PERCY E. F. W. SMYTHE STRANGFORD

PERCY E. F. W. SMYTHE STRANGFORD (1825-1869), son of PERCY C. S. SMYTHE STRANGFORD, VISCOUNT (1780-1855), diplomatist and noted philologist, born at St. Petersburg; passed through Harrow and Oxford; entered the diplomatic service; became attaché at Constantinople, and during the Crimean War served as Oriental Secretary, acquiring the while a profound grip of the Eastern Question, and an unrivalled knowledge of European and Asiatic languages - Turkish, Persian, Arabic, Slavonic, Afghan, Basque, &c.; succeeded to the title in 1855, and henceforth resided chiefly in London; was President of the Asiatic Society, and was considered by Freeman "our greatest English philologist"; author of various articles on political, geographical, and philological subjects.