Oswald John Frederick Crawfurd (18 March 1834 – 31 January 1909) was a British journalist, man of letters and diplomat. He served over 24 years as British consul in

Oporto, Portugal Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

Career

Oswald John Frederick Crawfurd was born at Wilton Crescent,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, on 18 March 1834. He was the son of

John Crawfurd John Crawfurd (13 August 1783 – 11 May 1868) was a Scottish physician, colonial administrator, diplomat, and author who served as the second and last Resident of Singapore. Early life He was born on Islay, in Argyll, Scotland, the son of ...

, diplomat, and Horatia Ann Perry. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

, he matriculated at Merton College, Oxford, in 1854, but left the university without a degree. In 1867 he became a clerk in the Foreign Office and was subsequently promoted to be H.M.'s consul at

Oporto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropo ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. In 1873 Crawfurd founded the ''New Quarterly Magazine'', which he sold to

Francis Hueffer Francis Hueffer (born Franz Carl Christoph Johann Hüffer; 22 May 1845 – 19 January 1889) was a German-English writer on music, music critic, and librettist. Biography Hueffer was born in Münster, Germany, on 22 May 1845 to Johann Hermann Hü ...

in 1877. He was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in the

1890 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1890 were appointments by Queen Victoria to various orders and honours of the United Kingdom and British India. They were announced in ''The Times'' on 1 January 1890, and the various honours were gazetted in ''The London Gaz ...

. Crawfurd's last two years in Portugal were of exceptional difficulty. An ultimatum from Lord Salisbury in January 1890, the result of the occupation by Portuguese troops of British territory in East Africa, led to an outburst of anti-British feeling, more violent in Oporto than in other Portuguese towns. Crawfurd's house was stoned, but he carried on his duties till the trouble subsided, and then on 17 June 1891 he resigned and returned to England. Crawfurd become editor and director of ''Black and White'', managing director of

Chapman & Hall Chapman & Hall is an Imprint (trade name), imprint owned by CRC Press, originally founded as a United Kingdom, British publishing house in London in the first half of the 19th century by Edward Chapman (publisher), Edward Chapman and William Hall ...

, and editor of ''Chapman's Magazine of Fiction'' from 1895 to 1898. He wrote 13 novels (of minor reputation) and contributed articles to the ''Fortnightly Review'', ''

Cornhill Magazine ''The Cornhill Magazine'' (1860–1975) was a monthly Victorian magazine and literary journal named after the street address of the founding publisher Smith, Elder & Co. at 65 Cornhill in London.Laurel Brake and Marysa Demoor, ''Dictiona ...

'', ''Nineteenth Century'', and the ''New Review''. He died at

Montreux Montreux (, , ; frp, Montrolx) is a Swiss municipality and town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps. It belongs to the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, and has a population of approxima ...

, Switzerland on 31 January 1909.

Family

Oswald Crawfurd was the youngest son and last (4th) child of

, who played an important role in the founding of Singapore. Oswald's first marriage was to Margaret "Meta" Ford, the daughter of the writer

Richard Ford Richard Ford (born February 16, 1944) is an American novelist and short story writer. His best-known works are the novel ''The Sportswriter'' and its sequels, ''Independence Day'', ''The Lay of the Land'' and ''Let Me Be Frank With You'', and the ...

, with whom he had one son who died in infancy. His first wife died in 1899. He remarried at the English Church in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

on 18 September 1902 to Lita Browne, daughter of Hermann von Flesch Brunnigen, an Imperial Counsellor at Vienna.

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1834 births 1909 deaths 19th-century English novelists 19th-century male writers Alumni of Merton College, Oxford British expatriates in Portugal Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George English male journalists English male novelists People educated at Eton College British magazine editors {{UK-journalist-stub

Career

Family

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