William Gifford Palgrave by Julia Margaret Cameron

William Gifford Palgrave (; 24 January 1826 – 30 September 1888) was an English

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

, traveller, and Arabist.

Early life and education

Palgrave was born in

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

. He was the son of

Sir Francis Palgrave Sir Francis Palgrave, (; born Francis Ephraim Cohen, July 1788 – 6 July 1861) was an English archivist and historian. He was Deputy Keeper (chief executive) of the Public Record Office from its foundation in 1838 until his death; and he is ...

(born Jewish, converted to Anglican) and Elizabeth Turner, daughter of the banker

Dawson Turner Dawson Turner (18 October 1775 – 21 June 1858) was an English banker, botanist and antiquary. He specialized in the botany of cryptogams and was the father-in-law of the botanist William Jackson Hooker. Life Turner was the son of Jam ...

. His brothers were Francis Turner Palgrave,

Inglis Palgrave Sir Robert Harry Inglis Palgrave (11 June 1827 – 25 January 1919) was a British economist. Early life Robert Harry Inglis Palgrave was born on 11 June 1827. He was the son of Francis Palgrave (born Cohen) and his wife Elizabeth Turner ...

and Reginald Palgrave. He was educated at Charterhouse School, then occupying its original site near Smithfield, and under the head-mastership of Dr.

Saunders Saunders is a surname of English and Scottish patronymic origin derived from Sander, a mediaeval form of Alexander.See also: Sander (name) People * Ab Saunders (1851–1883), American cowboy and gunman * Al Saunders (born 1947), American foot ...

, afterwards

Dean of Peterborough The Dean of Peterborough is the head of the chapter at Peterborough Cathedral. On the Dissolution of Peterborough Abbey in 1539 and the abbey-church's refoundation as a cathedral for the new bishop and diocese of Peterborough, care for the abbey ...

. Among other honours he won the school gold medal for classical verse, and proceeded to

Trinity College, Oxford (That which you wish to be secret, tell to nobody) , named_for = The Holy Trinity , established = , sister_college = Churchill College, Cambridge , president = Dame Hilary Boulding , location = Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BH , coordinates ...

, where he obtained a scholarship, graduating First Class Lit. Hum., Second Class Math., 1846.

Early overseas travel and conversion to Catholicism

He went straight from college to India, and served for a time in the 8th Bombay Native Infantry, H.I.C. Shortly after this he became a Roman Catholic, was ordained a priest, joined the order of the

Jesuits , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

and served as a member of the order in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, and in Syria, where he acquired a colloquial command of Arabic. He convinced his superiors to support a mission to the interior of

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plat ...

, which at that time was ''

terra incognita ''Terra incognita'' or ''terra ignota'' (Latin "unknown land"; ''incognita'' is stressed on its second syllable in Latin, but with variation in pronunciation in English) is a term used in cartography for regions that have not been mapped or do ...

'' to the rest of the world. He also gained the support of the French emperor,

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

, representing to him that better knowledge of Arabia would benefit French

imperialistic Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic ...

schemes in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

Syria and Middle Eastern travels

Palgrave then returned to Syria, where he assumed the identity of a travelling Syrian physician. Stocking his bags with medicines and small trade goods, and accompanied by one servant, he set off for Najd, in north-central Arabia. He traveled as a Muslim. The service he would do for the Society of Jesus and the French empire would be as a spy, not a missionary. Palgrave became friendly with

Faisal bin Turki bin Abdullah Al Saud Faisal, Faisel, Fayçal or Faysal ( ar, فيصل) is an Arabic given name. Faisal, Fayçal or Faysal may also refer to: People * King Faisal (disambiguation) ** Faisal I of Iraq and Syria (1885–1933), leader during the Arab Revolt ** Faisal ...

while in Najd. Faisal's son and

heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

Abdullah bin Faisal Abdullah may refer to: * Abdullah (name), a list of people with the given name or surname * Abdullah, Kargı, Turkey, a village * ''Abdullah'' (film), a 1980 Bollywood film directed by Sanjay Khan * '' Abdullah: The Final Witness'', a 2015 Pakis ...

, asked Palgrave to get him strychnine. Palgrave believed that Abdullah wanted it to poison his father. Palgrave was accused of

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

and was almost executed for his Christian beliefs.

Later life and death

After travelling for a year from Syria, through Najd, and on to

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

and

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...

, he returned to Europe, where he wrote a narrative of his travels. This narrative became a bestseller and has been reprinted many times. It makes no mention of the covert motives for his journey. After writing this book, Palgrave made yet another ''volte-face'' and renounced his vocation as a Jesuit priest in 1865. He then entered the

British Foreign Office The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' ministries of foreign affairs, it was created on 2 September 2020 through the merger of the Foreig ...

and was appointed consul at Sukhum-Kale (

Sukhumi Sukhumi (russian: Суху́м(и), ) or Sokhumi ( ka, სოხუმი, ), also known by its Abkhaz name Aqwa ( ab, Аҟәа, ''Aqwa''), is a city in a wide bay on the Black Sea's eastern coast. It is both the capital and largest city of ...

) in 1866, and moved to Trebizond (

Trabzon Trabzon (; Ancient Greek: Tραπεζοῦς (''Trapezous''), Ophitic Pontic Greek: Τραπεζούντα (''Trapezounta''); Georgian: ტრაპიზონი (''Trapizoni'')), historically known as Trebizond in English, is a city on the B ...

) in 1867. In 1868 he married Katherine, the daughter of George Edward Simpson, of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

, by whom he had three sons. He was appointed consul at St. Thomas and

St. Croix Saint Croix; nl, Sint-Kruis; french: link=no, Sainte-Croix; Danish and no, Sankt Croix, Taino: ''Ay Ay'' ( ) is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincor ...

in 1873, Manila in 1876, and in 1878 in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

, where he was appointed Consul-General. In 1879 he was moved to

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

. In 1884 he was appointed Minister Resident and Consul-General to

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

, where he served until his death in 1888. Itinéraire Palgrave

Besides his work on ''Central Arabia'', Gifford Palgrave published a volume of ''Essays on Eastern Questions'', a narrative called ''Hermann Agha'', a sketch of ''Dutch Guiana'', and a volume of essays titled ''Ulysses''.

References

Footnotes

Sources

* Freeth, Zahra, & H.V.F. Winstone -- ''Explorers of Arabia from the Renaissance to the End of the Victorian Era'', Allen & Unwin, London, 1978 * Palgrave, W. G.: **
Personal Narrative of a Year's Journey through Central and Eastern Arabia (1862-1863)
', vol. I, Macmillan & Co., London, 1865 (full text available online, also reprinted many times) **
Personal Narrative of a Year's Journey through Central and Eastern Arabia (1862-1863)
', vol. II, Macmillan & Co., London, 1866 (full text available online, also reprinted many times) * '' The Athenaeum'', (No. 3181, October 13, 1888, pp. 483–84). *

External links

* *
Travels in Arabia
' from 1892, featuring William Gifford Palgrave *
The Penetration of Arabia: A Record of the Development of Western Knowledge Concerning the Arabian Peninsula
' from 1904 also features Palgrave {{DEFAULTSORT:Palgrave, William Gifford 1826 births 1888 deaths People from Westminster People educated at Charterhouse School Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford 19th-century English Jesuits English orientalists Explorers of Asia Explorers of Arabia English explorers English people of Jewish descent English travel writers British diplomats