Nguyễn Quán Nho was of the 6^th generation the Nguyễn Quán family in Đông Triều Village, Văn Hà Commune, Thụy Nguyên District, which was later renamed Dương Hòa Village (at present belong to Section 8, Vạn Hà Town, Thiệu Hóa District). He was born on October 2^nd in Mậu Dần year, the year of the Tiger (1638) in a poor family and his father died early.

In 1657, Nguyễn Quán Nho participated in the Prefecture examination and passed the hương cống. In 1659 when he was 21 years old, he participated in the Metropolitan examination and then was recruited to work in the court. In 1667, he passed the first rank of tiến sĩ in the Court examination, who was titled Đinh nguyên đệ tam giáp đồng tiến sỹ xuất thân. Under the reign of King Lê Gia Tông and Lê Hy Tông, Nguyễn Quán Nho was trusted and entrusted by the Lê – Trịnh Dynasty with key positions in various fields.In 1672, he served as interprovincial Commander-in-chief of Hải Dương and Yên Quảng. He was a clear-fingered and frank mandarin who was respected by the people.

In terms of diplomatic affairs, Nguyễn Quán Nho was involved in the court delegation of the Lê – Trịnh Dynasty for four times to travel to to maintain the diplomatic relations between our country and the Qing Dynasty (in 1674, 1678, 1679, and 1681). He served as the Deputy Court Counsellor in 1684 and 1690, and therefore was also assigned to undertake the mission as the King’s Special Envoy who was in charge of the Prefecture examination in Nghệ An and Sơn Nam. In 1691, he served as the Honorary Minister of the Ministry of Interior and was promoted to the position of Court Counsellor a year later. In 1693, he was appointed to the Minister of the Ministry of War and at the same time serving as a Attaché mandarin at the Trịnh Lord’s Palace with Lê Hy, the Minister of the Ministry of Justice.

Nguyễn Quán Nho passed away on August 12^th, 1708 and lived to be 71. In order to honour his merits, the court confered the title Duke on him, also bestowed good genius upon him and confided the eternal worshipping to the local people.

Reference::

- Ban nghiên cứu và biên soạn lịch sử Thanh Hóa: Lịch sử Thanh Hóa (The Thanh Hóa History Compilation and Research Department: The History of Thanh Hóa). Social Sciences Publishing House, Volume 3, 2002.

- Ban nghiên cứu và biên soạn lịch sử Thanh Hóa: Danh nhân Thanh Hóa (The Thanh Hóa History Compilation and Research Department: Well-known People in Thanh Hóa). Thanh Hóa Publishing House, Volume 3, 2005.