Gifford Palgrave

William Gifford Palgrave (/ˈpælɡreɪv, ˈpɔːl-/;[1] 24 January 1826 – 30 September 1888)[2][3] was an English priest, soldier, diplomat, traveller, and Arabist.

He was educated at Charterhouse School, then occupying its original site near Smithfield, and under the head-mastership of Dr. Saunders, afterwards Dean of Peterborough.

Among other honours he won the school gold medal for classical verse, and proceeded to Trinity College, Oxford, where he obtained a scholarship, graduating First Class Lit.

[4] Palgrave convinced his superiors to support a mission to the interior of Arabia, which at that time was terra incognita to the rest of the world.

[4] Stocking his bags with medicines and small trade goods, and accompanied by one servant, he set off for Najd, in north-central Arabia.

He then entered the British Foreign Office and was appointed consul at Sukhum-Kale (Sukhumi) in 1866, and moved to Trebizond (Trabzon) in 1867.