David Urquhart | |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | David Urquhart Jr. 1 July 1805 Braelangwell, Cromarty, Scotland |
| Died | May 16, 1877 (aged 71) Clarens, Switzerland |
| Resting place | Clarens, Switzerland |
David Urquhart Jr. (1 July 1805 – 16 May 1877) was a Scottish diplomat, writer and politician, serving as a Member of Parliament from 1847 to 1852.[1] He also was an early promoter of the Turkish bath in the United Kingdom.[2]
Urquhart was born at Braelangwell, Cromarty, Scotland.[1] He was the second son of Margaret Hunter and David Urquhart.[3] His father died while he was a boy.[3] Urquhart was educated, under the supervision of his widowed mother in France, Switzerland, and Spain. Jeremy Bentham assisted with Urquhart's education.[3]
He returned to Britain in 1821 and spent a gap year learning to farm and working at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich. In 1822, he attended St John's College, Oxford.[1] However, he left before completing college because of his poor health and, instead traveled to eastern Europe.[3] He never completed his classics degree as his mother's finances failed.
In 1827, Urquhart joined the nationalist cause and fought in the Greek War of Independence.[3] Seriously injured, he spent the next few years championing the Greek cause in letters to the British government, self-promotion that entailed his appointment in 1831 to Sir Stratford Canning's mission to Istanbul to settle the border between Greece and Turkey.[1]
Urquhart's principal role was to nurture the support of Koca Mustafa Reşid Pasha, intimate advisor to the Sultan Mahmud II. He found himself increasingly attracted to Turkish civilisation and culture, becoming alarmed at the threat of Russian intervention in the region. Urquhart's campaigning, including the publication of Turkey and its Resources, culminated in his appointment on a trade mission to the region in 1833.[1] He struck such an intimate relationship with the government in Istanbul that he became outspoken in his calls for British intervention on behalf of the Sultan against Muhammad Ali of Egypt in opposition to the policy of Canning. He was recalled by Palmerston just as he published his anti-Moscow pamphlet England, France, Russia and Turkey which brought him into conflict with Richard Cobden.[1]
In 1835, he was appointed secretary of embassy at Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire, but an unfortunate attempt to counteract Russian aggressive designs in Circassia, which threatened to lead to an international crisis, again led to his recall in 1837.[1]
Urquhart's position was so aggressively anti–Russian and pro–Turkish that it created difficulties for British politics. In the 1830s, there was no anti-Russian coalition in Europe; it had yet to be created. Britain could suddenly find itself in a situation of military conflict with Russia and, moreover, alone. As a result, Urquhart was recalled from Turkey, and the conflict with Russia was settled by peace talks.
In 1835, before leaving for the East, he founded a periodical called the Portfolio, and in the first issue printed a series of Russian state papers, which made a profound impression.[1][4] Urquhart was also the self-proclaimed designer of the Circassian national flag (which was adopted as the flag of Adygea in 1992).[5]
Urquhart later publicly accused Palmerston, the head of British foreign policy, of being bribed by Russia. This view was constantly promoted in the London magazines he published. Among the regular authors of his publications was Karl Marx, who fully supported Urquhart's views on Palmerston.[6][7] Personally, Karl Marx himself, in correspondence with his friend Engels, considered Urquhart a "form of maniac" in his accusations of Palmerston and the worship of the Turks.[8]
In 1838, Urquhart published a book, Spirit of the East, where he examines Turkey and Greece, while also drawing on work previously done by Arthur Lumley Davids.[9]
From 1847 to 1852, he sat in parliament as the member for Stafford, and carried on a vigorous campaign against Lord Palmerston's foreign policy.[1][4] He was against the imposition of sanitary reform, and vehemently opposed the passage of the Public Health Act 1848.[10]
The action of the United Kingdom in the Crimean War provoked indignant protests from Urquhart, who contended that Turkey was in a position to fight her own battles without the assistance of other powers.[1] To attack the government, he organized "foreign affairs committees" which became known as Urquhartite, throughout the country, and in 1856 (with finance from ironmaster George Crawshay) became the owner of the Free Press (renamed the Diplomatic Review in 1866), which numbered among its contributors the socialist Karl Marx.[11] In 1860, he published his book on Lebanon.[1][4]
In 1854, Urquhart married Harriet Angelina Fortescue, an Anglo-Irish aristocrat.[1] The couple had two daughters and three sons: including Francis Fortescue Urquhart.[3] Harriet was involved in Urquhart's work and wrote numerous articles for Diplomatic Review under the signature of Caritas.[3] She died in 1889.[1]
Urquhart introduced Turkish baths to Great Britain.[1][12] He advocated their use in his book The Pillars of Hercules (1850), which attracted the attention of the Irish physician Richard Barter.[12][13] Barter then introduced them in his system of hydropathy at Blarney, County Cork.[12] The Turkish baths at 76 Jermyn Street, London were built under Urquhart's direction.[1][4][12]
Starting in 1864, Urquhart lived in Clarens, Switzerland next to Lake Geneva for his health. There he devoted his energies to promoting the study of international law. He died in 1877 and is buried in Clarens.[1][4]
