Sir Charles Euan-Smith (21 September 1842 – 30 August 1910) was a British soldier and diplomat.

Career

Charles Bean Smith (he added Euan to his surname later) was the son of Dr Euan McLaurin Smith, of

Georgetown, British Guiana Georgetown is the capital and largest city of Guyana. It is situated in Demerara-Mahaica, region 4, on the Atlantic Ocean coast, at the mouth of the Demerara River. It is nicknamed the "Garden City of the Caribbean." It is the retail, administr ...

, and his wife Elisa Bean. After being educated privately in England and Belgium he 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 British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations manda ...

at the age of 17 as an ensign and was promoted to lieutenant in 1861. He took part in the

1868 Expedition to Abyssinia The British Expedition to Abyssinia was a rescue mission and punitive expedition carried out in 1868 by the armed forces of the British Empire against the Ethiopian Empire (also known at the time as Abyssinia). Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia, ...

, was present at the capture of Maqdala and received the

campaign medal A campaign medal is a military decoration which is awarded to a member of an armed force who serves in a designated military operation or performs duty in a geographical theater. Campaign medals are very similar to service medals but carry a hi ...

. He was promoted to captain in 1870 and was secretary to Sir Frederic Goldsmid's special commission in 1871 for the delimitation of the Baluch frontier with Persia. He was given the temporary rank of Major when he accompanied

Sir Bartle Frere Sir Henry Bartle Edward Frere, 1st Baronet, (29 March 1815 – 29 May 1884) was a British colonial administrator. He had a successful career in India, rising to become Governor of Bombay (1862–1867). However, as High Commissioner for South ...

on his expedition to

Zanzibar Zanzibar is a Tanzanian archipelago off the coast of East Africa. It is located in the Indian Ocean, and consists of many small Island, islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. ...

in 1872 to negotiate a treaty with the

Sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...

for the suppression of the

slave Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

traffic. In August 1879 Euan-Smith was appointed consul at

Muscat Muscat (, ) is the capital and most populous city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the population of the Muscat Governorate in 2022 was 1.72 million. ...

but he left shortly afterwards to join the

Second Anglo-Afghan War The Second Anglo-Afghan War (Dari: جنگ دوم افغان و انگلیس, ) was a military conflict fought between the British Raj and the Emirate of Afghanistan from 1878 to 1880, when the latter was ruled by Sher Ali Khan of the Barakzai dy ...

as chief political officer on the staff of Lieutenant-General

Sir Donald Stewart Field Marshal Sir Donald Martin Stewart, 1st Baronet, (1 March 182426 March 1900) was a senior Indian Army officer. He fought on the Aka Khel Expedition to the North-West Frontier in 1854, took part in the response to the Indian Rebellion in 18 ...

. He took part in Lord Roberts' expedition to lift the

Siege of Kandahar The siege of Kandahar began when Nader Shah's Afsharid army invaded southern Afghanistan to topple the last Hotaki stronghold of Loy Kandahar, which was held by Hussain Hotaki. It took place in the Old Kandahar area of the modern city of Kand ...

. He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in 1881 and full colonel in 1885 (he formally retired from the army in 1889). In 1887 he was appointed Her Majesty's Agent and Consul-General for the Dominions of the Sultan of Zanzibar. In February 1890 the Sultan died and Euan-Smith took advantage of the situation to persuade the new Sultan, Ali bin Said, that Zanzibar should be a British protectorate. This resulted in the so-called

Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty The Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty (; also known as the Anglo-German Agreement of 1890) was an agreement signed on 1 July 1890 between Germany and the United Kingdom. The accord gave Germany control of the Caprivi Strip (a ribbon of land that gav ...

of July 1890 in which Germany and the United Kingdom agreed on territorial interests in East Africa. In 1891 he was appointed "Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Emperor of

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

", based in

Tangier Tangier ( ; , , ) is a city in northwestern Morocco, on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The city is the capital city, capital of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, as well as the Tangier-Assilah Prefecture of Moroc ...

. In 1892 he travelled to Fez, the capital, in the hope of concluding a commercial treaty, and an agreement to end slavery. After disagreements with the

, the mission failed and no treaty or agreement was signed. Euan-Smith was relieved of his post in 1893. In 1898 he was appointed "Her Majesty's Minister Resident in the Republic of Colombia, and also to be Her Majesty's Consul-General in that Republic". However, he resigned without taking up the post.

Publications

*''Eastern Persia: An Account of the Journeys of the Persian Boundary Commission, 1870-71-72'' (with Sir Frederic Goldsmid, Sir Oliver St John, Beresford Lovett, William Blanford), Macmillan and Company, 1876

Offices held

References

*T. H. Sanderson
Smith, Sir Charles Bean Euan- (1842–1910)
rev. H. C. G. Matthew, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, retrieved 10 Sept 2012 *Obituary – Sir Charles Euan-Smith, ''The Times'', London, 31 August 1910, page 9
About Sir Charles Euan Smith
''The Mercury'', Hobart, Tasmania, 10 September 1892

External links

court dress Court dress comprises the style of clothes and other attire prescribed for members of court, courts of law. Depending on the country and jurisdiction's traditions, members of the court (judges, magistrates, and so on) may wear formal robes, g ...

(1902) at Lafayette Negative Archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Euan-Smith, Charles Bean 1842 births 1910 deaths British Indian Army officers British military personnel of the Second Anglo-Afghan War Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Morocco Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Colombia Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Companions of the Order of the Star of India