Johan Hultman

Johan Erik Evald Hultman (10 April 1876 – 9 November 1958) was a Swedish diplomat. Hultman began his diplomatic career in the early 1900s, serving in various roles including attaché and vice consul in cities such as London, Saint Petersburg, and Shanghai. In China, he supported Swedish missionary work and played a key role in diplomatic and legal initiatives, including consular court reforms and industrial agreements. By 1914, he became Sweden's top consular authority in China, reflecting the growing importance of Shanghai in Swedish foreign policy. Later, he served as consul general in Hamburg and held ambassadorial roles in Tokyo, Beijing, and Bangkok during the 1920s and 1930s.

Hultman was born on 10 April 1876 in Malmö, Sweden, the son of Johan Hultman, a factory owner, and his wife Eveline (née Svensson).^[1] He was the brother of Axel Hultman. He passed studentexamen in 1893 and after a few years of employment in a store, Hultman devoted himself to studying abroad for some years.^[2] He studied at Lund University but had to discontinue his studies due to illness. After spending several years in a sanatorium in Switzerland, he joined the family business, working at the office in Stockholm. Two years later, he resumed his studies, this time in Uppsala.^[3] He received a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Uppsala University in 1903 with a major in language^[2] and a Juris utriusque candidate degree in 1905.^[1]

Hultman served as an assistant at the Ministry of Finance in 1905 before becoming an attaché at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1906. He served as an attaché in London in 1906 and then in Cape Town.^[2] Hultman was then vice consul in Saint Petersburg and Arkhangelsk in 1909 and consul general in Shanghai in 1911.^[1]

In 1912 not long after his arrival in Shanghai Hultman traveled to Jiaozhou in Shandong province and took part in the groundbreaking of a new church built under the leadership of Johan Alfred Rinell, a member of the Baptist Union of Sweden. Hultman expressed his appreciation of the Baptist Union of Sweden's church work including the establishment of schools and a medical clinic in Shandong on behalf of the Chinese people.^[4] He also participated in initiatives like drafting proposals for an international consular court in Guangzhou and negotiated industrial property rights agreements with other Western nations in China. In 1914, administrative authority over Sweden's consular service in China was transferred from Envoy Gustaf Wallenberg to Hultman, highlighting Shanghai's rising importance for Sweden. Hultman received a substantial salary increase, making Shanghai Sweden's third most costly consular post after New York City and London.^[5]

Hultman was chargé d'affaires in Helsinki in 1920 and consul general in Hamburg in 1921. He was then envoy in Tokyo in from 1928 to 1936, envoy in Beijing from 1929 to 1936 (accredited from Tokyo) and envoy in Bangkok from 1931 to 1936 (accredited from Tokyo).^[1]

In 1910 he married Ella Eklund (1881–1952), the daughter of the pharmacist Edward Eklund and Gretchen (née Winge).^[6] Hultman was the father of Brita (1912–1975).^[1]

Hultman died on 9 November 1958. He was buried on 12 November 1958 at the Old Cemetery in his hometown of Malmö.^[7]

• Commander 1st Class of the Order of the Polar Star (16 June 1933)^[8]
• Knight of the Order of the Polar Star (1915)^[9]
• Commander 1st Class of the Order of Vasa (16 June 1928)^[10]
• Commander of the Order of Vasa (6 June 1919)^[11]
• 1st Class of the Order of the Sacred Treasure^[1]
• 1st Class of the Order of Brilliant Jade^[1]
• 1st Class of the Order of the Crown of Siam^[1]
• Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Austrian Republic^[1]
• 2nd Class of the Order of the Precious Brilliant Golden Grain^[1]
• Knight 3rd Class of the Order of Saint Anna^[1]
• Knight 3rd Class of the Order of Saint Stanislaus^[1]

• Jubilee Doctor of Philosophy, Uppsala University (1953)^[3]