Henry G. Wolcott

Henry G. Wolcott (吴利国, Wúlìguó) was an American merchant who became both the first American landholder in Shanghai and, in 1846, the acting US consul.

He worked for Russell & Co. and managed the firm Senji Beishi (森记北士洋行). In 1844 the US consul at Guangzhou, Forbes, posted him to Ningbo as vice-consul. In May 1845 he arrived in Shanghai as a partner of the British house Deji (德记洋行) and, in its name, took a perpetual lease of 10.87 mu from local owners, including Yao Hengyuan. The plot was recorded as lot 17 in the British consulate’s register, and the gazetteer calls him the first American to lease land in Shanghai. He later became a partner in Russell & Co.

In July 1846 he took up duties as acting US consul at Shanghai. He opened a consulate on the old towpath within the British settlement and raised the American flag there. British consul Rutherford Alcock protested. The gazetteer gives no birth or death dates.