Laurence Oliphant (author)
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Laurence Oliphant (3 August 1829 – 23 December 1888), a Member of Parliament, was a South African-born British author, traveller,
diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...
, British intelligence agent, Christian mystic, and Christian Zionist. His best known book in his lifetime was a satirical novel, ''Piccadilly'' (1870). More heed has gone since to his plan for Jewish farming communities in the Holy Land, ''The Land of Gilead''. Oliphant was a UK Member of Parliament for Stirling Burghs.


Early life

Laurence Oliphant was born in
Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...
,
Cape Colony The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...
, the only child of Sir Anthony Oliphant (1793–1859), a member of the Scottish landed gentry, and his wife Maria. At the time of his son's birth Sir Anthony was Attorney General of the
Cape Colony The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...
, but he was soon appointed Chief Justice in
Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
. Laurence spent his early childhood in
Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...
, where his father purchased a home called Alcove in Captains Gardens, subsequently known as Maha Nuge Gardens. Sir Anthony and his son have been credited with bringing
tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...
to Ceylon and growing 30 tea plants brought over from
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
on the Oliphant Estate in
Nuwara Eliya Nuwara Eliya ( ; ) is a city in the hill country of the Central Province, Sri Lanka. Its name means "city on the plain (table land)" or "city of light". The city is the administrative capital of Nuwara Eliya District, with a picturesque landsc ...
. In 1848 and 1849, he and his parents toured Europe. In 1851, he accompanied Jung Bahadur from
Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...
to
Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...
, which provided the material for his first book, ''A Journey to Katmandu'' (1852). Oliphant returned to Ceylon and from there went to England to study law. Oliphant left his legal studies to travel in
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
. The outcome of that tour was his book ''The Russian Shores of the Black Sea'' (1853). Oliphant's parents were Christian Zionists.


