George Percy Badger (6 April 1815 – 21 February 1888) was an English

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

, and a scholar of oriental studies. He is mainly known for his doctrinal and historical studies about the Church of the East.

Life

''George Percy Badger'' was born at

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Colchester and Southend-on-Sea. It is located north-east of London ...

on 6 April 1815. His father served in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

and in 1821 his

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, military service, service, or administrative corps, specialisation. In Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of l ...

was transferred in

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

. After his father's death in 1823, George's mother decided to raise her sons in Malta, thus George Badger passed there his youth where he learned the

Maltese language Maltese (, also or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language derived from Siculo-Arabic, late medieval Sicilian Arabic with Romance languages, Romance Stratum (linguistics), superstrata. It is the only Semitic languages, Semitic language pred ...

and

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

, which he studied also in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

from 1835. On 8 January 1840 Badger married Maria Wilcox in

Valletta Valletta ( ; , ) is the capital city of Malta and one of its 68 Local councils of Malta, council areas. Located between the Grand Harbour to the east and Marsamxett Harbour to the west, its population as of 2021 was 5,157. As Malta’s capital ...

. He returned to England in 1841, and after some theological studies at the Church Missionary College,

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

, he was ordained Anglican priest in 1842. For his knowledge of the

Near East The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...

he was appointed by the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

as delegate to the Christians of Church of the East in

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

and

Kurdistan Kurdistan (, ; ), or Greater Kurdistan, is a roughly defined geo- cultural region in West Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages, and national identity have historically been based. G ...

, and in this work he was engaged for three years. On his return to England in 1845 he was appointed chaplain in

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

. Thence he was transferred to

Aden Aden () is a port city located in Yemen in the southern part of the Arabian peninsula, on the north coast of the Gulf of Aden, positioned near the eastern approach to the Red Sea. It is situated approximately 170 km (110 mi) east of ...

, where he chiefly resided during the remainder of his term of service. He served as staff chaplain and Arabic interpreter to the force in the Anglo-Persian War. Badger returned to England in 1861, and in the same year again joined Sir James Outram in the latter's visit to Egypt. In 1862 he left the service, and devoted himself henceforth mainly to literature. In 1872 he left England serving as secretary and interpreter of Sir Bartle Frere in a diplomatic travel in

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 recognition of his various services Badger was, in 1873, created D.C.L. by the

, and Knight of the Crown by King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy in the same year. Badger helped a Catholic priest from

Diyarbakır Diyarbakır is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province. Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortress, it is ...

, Louis Sabunji, to continue his journal, '' Al Nahla'', in London in 1877. Badger died on 21 February 1888, at his residence in London and he was buried in the Kensal Green Cemetery.

Works

Between the years 1839 and 1883 a large number of books were written by George Percy Badger, most of them dealing with

history and literature, and with his travels. Among these may be mentioned ' (1838),
Nestorians and their Rituals
' (1852),
The Travels of Ludovico Varthema in India and the East, A.d. 1503-8
' (1873) (both these for the Hakluyt Society), and an ''English-Arabic Lexicon'' (1881). George Percy Badger translated also a text about Ibadism in 1871: ''History of the Imāms and Seyyids of Omān from A.D. 661-1856'' by Salīl-Ibn- Razīk.Translated from the original Arabic, and edited, with notes, appendices, and an introduction, continuing the history down to 1870. New York: Burt Franklin, n.d. Reprint, 1871. Reprint London: Darf Publishers, 1986. .

Notes

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Badger, George Percy 1815 births 1888 deaths English Anglican missionaries 19th-century English Anglican priests Anglican missionaries in Iraq English military chaplains Anglo-Persian War chaplains Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery Ibadi studies