Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Percy, Henry Algernon George
PERCY, HENRY ALGERNON GEORGE, Earl Percy (1871–1909), politician and traveller, born at 25 (now 28) Grosvenor Square, London, on 21 Jan. 1871, was eldest son of Henry George Percy, Earl Percy, who became seventh duke of Northumberland in succession to his father in 1899. As Lord Warkworth he won at Eton the prize for English verse, and at Christ Church, Oxford, first class honours in classical moderations in 1891 and literæ humaniores in 1893, his class in the latter school being reputed one of the best of the year. He also obtained at Oxford in 1892 the Newdigate prize for English verse on the subject of St. Francis of Assisi, and his recitation of his poem in the Sheldonian Theatre was long remembered as one of the most impressive of these performances. In 1895 he contested Berwick-on-Tweed as a conservative without success against Sir Edward Grey, but later in the year was chosen at a bye-election for South Kensington, which he represented continuously till his death. Marked out from the first as a debater of ability, industry, and independence, he soon became conspicuous in a group of conservatives who sometimes adopted a critical attitude towards their leaders, and, in view of his future prospects, few felt surprise when, on Mr. Balfour becoming prime minister in July 1902, Earl Percy (as he had been styled since his father's succession to the dukedom in 1899) was appointed parliamentary under-secretary for India. Approving himself in this office by the immense pains which he took to master matters proper to his department, he passed to foreign affairs as under-secretary of state on the reconstruction of Mr. Balfour's cabinet in October 1903. Since his chief. Lord Lansdowne, was in the upper house. Lord Percy had occasion to appear prominently in the commons and to prove both his capacity and his independence, especially in dealing with Near Eastern matters, which had long engaged his interest, and had induced him once and again to visit Turkish soil.
Travel in the Near East divided his interests with politics. In 1895 he first visited the Ottoman dominions, when he returned with Lord Encombe from Persia though Baghdad and Damascus. He went back to Turkey in 1897 to make with Sir John Stirling Maxwell and Mr. Lionel Holland a journey through Asia Minor to Erzerum, Van, the Nestorian valleys, and the wilder parts of central Kurdistan. He returned by Mosul, Diarbekr, and Aleppo, and published his experiences in 'Notes of a Diary in Asiatic Turkey' (1898), a volume which showed strong but discriminating Turcophilism, sensitiveness to the scenic grandeur of the regions traversed, and growing interest in their history and archaeology. True to the traditions of his family, he began to collect antiques, particularly cylinder seals; and subsequently extending his interest to Egypt, he applied himself to the study of hieroglyphics.
His most important tour in Turkey was undertaken in 1899. He then made his way with his cousin, Mr. Algernon Heber Percy, through Asia Minor and up the course of the southern source of the Euphrates to Bitlis and his Nestorian friends of Hakkiari. Thence he went on into the Alps of Jelu Dagh, traversing a little-known part of Kurdistan near the Turco-Persian border, and passed by Neri to Altin Keupri, whence he descended the Lesser Zab and Tigris on a raft to Baghdad. On his way out he had been received by Sultan Abdul Hamid. His second book, 'The Highlands of Asiatic Turkey' (1901), was inspired by his old sympathy for Turks, but also by a deepened sense of the evils of Hamidism, whose downfall he foresaw. Intolerant equally of Armenian and of Russian aspirations, he advocated agreement with Germany on Ottoman affairs.
He was in Macedonia in 1902, when appointed to office, and returned home through a wild part of North Albania, although not followed by the large Turkish escort which the solicitude of the Porte had prescribed for him. Thereafter parliamentary duties prevented him from making other than short recess tours, during one of which he took a motor-boat up the Nile, to practise for a projected cruise on the Euphrates, which he did not live to achieve. On Macedonian and indeed all Ottoman affairs his authority was acknowledged, although his views were not always welcome to the advocates of the rayah nationalists. An effective and thoughtful though not ambitious or frequent speaker, and a forceful but reserved personality, he had come to be regarded as a future leader in his party, when, to general sorrow, he died of pneumonia on 30 Dec. 1909, while passing through Paris on his way to Normandy. He was unmarried. He became a trustee of the National Portrait Gallery in 1901, and received in 1907 the degree of D.C.L. from the University of Durham.
[The Times, 31 Dec. 1909; private information.]