Diplomatic and utopian pursuits

Between 1853 and 1861 Oliphant was secretary to Lord Elgin during the negotiation of the
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in Washington, and companion to the
Duke of Newcastle Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne was a title that was created three times, once in the Peerage of England and twice in the Peerage of Great Britain. The first grant of the title was made in 1665 to William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle, Willi ...
on a visit to the
Circassia Circassia ( ), also known as Zichia, was a country and a historical region in . It spanned the western coastal portions of the North Caucasus, along the northeastern shore of the Black Sea. Circassia was conquered by the Russian Empire during ...
n coast during the
Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...
. In 1861, Oliphant was appointed First Secretary of the British Legation in Japan under Minister Plenipotentiary (later Sir) Rutherford Alcock. He arrived in
Edo Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...
at the end of June, but on the evening of 5 July, a night-time attack was made on the legation by xenophobic ronin. His
pistol A pistol is a type of handgun, characterised by a gun barrel, barrel with an integral chamber (firearms), chamber. The word "pistol" derives from the Middle French ''pistolet'' (), meaning a small gun or knife, and first appeared in the Englis ...
s having been locked in their travelling box, Oliphant rushed out with a hunting whip, and was attacked by a ronin with a heavy two-handed sword. A beam, invisible in the darkness, interfered with the blows, but Oliphant was severely wounded and sent on board ship to recover. He had to return to England after a visit to Tsushima Island, where he discovered a Russian force occupying a secluded bay and obtained its withdrawal. The attack on the legation left him with permanent damage to one of his hands. He was sent to Poland in 1863 as a British observer to report on the
January Uprising The January Uprising was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at putting an end to Russian occupation of part of Poland and regaining independence. It began on 22 January 1863 and continued until the last i ...
. Oliphant returned to England, resigned from the Diplomatic Service and was elected to Parliament in 1865 for Stirling Burghs. While he did not show any conspicuous parliamentary ability, he was made a great success by his novel ''Piccadilly: A Fragment of Contemporary Biography'' (1870). Oliphant's later novels include ''Altiora Peto'' (1883) and ''Masollam: A Problem of the Period'' (1886). He then became connected to the spiritualist prophet Thomas Lake Harris, who, in about 1861, had organised a small Christian utopian community, the Brotherhood of the New Life, which was settled in
Brocton, New York Brocton is a Village (New York), village in Chautauqua County, New York, Chautauqua County, New York (state), New York, United States. The name was derived by combining the names "Brockway" and "Minton", two prominent local families. The populatio ...
, on
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, and he subsequently moved to
Santa Rosa, California Santa Rosa (Spanish language, Spanish for "Rose of Lima, Saint Rose") is a city in and the county seat of Sonoma County, California, Sonoma County, in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay A ...
. After initially being refused permission to join Harris in 1867, he was eventually allowed to join his community, and Oliphant caused a scandal by leaving Parliament in 1868 to follow Harris to Brocton. He lived there for several years engaged in what Harris termed the 'Use', manual labour aimed at forwarding his utopian vision. Members of the community were allowed to return to the outside world from time to time to earn money for the community. After three years, Oliphant worked as correspondent for ''
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 ...
'' during the
Franco-German War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Jan ...
, and afterwards spent several years in Paris in the service of the paper. There he met, through his mother, his future wife, Alice le Strange. They married at
St George's, Hanover Square St George's, Hanover Square, is an Church of England, Anglican church, the parish church of Mayfair in the City of Westminster, central London, built in the early eighteenth century as part of a project to build fifty new churches around London ...
, London, on 8 June 1872.Anne Taylor (1982). ''Laurence Oliphant''. Open University Press. In 1873, Oliphant went back to Brocton with his wife and mother. Later, he and his mother had a falling out with Harris and demanded their money back, which had allegedly been derived mainly from the sale of Lady Maris Oliphant's jewels. That forced Harris to sell the Brocton colony, and his remaining disciples moved to their new colony in Santa Rosa, California. In 1876 Oliphant returned to England while his wife, Alice, chose to remain with the Brotherhood of the New Life in Brocton. By 1878 Oliphant, caught up in a wave of Western concern that Russia intended to conquer the Middle East, devised a "Plan for Gilead" under which Britain would plant a Jewish agricultural colony "in the northern and more fertile half of Palestine" and enlisted the approval of Prime Minister
Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman, Conservative politician and writer who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creat ...
, a supporter of Zionism; Foreign Minister Salisbury, the Prince of Wales; and the novelist
George Eliot Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wrot ...
. Oliphant, credentialed by the British government, set sail in 1879 to investigate conditions for establishing a Jewish agricultural settlement in Palestine. Oliphant would later come to see Jewish agricultural settlements as a means of alleviating Jewish suffering in Eastern Europe. In May 1879, Oliphant was in
Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
in the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
, petitioning the
Sublime Porte The Sublime Porte, also known as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte ( or ''Babıali''; ), was a synecdoche or metaphor used to refer collectively to the central government of the Ottoman Empire in Istanbul. It is particularly referred to the buildi ...
