1. David Urquhart was a British diplomat, writer and politician, serving as a Member of Parliament for Stafford from 1847 to 1852.
17 Facts About David Urquhart
1. 2.
David Urquhart was an early promoter in the United Kingdom of the hammam which he came across in Morocco and Turkey.
3.
David Urquhart was the second son of Margaret Hunter and David Urquhart.
4.
David Urquhart returned to Britain in 1821 and spent a gap year learning to farm and working at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich.
5.
David Urquhart never completed his classics degree as his mother's finances failed.
6.
In 1827, David Urquhart joined the nationalist cause and fought in the Greek War of Independence.
7.
David Urquhart found himself increasingly attracted to Turkish civilisation and culture, becoming alarmed at the threat of Russian intervention in the region.
8.
David Urquhart's campaigning, including the publication of Turkey and its Resources, culminated in his appointment on a trade mission to the region in 1833.
9.
David Urquhart struck such an intimate relationship with the government in Istanbul that he became outspoken in his calls for British intervention on behalf of the Sultan against Muhammad Ali of Egypt in opposition to the policy of Canning.
10.
David Urquhart was recalled by Palmerston just as he published his anti-Moscow pamphlet England, France, Russia and Turkey which brought him into conflict with Richard Cobden.
11.
David Urquhart was the self-proclaimed designer of the Circassian national flag.
12.
In 1838, Urquhart published a book, Spirit of the East, where he examines Turkey and Greece, while drawing on work previously done by Arthur Lumley Davids.
13.
David Urquhart was against the imposition of sanitary reform, and vehemently opposed the passage of the Public Health Act 1848.
14.
The action of the United Kingdom in the Crimean War provoked indignant protests from David Urquhart, who contended that Turkey was in a position to fight her own battles without the assistance of other powers.
15.
In 1854, David Urquhart married Harriet Angelina Fortescue, an Anglo-Irish aristocrat.
16.
In 1857, David Urquhart built the first such bath in England at Broughton Lane, Manchester, in conjunction with the local foreign affairs committee.
17.
David Urquhart died in 1877 and is buried in Clarens.