Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Crawfurd, Oswald John Frederick
CRAWFURD, OSWALD JOHN FREDERICK (1834–1909), author, born at Wilton Crescent, London, on 18 March 1834, was son of John Crawford [q. v.], diplomatist, by his wife Horatia Ann (d. 1855), daughter of James Perry, editor of the 'Morning Chronicle,' and god-daughter of Lord Nelson. Educated at Eton, he matriculated at Merton College, Oxford, in 1854, but left the university without a degree. Nominated on 12 Jan., and appointed, after examination, on 23 Jan. 1857, to a junior clerkship in the foreign office, he was sent in April 1866 as acting consul to Oporto. He became consul there on 13 Jan. 1867, and filled the post efficiently for the next twenty-four years. On 1 Jan. 1890 he was made C.M.G. While at Oporto he spent his leisure in sport and literary work. In addition to several novels he published three sympathetic but sketchy studies of Portuguese life, which are of interest for their accounts of the Portuguese rustic and of country sports in Portugal: 'Travels in Portugal,' under the pseudonym John Latouche (1875; 3rd edit. 1878), 'Portugal Old and New' (1880; 2nd edit. 1882), and 'Round the Calendar in Portugal' (1890). Crawfurd's last two years (1890-1) in Portugal were of exceptional difficulty. An ultimatum from Lord Salisbury (Jan. 1890), the result of the occupation by Portuguese troops of British territory in East Africa, led to an outburst of anti-British feeling, more violent in Oporto than in other Portuguese towns. Crawfurd's house was stoned, but he carried on his duties till the trouble subsided, and then on 17 June 1891 resigned. Returning to England, he devoted himself entirely to literature. He died at Montreux on 31 Jan. 1909.
Crawfurd married (1) Margaret (d. 1899), younger daughter of Richard Ford [q. v.], author of the 'Handbook to Spain,' by whom he had one son who died in infancy; (2) in 1902, Lita Browne, daughter of Hermann von Flesch Brunningen. His second wife survived him.
Although literature was for Crawfurd merely a recreation, his literary activity was many-sided. A novelist, an essayist, a poet, and an anthologist, he was also a frequent contributor under his own name and under pseudonyms to 'The Times' and leading reviews; he edited for some years the 'New Quarterly Magazine' (1873) and 'Chapman's Magazine of Fiction' (1895, &c.), and had some experience of publishing, being an original director of 'Black and White,' founded in 1891, and, through his friendship with Frederic Chapman [q. v. Suppl. I], a director and then managing director of Chapman & Hall, Limited a post for which he lacked qualification. Of his novels 'Sylvia Arden' (1877) was the best known. In others like 'The World we Live In' (1884), 'In Green Fields' (1906), and 'The Mystery of Myrtle Cottage' (1908), he discussed political and social questions. His plays, 'Two Masques' (1902) and 'The Sin of Prince Eladane ' (1903), are marked by a studied choice of diction and some capacity for verse, but lack dramatic quality. Crawfurd also compiled 'Laws of Opposition Bridge' (1906).
[The Times, 2 Feb. 1909; Athenæum, 4 Feb. 1909; Allibone's Diet, of Eng. Lit., 1891; Foreign Office List, 1900; Black and White, 5 Feb. 1909; Who's Who, 1908; private information.]