Hulbert was born in New Haven; Vermont; in 1863 to Calvin and Mary Hulbert. He originally went to Korea in 1886 to teach English at the Royal English School. After the Japanese annexation began; he resigned his position as a teacher in the public middle school. He went as an emissary of the Korean King; protesting Japan's actions; to the United States in 1905 and 1906; and to the Hague in 1906 and 1907.

His 1906 book; 'The Passing of Korea'; criticized Japanese rule. He was not so much theoretically opposed to colonialism as he was concerned that modernization under the secular Japanese was inferior to a Christian-inspired modernization. He was expelled by the Japanese resident-general for Korea on May 8; 1907.

He was reported to have been a close personal friend of Emperor Gojong. One of his young middle school students just after the turn of the century was the first President of Korea; Syngman Rhee; who invited him back to Korea in 1948. It was on this trip that Hulbert developed pneumonia and died. Hulbert's tombstone reads 'I would rather be buried in Korea than in Westminster Abbey'. He is interred at Yanghwajin Foreigners' Cemetery in Seoul. Pictures From History