Douglas Clark shares his research on one of the most fascinating characters in old Shanghai – Stirling Fessenden, the lawyer from small-town Maine they called the Lord Mayor of Shanghai.
“Fessy” arrived in Shanghai in 1903, at the age of 28, and through somewhat murky circumstances became one of only two lawyers to practice before the United States Court for China, building a lucrative legal practice. More British than the British, he was Chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council – “Boss of Shanghai - at a time of rising Chinese power and Japanese military threat. Intimately acquainted with all the power brokers of the day – bankers, tycoons, gangsters – and a member of every prestigious Shanghai club, he was often seen tripping the light fantastic with his glamorous Russian mistress, Olga. He died in Shanghai in 1944, going out, as he had hoped, with the end of old Shanghai. RSVP: info@historic-shanghai.com