for permission to establish a Jewish agricultural colony in the
Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...
and settling large numbers of Jews there (this was prior to the first wave of Jewish settlement by Zionists in 1882). He did not see it as an impossible task in view of the large numbers of Christian believers in the United States and England who supported that plan. With financial support from
Christadelphians The Christadelphians () are a Restorationism, restorationist and Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Biblical unitarianism, (Biblical Unitarian) Christian denomination. The name means 'brothers and sisters in Christ',"The Christadelphians, or breth ...
and others in Britain, Oliphant amassed sufficient funding to purchase land and settle Jewish refugees in the
Galilee Galilee (; ; ; ) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon consisting of two parts: the Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and the Lower Galilee (, ; , ). ''Galilee'' encompasses the area north of the Mount Carmel-Mount Gilboa ridge and ...
. While awaiting an appointment with the
Sublime Porte The Sublime Porte, also known as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte ( or ''Babıali''; ), was a synecdoche or metaphor used to refer collectively to the central government of the Ottoman Empire in Istanbul. It is particularly referred to the buildi ...
, Oliphant traveled to
Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
to discuss his proposed agricultural settlements with the Jewish communities there. The long-awaited meeting with the
Sublime Porte The Sublime Porte, also known as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte ( or ''Babıali''; ), was a synecdoche or metaphor used to refer collectively to the central government of the Ottoman Empire in Istanbul. It is particularly referred to the buildi ...
finally took place in April 1880, and Oliphant's plan was dismissed. In the opinion of Henry Layard, British Ambassador to the Sublime Porte at the time of Oliphant's visit, the effort failed because Oliphant spoke about how the return of the Jews to Palestine would bring the second coming of Jesus – language and ideas that the Sultan found uncongenial. When a wave of
pogroms A pogrom is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe late 19th- and early 20th-century attacks on Jews i ...
swept the Russian Empire in 1881, most notably the Kiev pogrom, charitable funds were raised in London under the aegis of the Mansion House Committee, a group created for the purpose. When the committee announced that the funds would be used to help the Jewish refugees resettle in America, Oliphant published an article in
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 ...
on February 15, 1881, asserting that Jews who chose to settle in Palestine would have their religion safeguarded; his article met with such enthusiasm among Polish and Russian Jews that the Mansion House Committee appointed him commissioner to Galicia. Oliphant and his wife, Alice, who had reunited in 1882, traveled to Vienna and Galicia, meeting with representatives of Eastern Jews and promising that "as soon as your Christian sympathizers in England are convinced the Jews fleeing from Russia can settle with safety in the land of their ancestors, then they will contribute thousands, I may well say, hundreds of thousands of pounds to promote this great object." Oliphant had by this point become something of a celebrity among Jews in Eastern Europe. He was spoken of as "another
Cyrus Cyrus () is a Persian-language masculine given name. It is historically best known as the name of several List of monarchs of Iran, Persian kings, most notably including Cyrus the Great, who founded the Achaemenid Empire in 550 BC. It remains wid ...
" and a "saviour". His settlement plans were published by the early Zionist newspaper Hamagid, written up by Peretz Smolenskin in '' Ha-Shaḥar'', and Moses Lilienblum expressed the hope that Oliphant would be "the Messiah for Israel." According to historian Nathan Michael Gelber, "you could find in the houses of poor Jews a picture of Oliphant. It would be hung right next to the pictures of the great philanthropists
Moses Montefiore Sir Moses Haim Montefiore, 1st Baronet, (24 October 1784 – 28 July 1885) was a British financier and banker, activist, Philanthropy, philanthropist and Sheriffs of the City of London, Sheriff of London. Born to an History ...
and Baron Hirsch." Despite the fact that the Sublime Porte had given no permission for the building of Jewish agricultural settlements, in May 1882 the Oliphants began a journey to Palestine, traveling through Budapest to Moldave, where they paused to meet Rabbi Avrohom Yaakov Friedman whom Oliphant understood to be "the leader of world Jewry", hoping to persuade him to raise sufficient funds to purchase Palestine from the Ottoman Emperor. The Oliphants settled in Palestine, dividing their time between a house in the German Colony in
Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...
, and another in the Druze village of Daliyat al-Karmel on
Mount Carmel Mount Carmel (; ), also known in Arabic as Mount Mar Elias (; ), is a coastal mountain range in northern Israel stretching from the Mediterranean Sea towards the southeast. The range is a UNESCO biosphere reserve. A number of towns are situat ...
. Oliphant's secretary Naftali Herz Imber, author of the Israeli national anthem, Hatikva, lived with them.Streetwise: Rehov Oliphant, Haifa
Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is an English-language Israeli broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Je ...
''
In the Holy Land, they were in touch with the Jewish pioneers of the
First Aliyah The First Aliyah (), also known as the agriculture Aliyah, was a major wave of Jewish immigration (''aliyah'') to History of Israel#Ottoman period , Ottoman Palestine (region) , Palestine between 1881 and 1903. Jews who migrated in this wave cam ...
, donating 1,000 roubles to the founding settlers of Yesud HaMa'ala. He is regarded as having been "central" to "the establishment and survival" of Rosh Pinna and
Zikhron Ya'akov Zikhron Ya'akov () often shortened to just Zikhron, is a local council (Israel), town in northern Israel, south of the city of Haifa, and part of the Haifa District. It is located at the southern end of the Mount Carmel, Carmel mountain range over ...
.


