Page:Dictionary of National Biography. Sup. Vol III (1901).djvu/119

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
Loch
105
Locker-Lampson

African career was his mission to Pretoria, in 1894, to interfere on behalf of the British subjects who had been commandeered by the Boers in their operations against Malaboch, the Matabele chieftain. He was successful in obtaining the abandonment of the claim of the Boer government; but it was thought he had hardly pressed the English case with sufficient vigour. It was from the rough treatment accorded to President Kruger at Johannesburg on this occasion, in contrast with the enthusiastic reception accorded to the high commissioner, that much of the former's hostility to Great Britain and to the Johannesburgers is said to have arisen.

Earlier in his term of office Sir Henry had succeeded in putting strong pressure on President Kruger to prevent the incursions to the north and west of roving Boer filibusters. He had, however, made to the Transvaal government an offer of a way of access to the sea-coast on condition that the president should moderate his attitude of hostility and join the Cape customs union, which it was fortunate for the empire that Kruger refused.

Loch's Transvaal policy failed locally to create the impression of any great strength or decision. Fortunately for his peace of mind his term of office expired at the beginning of 1895, and he left Africa before the disasters of the Jameson raid.

On his return to England he was raised to the peerage, but he took small part in politics, voting with the liberal unionists. When, in December 1899, the reverses to the British arms in Natal and Cape Colony at the hands of the Boers gave rise to the call for volunteers from England, Loch threw himself heartily into the movement, and took a leading share in raising and equipping a body of mounted men who were called, after him, 'Loch's Horse.' He lived to see the decisive vindication of British supremacy by the occupation of Pretoria, but his health had been failing, and he died after a short illness in London, of heart disease, on 20 June 1900.

Loch married, in 1862, Elizabeth Villiers, niece of the fourth earl of Clarendon, and had by her two daughters and a son. The latter, Edward Douglas, second baron, entered the grenadier guards and served with distinction in the Nile expedition of 1898 and in the Boer war of 1899-1900, receiving a severe wound in the latter campaign.

There is a painting of Loch by Plenry W. Phillips, an engraving of which is appended to the third edition of his 'Personal Narrative of Occurrences during Lord Elgin's Second Embassy to China.' Originally published in 1869, this little book is a most admirable account of the expedition, and, written in a simple and unaffected style, gives a highly pleasing impression of the courage, loyalty, and ability of the writer under circumstances of great danger and hardship. It is much to be regretted that by Lord Elgin's desire Loch abandoned his intention of publishing a detailed account of the proceedings of the embassy of 1860.

[There is no memoir yet published of Loch. See the Personal Narrative above referred to; Times, 21 June 1900; Froude's Oceana; Fitzpatrick's Transvaal from Within; Speeches of Cecil J. Rhodes, ed. Vindex.]

LOCKER, ARTHUR (1828–1893), novelist and journalist, second son of Edward Hawke Locker [q. v.], and brother of Frederick Locker-Lampson [q. v. Suppl.], was born at Greenwich on 2 July 1828. He was educated at Charterhouse School and Pembroke College, Oxford, where he matriculated on 6 May 1847, but, after graduating B.A. in 1851, he entered upon a mercantile life in an office at Liverpool. The next year, however, smitten by the prevalent gold fever, he emigrated to Victoria. Not succeeding at the gold-fields, he took to journalism, and also produced some tales and plays which have not been reprinted in England. He returned in 1861, with the determination of devoting himself to literature. He wrote extensively for newspapers and magazines, and in 1863 obtained a connection with the 'Times,' which he kept until 1870, when he was appointed editor of the 'Graphic' illustrated newspaper, which had been established about six months previously [see Thomas, William Luson, Suppl.] He proved a most efficient editor, and was greatly beloved for his general urbanity, and his disposition to encourage young writers of promise. In December 1891 the state of his health compelled him to retire, and after visiting Madeira and the Isle of Wight in the vain hope of recovery, he died at 79 West Hill, Highgate, on 23 June 1893. He was twice married. After his return to England he published some works of fiction, chiefly based on his Australian experiences; 'Sweet Seventeen,' 1866; 'On a Coral Reef,' a tale for boys, 1869; 'Stephen Scudamore the Younger,' 1871, and 'The Village Surgeon,' 1874.

[Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1715-1886; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Times, 26 June 1893; Graphic, 1 July 1893.]

LOCKER-LAMPSON, FREDERICK (1821–1895), poet, more commonly known as Frederick Locker, was born on 29 May