Clement Egerton

Frederic Clement Christie Egerton (c. 1890 d. ??)^[1] was an early and mid-twentieth century British travel and adventure writer best known for his The Golden Lotus (1939), a four-volume translation of the Chinese novel, Jin Ping Mei.

After an early career in religious and educational work, Egerton served in the World War One British army, fighting in the Balkans. Upon his return, he spent a brief time in teaching, but his interest in anthropolological and social theory led him to study the Chinese language in order to better understand a civilization that was of equal but different development. This commitment led him to translate Jin Ping Mei a 17th century erotic classic Chinese novel, which appeared until 1939 as The Golden Lotus. Egerton's interest in languages and cultures led him to French Cameroon in search of a "wild place". He concluded that the French administration of the colony had not improved the lot of the common people. He also established long-standing ties in Portugal, leading to a favorable 1943 biography of the Portuguese dictator Antonio Salazar, and a 1973 book on the achievements of Portuguese colonialism in Angola.