Esoteric writings

Laurence and his wife Alice collaborated on a work of
esoteric Christianity Esoteric Christianity is a mystical approach to Christianity which features "secret traditions" that require an initiation to learn or understand. The term ''esoteric'' was coined in the 17th century and derives from the Greek (, "inner"). Th ...
, which was published in 1885 as ''Sympneumata, or Evolutionary Forces Now Active in Man''. Influenced by the American mystic Thomas Lake Harris as well as spiritualists Anna Kingsford and Edward Maitland, ''Sympneumata'' is founded on an interpretation of the Fall whereby the human soul was originally androgynous but became divided into male and female counterparts upon being encased in physical bodies. In ''Sympneumata'' the Oliphants emphasise the need to locate ones physical and spiritual counterparts through a breathing practice, with the aim of unlocking the androgyne within through 'vibratory' motion. In December 1885, Alice became ill and died on 2 January 1886. Oliphant, also stricken, was too weak to attend her funeral. Oliphant was persuaded that after Alice's death he was in much closer contact with her than when she was still alive, and believed that she inspired him to write ''Scientific Religion: Or, Higher Possibilities of Life and Practice Through the Operation of Natural Forces'', which was published in November 1887.


Final years

In 1888, Oliphant traveled to the United States and married his second wife, Rosamond, a granddaughter of
Robert Owen Robert Owen (; 14 May 1771 – 17 November 1858) was a Welsh textile manufacturer, philanthropist, political philosopher and social reformer, and a founder of utopian socialism and the cooperative movement, co-operative movement. He strove to ...
in Malvern. The couple planned to return to Haifa, but Oliphant took sick at York House, Twickenham, England, and died there on 23 December 1888. His obituary in ''
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 ...
'' said of him, "Seldom has there been a more romantic or amply filled career; never, perhaps, a stranger or more apparently contradictory personality."


Legacy

In 2000 Alice Oliphant's watercolours showing Haifa as it was in the late 19th century were shown in a special exhibition entitled "The Drawing Room of Lady Oliphant" at the Israeli National Maritime Museum. Paintings by Alice's sister, Jamesina Waller made during her visit to the Holy Land were also on display. The ''
Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is an English-language Israeli broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Je ...
s art critic, Angela Levine, deemed Lady Alice's watercolours, "charming but amateurish." In 2003, Ticho House in Jerusalem mounted an exhibit of the Holy Land paintings of Alice Oliphant and her sister Jesamine Waller.


Books

*''A Journey to Kathmandu (the Capital of Napaul), with The Camp of Jung Bahadoor; including A Sketch of the Nepaulese Ambassador at Home '' is a travelogue written in 1852. The book describes the cultural condition of Nepal, however the book is not considered of scientific value. Oliphant then a 21-year-old son of colonial of
Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...
joined the team of
Jang Bahadur Rana Jung Bahadur Rana, , was born Bir Narsingh Kunwar (1817-1877). His mother, Ganesh Kumari, was the daughter of Kaji Nain Singh Thapa, the brother of Mukhtiyar Bhimsen Thapa from the prominent Thapa dynasty. During his lifetime, Jung Bahadur eli ...
who was returning to
Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...
from
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
with his two younger brothers, Jagat Shamsher and Dhir Shamsher. The team had a stop at Ceylon in December 1850 from where Oliphant accompanied. The book is under public domain since 6 Jul 2005. *
Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission to China and Japan in the Years 1857, '58, '59
' (1860) *
Piccadilly: A Fragment of Contemporary Biography
' (1870) *
Altiora Peto
' (1883) *
Sympneumata, or Evolutionary Forces Now Active in Man
' (1885) *''Haifa or Life in Modern Palestine'' (Jerusalem: Yad Izhak Ben Zvi, 1976 885. Illustrated with watercolors by Lady Alice Oliphant. *
Masollam: A Problem of the Period
' (1886) *
Scientific Religion: Or, Higher Possibilities of Life and Practice Through the Operation of Natural Forces
' (1887)


References


Further reading

* Mrs (Margaret) Oliphant (his cousin), ''Memoir of the Life of Laurence Oliphant and of Alice Oliphant, his Wife'' (1891). * Philip Henderson, ''The Life of Laurence Oliphant'' (Robert Hale Ltd, London, 1956). * Bart Casey, ''The Double Life of Laurence Oliphant: Victorian Pilgrim and Prophet'' (Post Hill Press, New York, 2015). *
Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher, considered an authority on the order of precedence of noble families and information on the lesser nobility of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish genea ...
, Oliphant of that Ilk *
Burke's Landed Gentry ''Burke's Landed Gentry'' (originally titled ''Burke's Commoners'') is a reference work listing families in Great Britain and Ireland who have owned rural estates of some size. The work has been in existence from the first half of the 19th cen ...
, Oliphant of Condie


External links

* * * *
Laurence Oliphant
at ElectricScotland.com/webclans * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oliphant, Laurence 1829 births 1888 deaths Aliyah British expatriates in Japan Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies Writers from Haifa UK MPs 1865–1868 People from British Ceylon Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Stirling constituencies British expatriates in the Ottoman Empire South African people of Scottish descent Writers from Cape Town 19th-century British diplomats British Christian Zionists 19th-century Scottish writers Esoteric Christianity