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The Caldwell affair was a political scandal in the early history of British Hong Kong, spanning the years 1857 to 1861. The scandal centred on the claim that the Registrar General, Daniel Richard Caldwell, was implicated in the Chinese criminal underworld, and had acted to protect the pirate Ma-chow Wong; that the Acting Colonial Secretary, the prominent local barrister William Thomas Bridges, had protected Caldwell by destroying incriminating evidence; and that Governor John Bowring had turned a blind eye to the abuses of these officials. These claims were publicised by the Attorney General, Thomas Chisholm Anstey, and the Friend of China newspaper, edited by William Tarrant. An inquiry in 1858 initiated by Bowring acquitted Caldwell and Bridges of wrongdoing, and the Hong Kong government sued Tarrant for libel. Anstey was suspended from office in August 1858 and resigned from the administration in 1859, leaving Hong Kong for England. The Colonial Secretary, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, confirmed Bowring's decision and formally dismissed Anstey on 17 March 1859.
Upon his return to Britain, Anstey brought the affair to the attention of the public in an open letter to the Times, Crime and Government at Hong Kong, and arranged for the matter to be brought before Parliament. The case was taken up in the House of Lords by Earl Grey. Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, public opinion turned decisively against the colonial government. The trial of Tarrant lasted just four days before his acquittal by the jury, who pronounced their decision after hearing only the evidence for the prosecution, and a petition was sent to Parliament to open its own investigation into the events in Hong Kong and restore the "honour of the British Crown and nation". Finding himself now in danger of losing the confidence of the home government, the continuing damage of the affair led Bowring to resign in 1859.
Bowring's successor as governor, Hercules Robinson, ordered a re-examination of the case against Caldwell in 1860. This inquiry overturned the verdict of 1858, vindicating Anstey and Tarrant and recommending Caldwell's dismissal. Caldwell was barred from public service, but remained in Hong Kong, where he continued to act as an intermediary for the local Chinese. Bridges, for his part, left Hong Kong on his own initiative in April 1861, severing his ties with the colony before he could be investigated.