Rutherford Alcock described those accusations and criticized the coercive policy Bellonnet advocated. Prince Gong’s replies rejected the allegations as unsupported.","In Washington, Bellonnet dealt with the consequences of France’s defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. In May 1872 he asked the State Department to help natives of Alsace-Lorraine living in Mexico preserve French nationality. Because American diplomatic and consular officers were protecting French interests there, he requested that they circulate instructions and assist with the required declarations. The State Department issued a circular to its consuls implementing that request."],"id":"france:henry de bellonnet","identifiers":{},"legacyPersonIds":[],"legacyUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplomat-5ccd4122c235d30488b1.html","name":"Henry de Bellonnet","notes":[],"paragraphSources":[["src-57da207b3f7a7010"],["src-b6ad2c3e41091751"],["src-49fed77c0f46d260"]],"profileUrl":"diplomat-5ccd4122c235d30488b1.html","relatedEvents":[],"relatedPeople":[],"relationships":[],"researchStatus":"reviewed","reviewedOn":"2026-10-28","revision":"13bc2ae86b310591","sources":[{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":null,"id":"src-57da207b3f7a7010","locator":"Section on 1864–1866, notes 48–66","publisher":"National Institute of Korean History, Korean History Database","title":"Les premières relations franco-coréennes","type":"scholarship","url":"https://db.history.go.kr/diachronic/level.do?levelId=hn_045_0110"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"1866-12-13","id":"src-b6ad2c3e41091751","locator":"Modern Korean Diplomatic Documents, gk.d_0002_0940; main report and enclosure 7","publisher":"Northeast Asian History Foundation; original TNA FO 881/1505","title":"Rutherford Alcock to Lord Stanley, with Franco-Chinese correspondence","type":"primary-record","url":"https://contents.nahf.or.kr/item/level.do?levelId=gk.d_0002_0940"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"1872-05-25","id":"src-49fed77c0f46d260","locator":"FRUS 1872, part I, document 11; Bellonnet letter of 20 May","publisher":"U.S. Department of State","title":"Circular to American consuls in Mexico, enclosing Bellonnet to Fish","type":"primary-record","url":"https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1872p1/d11"},{"accessedOn":"","date":"","id":"mission-27b251055060fa2612dc","locator":"","publisher":"","title":"Henry de Bellonnet — mission record (1871–1872)","type":"Mission record","url":"https://archivesdiplomatiques.diplomatie.gouv.fr/media/aff96ac0-1c2e-4f0c-9e9d-c736bfa7eafe.pdf"}],"topics":["French expedition to Korea","China","Nationality","Alsace-Lorraine"]},"schemaVersion":1}