Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 11.djvu/192

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. XL MAR. 6, 1915.


it is to be found in Lord Hopton's account of one of his campaigns, written for Lord Clarendon, when he is describing the battle of Lansdown, in 1643 (Clarendon MSS., vol. xxiii., No. 1738 [4]) as follows:

" Sir William Waller in the meantime [June, 1643] holding his quarters about Bathe, whither there came to his assistance Sir Arthur Hazleridge with a verie strong regiment of extraordinarily armed horse, by the Royalists surnamed the ' lobsters,' because of the bright iron shell with which they were all covered."

- It would be difficult to allege that "lob- sters ' ' was a complimentary term ; but one more quotation will render the matter clearer still. William Lilly, the Parlia- mentary astrologer, who was born in 1602 and died in 1681, has left a little history of his life and times, which, among other curious matters, contains a thumbnail sketch of Cromwell's life. Lilly says of Marston Moor that

" the honour of that day's fight was given to Manchester, Sir Thomas Fairfax his brigade of horse, and Oliver Cromwell his Iron Sides, for Cromwell's horse in those times usually wore head pieces, back and breast plates of iron."

The term " Ironsides " does not appear to have been at all a common one until modern times. If any reader of 'N. & Q.' is aware of other contemporary instances of the term, I shall be grateful if he will quote them. J. B. WILLIAMS.


ENGLISH CONSULS IN ALEPPO,

1582-1850.

THE first English Consul in Aleppo was an English merchant named William Barrett, who seems to have been appointed about 1582. The consulates in Turkey were subject to many vicissitudes and changes in the course of the subsequent three cen- turies, and owing to the constant alterations in status, or in the districts attached to Consuls and their subordinate Vice -Consuls and Factors Marine, it is not easy to make an exact list. The names of persons con- stantly appear as Consuls who were probably occupying an "acting" position during the absence on leave of the actual official. Residents in the Levant were subject to many great inconveniences during times of war and pestilence, and on some occasions the Consul was obliged to leave his post. During the Turko- Egyptian War at the beginning of the nineteenth century the Consulate of Aleppo seems to have been abandoned for some time.


William Barrett .. Anthony Bate Bartholomew Haggett Libby [Livy ?] Chapman Edward Kirkham ,

Thomas Potter John Wandesford Edward Barnard . . Henry Biley Benjamin Lannoy Gamaliel Nightingale Thomas Metcalf Henry Hastings . . George Brandon . . William Pilkington John Purnell Henry Nevil Coxe Nathaniel Micklethwaite Arthur Pollard Alexander Drummond . William Kinloch


1582-1584 1584-1587 1587-1616 1616-1622 1622-1627 1627-1630 1630-1639 1639-1649 1649-1660 1660-1674 (?)> .(?) 1674-1685 1685-1689 1691-1701 1701-1707 1707-1717 1717-1727 1727-1739 1739-1746 1746-1751 1751-1759 1759-1765


According to Almon's ' Royal Kalendar/ a certain Alexander Kinloch was holding the position of Consul at Aleppo in 1757. The Rev. Dr. Christie has also discovered refer- ences to a certain Francis Browne, who died' in 1758, as Consul. The Consulates of Aleppo and Cyprus were for a time united 1 about this period, and the succession of names is not very clear.

William Clarke .. .. 1768-1770

John Abbot . . . . 1771-1783 1

David Hay, Pro-Consul 1783-1785 Charles Smith .. 1785-1806

John Barker . . 1806-1830

Peter Abbot . . 1830-1835

Nathaniel W. Werry . . 1835-1841 Niven Moore, C.B., Consul 1841-1855

Mr. John Barker (1806 and 1830) seems afterwards to have held the consular appoint- ment in Egypt, but attachment to the scene of his former labours induced him to settle at Suweidiyeh, on the north bank of the Orontes, not far from the road between Alexandretta and Aleppo.

" It is a lovely spot. European taste has been grafted on Oriental luxuriance, and has converted an ordinary tract of level ground into a paradise- One here sees what Syria might become under proper management. The industry and pros- perity exhibited were mainly owing to the enter- prising spirit of the late Mr. Barker, formerly English Consul in Egypt. He built a house, formed gardens, planted orchards and vineyards,, and spent the last days of a long and active life "n this his Eastern home/'

Thus wrote the Rev. J. L. Porter in the old edition of John Murray's ' Guide ' to- Palestine, published in 1858. The traces of Mr. Barker's pleasant residence in this place have long since disappeared, and the village of Suweidiyeh has once more reverted to its native conditions.

GEO. JEFFERY, F.S.A.,

Curator Ancient Monuments- Nicosia, Cyprus.