Edward Delmar Morgan (19 April 1840 – 18 May 1909) was an English explorer, translator and author.

Life

He was born in

Stratford, Essex Stratford is a town and district of West Ham, East London, England, in the London Borough of Newham. Part of the Lower Lea Valley, it is northeast of Charing Cross, and includes Maryland, London, Maryland and East Village, London, East Village ...

, on 19 April 1840 to Edward John Morgan and Mary Anne Parland. He attended

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

from 1854 to 1857. After that, he lived in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

with his parents and learned to speak Russian at that point. He went on to use his fluency in English and Russian to become a translator. On 25 September 1873, he was married to Bertha Jardine and had seven children with her – four sons and three daughters. In his later years, his home was in Copthorne,

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

, which is where he was buried after his death on 18 May 1909. Morgan also travelled in his adult years. In 1872, he traveled in Persia in the company of Sir John Underwood Bateman-Champain (one of the directors of the Indo-European Telegraph Company), and visited Kulja and the surrounding area. He later made expeditions to

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, as he was familiar with the language and literature. In 1883, he travelled to the lower part of the Congo, east Africa, and the

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

oil region of Caucasia. Morgan put is translating skills to work in 1876, and translated Colonel

Nikolay Przhevalsky Nikolay Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky (or Prjevalsky;; , . – ) was a Russian geographer and a renowned explorer of Central and East Asia. Although he never reached his ultimate goal, the city of Lhasa in Tibet, he still travelled through regio ...

’
''Mongolia, the Tangut Country and the Solitudes of Northern Tibet''
from Russian, edited by Sir

Henry Yule Colonel (United Kingdom), Colonel Sir Henry Yule (1 May 1820 – 30 December 1889) was a Scottish Oriental studies, Orientalist and geographer. He published many travel books, including translations of the work of Marco Polo and ''Mirabil ...

. In 1879, he translated ''From Kulja across the Tien Shan (TianShan) to Lobnor'' by Przevalsky, now edited by Sir

Thomas Douglas Forsyth Sir Thomas Douglas Forsyth (7 October 1827 – 17 December 1886) was an Anglo-Indian administrator and diplomat. Early life Forsyth was born in Birkenhead on 7 October 1827. He was the tenth child of Thomas Forsyth, a Liverpool merchant. His ...

. During his years with the

Hakluyt Society The Hakluyt Society is a text publication society, founded in 1846 and based in London, England, which publishes scholarly editions of primary records of historic voyages, travels and other geographical material. In addition to its publishin ...

, he collaborated with C. H. Hoote in editing ''Early Voyages and Travels to Russia and Persia, by Anthony Jenkinson and other Englishmen.'' As well as travelling and translating, Morgan was a fellow of

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

for 40 years and served on its council, contributed to its Journal. He and other members successfully convinced the society above to organize the Sixth International Geographical Congress, which took place in 1895. He was also an honorary secretary of Hakluyt Society from 1886 until 1892. He was also the honorary treasurer for the Ninth International Congress of Orientalists in 1892 in London (under

Max Muller Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE) * Max (gorilla) ( ...

’s presidency) and edited its transactions in 1893.

Sources

Howarth, O. J. R. “Morgan, Edward Delmar (1840–1909).” Rev. Elizabeth Baigent. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. 14 Oct. 2007

External links

* * * 1909 deaths 1840 births Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society People educated at Eton College Russian–English translators 19th-century English translators People from Stratford, London People from Copthorne, West Sussex Writers from the London Borough of Newham {{England-nonfiction-writer-stub