Augustus Frederick Lindley (呤唎 "Lin-Le") 3 February 1840 – 29 March 1873, was a mid-19th-century British adventurer and writer.

Biography

;China In 1859, Lindley was a young

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

officer stationed in Hong Kong, where he became betrothed to Marie, the daughter of the Portuguese consul at Macau. In 1860 he resigned his commission, taking a job as the executive officer of a trading steamer smuggling specie to the Taiping reform movement in Shanghai. He accepted a commission from Taiping general

Li Xiucheng Li Xiucheng (; 1823 – August 7, 1864) was a military rebel commander opposing the Qing dynasty during the Taiping Rebellion. He was born to a peasant family. In 1864, he was captured and interrogated following the third and final Battle of ...

, and helped train their soldiers in British Army techniques, while Marie became a

sniper A sniper is a military or paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with telescopic si ...

. After her death, he returned to England. In 1866, he wrote and published "Ti Ping Tien Kwoh: or the History of the Taiping Revolution". This work included a dedication: ''To Le-Siu-Cheng, the Chung-Wang, "Faithful Prince," Commander-in-Chief of the Ti-Ping forces, this work is dedicated if he be living; and if not, to his memory''. ;Battle of Jofoolzo—commanding Taiping's warships In June 1863, Li Xiucheng commanded 250,000 troops to withdraw to Nanjing; Taiping warships bore troops across the river while tough fighting transpired between the Taiping and the

Qing Army The Qing dynasty (1644–1912) was established by conquest and maintained by armed force. The founding emperors personally organized and led the armies, and the continued cultural and political legitimacy of the dynasty depended on their abilit ...

(Battle of Jofoolzo 九洑洲決戰). Lindley, as commander of the Taiping fleet, several times defeated the Qing offensive and sank many Qing warships, but he was wounded, and his wife Marie and friend Earl were killed in action. For his service, Lindley was promoted to the rank of colonel by the Taiping. ;British Military Adventurism When

Charles George Gordon Major-general (United Kingdom), Major-General Charles George Gordon Companion of the Order of the Bath, CB (28 January 1833 – 26 January 1885), also known as Chinese Gordon, Gordon Pasha, Gordon of Khartoum and General Gordon , was a British ...

returned to the UK, Lindley publicly castigated Gordon in the of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

''. Lindley also published ''The Abyssinian War'' in 1868, which was critical of the invasion of Ethiopia by Sir Robert Napier. ;South Africa In 1868, Lindley, with Roger Pocklington, the American brothers Will and Tom Ashwell, and Louis de Glon of Switzerland, landed at

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

to undertake a gold-hunting expedition in the

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name ''Transvaal''. * South African Republic (1856–1902; ...

. While no gold was found, the group travelled extensively among the Boer and the various black communities, and encountered many adventures. Pocklington married a Potchefstroom girl, and settled there. The Ashwells and de Glon took up farming in Natal; Will was later an associate of

Cecil Rhodes Cecil John Rhodes ( ; 5 July 185326 March 1902) was an English-South African mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. He and his British South Africa Company founded th ...

in the consolidation of the Kimberly diamond mines. Lindley returned to England, where he wrote ''After Ophir, or, A Search For the South African Gold Fields'', and subsequently ''Adamantia: the truth about the South African diamond fields''https://www.rct.uk/collection/1026098/adamantia-the-truth-about-the-south-african-diamond-fields-or-a-vindication-of which supported Boer claims to the diamond fields in Griqualand.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lindley, Augustus Frederick 1840 births 1873 deaths Military leaders of the Taiping Rebellion Royal Navy officers English evangelicals Military personnel from London British expatriates in China Royal Navy personnel of the Second Opium War Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery