Sir Frederic William Eggleston (17 October 1875 – 12 November 1954) was an Australian lawyer, politician, diplomat and writer.
Early life
The eldest son of lawyer John Waterhouse Eggleston and his wife, Emily, his grandfather was the Methodist minister Rev. John Eggleston. His maternal grandparents were also Methodists. His mother died early in his life in 1884 and his father married Ada Crouch in 1887.
Frederic Eggleston was appointed Australia's first Ambassador to China in 1941. For his role as Chairman of the Commonwealth Grants Commission, in the 1941 King's Birthday honours he was made a Knight Bachelor.[3] Eggleston met with British biochemist and Sinologist Joseph Needham at chance encounter in a monastery in China. They had lunch with a group that included Chinese monks, three itinerant Tibetan monks, and a "living Buddha".[4]
Later life
At the end of 1952 he published his Reflections of an Australian Liberal (F. W. Cheshire). He died in 1954.[5]
^"Mr Frederick William EGGLESTON". It's an Honour database. Australian Government. 12 June 1941. Retrieved 17 June 2017. Chairman - Commonwealth Grants Commission
^Winchester, Simon (2008). The man who loved China. Harper Perennial. ISBN978-0060884611.