Claude Reignier Conder (29 December 1848,

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

– 16 February 1910, Cheltenham) was an English soldier, explorer and antiquarian. He was a great-great-grandson of

Louis-François Roubiliac Louis-François Roubiliac (or Roubilliac, or Roubillac) (31 August 1702 – 11 January 1762) was a French sculpture, sculptor who worked in England. One of the four most prominent sculptors in London working in the rococo style, he was described ...

and grandson of editor and author Josiah Conder.

Life

Conder was educated at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

and the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of Officer (armed forces), commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers o ...

. He became a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

in the

Corps of Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

in 1870. He carried out survey work in

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

in 1872–1874, latterly in conjunction with Lt Kitchener, later Lord Kitchener, whom he had met at school, and was seconded to the

Palestine Exploration Fund The Palestine Exploration Fund is a British society based in London. It was founded in 1865, shortly after the completion of the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem by Royal Engineers of the War Department. The Fund is the oldest known organization i ...

from 1875 to 1878 and again in 1881 and 1882, when he was promoted to captain. He retired with the rank of colonel in 1904. Conder joined the expedition to Egypt in 1882, under

Sir Garnet Wolseley Field Marshal Garnet Joseph Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley (4 June 183325 March 1913) was an Anglo-Irish officer in the British Army. He became one of the most influential British generals after a series of victories in Canada, West Africa and E ...

, to suppress the

rebellion Rebellion is an uprising that resists and is organized against one's government. A rebel is a person who engages in a rebellion. A rebel group is a consciously coordinated group that seeks to gain political control over an entire state or a ...

of Urabi Pasha. He was appointed a deputy assistant adjutant and quartermaster-general on the staff of the intelligence department. In Egypt his perfect knowledge of Arabic and of Eastern people proved most useful. He was present at the action of Kassassin, the

Battle of Tel el-Kebir The Battle of Tel El Kebir (often spelled Tel-El-Kebir) was fought on 13 September 1882 at Tell El Kebir in Egypt, 110 km north-north-east of Cairo. An entrenched Egyptian force under the command of Ahmed ʻUrabi was defeated by a British ...

, and the advance to

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

, but then, seized with typhoid fever, he was invalided home. For his services he received the war medal with clasp for Tel el-Kebir, the

Khedive Khedive ( ; ; ) was an honorific title of Classical Persian origin used for the sultans and grand viziers of the Ottoman Empire, but most famously for the Khedive of Egypt, viceroy of Egypt from 1805 to 1914.Adam Mestyan"Khedive" ''Encyclopaedi ...

's bronze

star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

and the fourth class of the

Order of the Medjidie Order of the Medjidie (, August 29, 1852 – 1922) was a military and civilian order of the Ottoman Empire. The order was instituted in 1851 by Sultan Abdulmejid I. History Instituted in 1851, the order was awarded in five classes, with the Firs ...

. While surveying the area of

Safed Safed (), also known as Tzfat (), is a city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of up to , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and in Israel. Safed has been identified with (), a fortif ...

in July 1875, Conder and his party were attacked by local residents and Conder sustained a serious

head injury A head injury is any injury that results in trauma to the skull or brain. The terms ''traumatic brain injury'' and ''head injury'' are often used interchangeably in the medical literature. Because head injuries cover such a broad scope of inju ...

which left him bedridden for a while and unable to return to Palestine. The work of surveying the country of Palestine commenced again only in late February 1877, without Conder.H.H. Kitchener
Survey of Galilee
''Palestine Exploration Quarterly Statement'' (1878), pp. 159–174. Claude Reignier Conder

Publications

* 1878: ''Tent Work in Palestine'' * 1879: ''Judas Maccabæus, and the Jewish War of Independence'' * 1880: ''Memoires: The Survey of Western and Eastern Palestine'' * 1883: ''Heth and Moab, Explorations in Syria in 1881 and 1882'' * 1886: ''Syrian Stone-lore, Or, The Monumental History of Palestine'' * 1887: ''Altaic Hieroglyphs and Hittite Inscriptions'' * 1889: ''Palestine'' * 1889: ''The Survey of Eastern Palestine, Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, Archaeology, Etc.'' * 1893: ''The Tell Amarna Tablets'' * 1896: ''The Bible and the East'' * 1897: ''The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem'' * 1898: ''The Hittites and their Language'' * 1900: ''The Hebrew Tragedy'' * 1902: ''The First Bible'' * 1909: ''The City of Jerusalem''

Books (with online access)

*Conder, Claude Reignier (1879)
Tent Work in Palestine
', vol 1 *Conder, Claude Reignier (1879)
Tent Work in Palestine
', vol 2 * (The full text, archive.org, Can download PDF) * (The full text, archive.org, Can download PDF) *Conder, Claude Reignier and H.H. Kitchener (1881):
The Survey of Western Palestine: memoirs of the topography, orography, hydrography, and archaeology
'' London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. vol 3 The full text, archive.org, Can download PDF. * * * * *

Articles (with online access)

* * *

References

* *

External links

* * *
Profile
at PEF website
Claude Reignier Conder
at Find a Grave {{DEFAULTSORT:Conder, Claude Reignier 1848 births 1910 deaths English explorers Royal Engineers officers Military personnel from Cheltenham Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich Alumni of University College London Palestinologists British historical geographers