contributed to 'Women Novelists of the Nineteenth Century' (1897), and was one of twenty-four authors who wrote without collusion 'The Fate of Fenella,' which appeared serially in the 'Gentlewoman' and was published in 1892.
[Life, by Winifred Stephens, 1905; Roads to Rome, 1901; works and personal knowledge; Athenæum, 10 Dec. 1904.]
SERGEANT, LEWIS (1841–1902), journalist and author, son of John Sergeant, who was at one time a schoolmaster at Cheltenham, by his wife Mary Anne, daughter of George Lewis, was born at Barrow-on-Humber, Lincolnshire, on 10 Nov. 1841. Adeline Sergeant [q. v. Suppl. II.] was Lewis's first cousin, being daughter of Richard Sergeant, his father's brother.
Lewis, after education under a private tutor, matriculated at St. Catharine's College, Cambridge, in 1861, graduating B.A. with mathematical honours in 1865. At the union he distinguished himself as an ardent liberal and supporter of Mr. Gladstone. On leaving college, after a period as assistant master under Dr. Hayman at Cheltenham grammar school, he took to journalism, becoming editor, in succesion, of 'An anti-Game Law Journal,' of the 'Examiner,' and of the 'Hereford Times.' He was afterwards long connected with the 'Athenæum' and with the London 'Daily Chronicle' as leader writer. He became meanwhile a recognised authority on education, was elected to the council of the College of Preceptors, and edited the 'Educational Times' from 1895 to 1902.
Deeply interested in modern Greece, he worked zealously in Greek interests. From 1878 onwards he acted as hon. secretary of the Greek committee in London. He published 'New Greece' in the same year (republished 1879), and ’Greece' in 1880. There followed 'Greece in the Nineteenth Century: a Record of Hellenic Emancipation and Progress, 1821–1897,' with illustrations, in 1897. King George of Greece bestowed on him the Order of the Redeemer in October 1878.
Sergeant's historical writings covered a wide ground, and include:
- 'England's Policy: its Traditions and Problems,' Edinburgh, 1881.
- 'William Pitt,' in 'English Political Leaders ' series, 1882.
- 'John Wyclif,' in 'Heroes of the Nations' series, 1893.
- 'The Franks' in 'Story of the Nations' series, 1898.
He also wrote a volume of verse; a novel, ’The Caprice of Julia' (1898); and other fiction pseudonymously. Sergeant died at Bournemouth on 3 Feb. 1902. He married on 12 April 1871 Emma Louisa, daughter of James Robertson of Cheltenham, and left, with other children, an elder son, Philip Walsingham Sergeant, author of historical biographies.
[The Times, 4 Feb. 1902; Athenæum, 8 Feb. 1902; Sphere (with portrait), 8 Feb. 1902; Who's Who, 1901; Hatton's Journalistic London, 1882; private information.]
SETON, GEORGE (1822–1908), Scottish genealogist, herald, and legal writer, only son of George Seton of the East India Company's service, and Margaret, daughter of James Hunter of Seaside, was born at Perth on 25 June 1822. He was the representative of the Setons of Cariston, senior coheir of Sir Thomas Seton of Olivestob and heir of a line of Mary Seton, one of ’the Four Maries' of the Queen of Scots. He was brought up by his widowed mother, and after attending the High School and University of Edinburgh, entered on 11 Nov. 1841 Exeter College, Oxford (B.A. 1845 and M.A. 1848). He was called to the Scottish bar in 1846, but did not persevere in seeking to obtain a practice. In 1854 he was appointed secretary to the registrar-general for Scotland in Edinburgh, and in 1862 superintendent of t;he civil service examinations in Scotland; he held both offices till 1889. He was one of the founders of the St. Andrews Boat Club (Edinburgh) in 1846, the first vice-chairman of the Society for Improving the Condition of the Poor, a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and of the Society of 'Antiquaries of Scotland. Keenly interested in the characteristics of different 'nations and peoples, he spent much of his time in travelling, visiting Russia, Canada, and South Africa. Over six feet five inches in height, he was also of fine athletic build and lithe and active to an advanced age. Owing to his great height he occupied the position of right-hand man in the royal bodyguard of Scottish archers. He raised in 1859 a company of forty volunteer grenadier artillerymen (Midlothian coast artillery), all over six feet high. He died in Edinburgh on 14 Nov. 1908. By Sarah Elizabeth (d. 1883), second daughter of James Hunter of Thurston, whom he married in 1849, he had a surviving son, George, engaged in Indian tea-planting industry at first in Calcutta and then in London, and three daughters, of whom two predeceased him.
Seton's two principal works are 'The
