Sir (Robert) Lambert Playfair (21 March 1828 – 18 February 1899) was a British soldier, diplomat, naturalist and author.

Early life

Lambert Playfair was a grandson of James Playfair, principal of the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

, and son of George Playfair (1782–1846), chief inspector-general of hospitals in Bengal, and his wife Jessie Ross. Lambert was born in

St Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourt ...

when his parents were at home on leave, and left there to be educated when they returned to India. His elder brother, Lyon, became

Lyon Playfair, 1st Baron Playfair Lyon Playfair, 1st Baron Playfair (1 May 1818 – 29 May 1898) was a British scientist and Liberal politician who was Postmaster-General from 1873 to 1874. Early life Playfair was born at Chunar, Bengal, the son of George Playfair (1782-1846) ...

. Another brother was Dr William Smoult Playfair, who became involved in a notorious court case, Kitson v. Playfair.

Career and later life

Playfair was a military cadet at

Addiscombe College The East India Company Military Seminary was a British military academy at Addiscombe, Surrey, in what is now the London Borough of Croydon. It opened in 1809 and closed in 1861. Its purpose was to train young officers to serve in the East India ...

, then joined the

Madras Army The Madras Army was the army of the Presidency of Madras, one of the three presidencies of British India within the British Empire. The presidency armies, like the presidencies themselves, belonged to the East India Company until the Government ...

in 1846 at the age of 18. He became an artillery officer and with the rank of Captain was appointed to the Madras Staff Corps in 1858. He was promoted to Major in 1866, and left the army with the honorary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in 1867. Playfair was assistant Political Agent at

Aden Aden ( ar, عدن ' Yemeni: ) is a city, and since 2015, the temporary capital of Yemen, near the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some east of the strait Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000 peopl ...

1854–62, then Political Agent, then Consul, at Zanzibar 1862–67, and was appointed Consul-General in Algeria in 1867. His territory was extended to Algeria and Tunis in 1885. He was knighted KCMG in the Queen's Birthday Honours of 1886. He retired in 1896 and was given an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

by the University of St Andrews. He is buried in the churchyard of

St Andrews Cathedral The Cathedral of St Andrew (often referred to as St Andrews Cathedral) is a ruined cathedral in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. It was built in 1158 and became the centre of the Medieval Catholic Church in Scotland as the seat of the Archdiocese of ...

with his wife Agnes Webster Ranken (1832–1918) and eldest daughter Agnes Mary Playfair. The grave lies at the foot of his parents' grave.

Publications

''A History of Arabia Felix or Yemen from the commencement of the Christian era to the present time; Including an account of the British settlement of Aden''
(Bombay, 1859)
''The Fishes of Zanzibar''
with

Albert Günther Albert Karl Ludwig Gotthilf Günther FRS, also Albert Charles Lewis Gotthilf Günther (3 October 1830 – 1 February 1914), was a German-born British zoologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist. Günther is ranked the second-most productive r ...

(London, 1866) *''Travels in the Footsteps of Bruce in Algeria and Tunis'' (1877)
''Handbook to the Mediterranean: its cities, coasts, and islands''
(London, 1881)
''The Scourge of Christendom: Annals of British relations with Algiers prior to the French Conquest''
(London, 1884) *''Bibliography of the Barbary States, Algeria, Cyrenaica and Morocco'' (1889)
''A Bibliography of Morocco from the Earliest time to the end of 1891''
(London, 1892)

Notes

References

PLAYFAIR, Sir Robert Lambert
''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2015 (online edition, Oxford University Press, 2015) *
Archive catalogue: Playfair family
University of St Andrews
Obituary
''The Times'', London, 20 February 1899, page 10 *

External links