Samuel Pasfield Oliver
This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (December 2019) |
Samuel Pasfield Oliver (1838–1907) was an English artillery officer, geographer and antiquary.
Life
Born at
On the establishment of a British embassy at
On his return to Mauritius he studied the flora and fauna of the Mascarene Islands. In 1864 the volcanic eruption on the island of Réunion gave him the opportunity of recording geological phenomena.
Oliver returned to England with his battery in 1865. In 1867 he joined Captain
Oliver was promoted captain in 1871, and was appointed superintendent of fortifications on the Cornish coast in 1873. After serving on the staff of the intelligence branch of the quartermaster-general's department he was sent to
Later life
Oliver resigned his commission in 1878. For a time he acted as correspondent of The Illustrated London News in Cyprus and Syria. In poor health from malaria, he settled to writing, at Gosport and then at Worthing.
He was elected Fellow of the
Works
At a meeting of the
His volumes descriptive of Malagasy life became the standard English authority on the subject. In 1866 he published ‘Madagascar and the Malagasy,' a diary of his first visit to the island, which he illustrated with some spirited sketches. This was followed by an ethnological study in French, ‘Les Hovas et les autres tribus caractéristiques de Madagascar' (Guernsey, 1869). In ‘The True Story of the French Dispute in Madagascar' (1885) Oliver criticised the treatment of the Malagasy by the French colonial officials. Finally his two volumes on ‘Madagascar' (1886), based on many sources, gave a detailed account of the island, its history, and its inhabitants.[1] A drawing by Oliver of a stream of lava tumbling over a cliff was reproduced in John Wesley Judd's ‘Volcanoes, what they are and what they teach' (1881).
From Guernsey, where he was appointed adjutant in 1868, he visited Brittany, and drew up a report on the prehistoric remains at Carnac and other sites (Proc. Ethnological Soc. 1871). In 1872 a tour in the Mediterranean resulted in archæological observations in Asia Minor, Greece, and Sardinia, published as ‘Nuragghi Sardi, and other Non-Historic Stone Structures of the Mediterranean' (Dublin, 1875). He wrote on the history of two Cornish castles, ‘Pendennis and St. Mawes' (Truro, 1875).
Oliver also edited:
- ‘Madagascar, or Robert Drury's Journal,' 1890.
- ‘The Voyage of François Leguat,' 1891 (Hakluyt Society).
- ‘The Memoirs and Travels of Mauritius Augustus Count de Benyowsky,' 1893.
- ‘The Voyages made by the Sieur Dubois,' 1897 (translation).
In addition to these works he assisted in the preparation of ‘The Life of Sir Charles MacGregor,' published by his wife in 1888, and from the notes and documents collected by
Family
He married on 10 September 1863 at
References
- ^ Oliver, Samuel Pasfield (1886). Madagascar, an Historical and Descriptive Account of the Island and Its Former Dependencies, Compiled by Samuel Pasfield Oliver ... Macmillan.
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- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Woods, Gabriel Stanley (1912). "Oliver, Samuel Pasfield". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement). London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 44–45.