David Urquhart

David Urquhart (* 1805 in Braelangwell, Cromarty, Scotland, † May 16, 1877 in Naples) was a Scottish politician and publicist.

David Urquhart was educated at Oxford, went to Greece in 1827 with Lord Cochrane, witnessed the attack on Salona and returned in 1829 to Constantinople Opel back to England. In his book of travels Observations on European Turkey he sought to show that the Eastern policy of Russia endangers the interests of Great Britain.

After recent trips to the Orient he tried in his book Turkey and its resources in 1834 as well as in several smaller booklets demonstrate that the maintenance of the Turkish Empire was in the interest of the Western powers, particularly the British trade relations. Appointed by Lord Palmerston to the secretary of legation in Constantinople Opel in 1835, he covered in the mysterious portfolio allegedly secret plans of Russia.

Already in 1836 he returned to Britain, where he presented writings against the political system Palmerston, among other things, with exposure of the affairs of Central Asia (London 1840), exposure of the boundary differences in between Great Britain and the United States ( Glasgow 1840) and Paris La crise, ou la France devant les quatre Puissances (Paris 1840).

From 1847 to 1852 Urquhart was a member of the lower house. In 1852 he was not re-elected, his candidacy for the parliamentary elections of 1854 was unsuccessful. Since then he has curtailed his public appearances and his literary activity. He died on May 16, 1877 in Naples.

Publications

• Spirit of the East: Travels through Roumeli (1839, 2 vols. )
• Travels in Spain and Morocco (1849, 2 volumes)
• Progress of Russia in the West, North and South (1853, German, Kassel 1854)
• Recent events in the East (1854 )
• Turkish Bath (1856, new ed 1865)
• The Lebanon, a history and a diary (1860 ).