Walter Plowden

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Plowden's tomb in Gonder (Gondar)

Walter Chichele Plowden (born 1820 ; died 1860 ) was a British diplomat and traveler. He was the first British consul in Abyssinia since 1848 .

Plowden developed a friendship with the Ethiopian Emperor Theodor II. Plowden was killed on a tour between Gonder (Gondar) and the Red Sea by supporters of the warlord Agew Niguse. He is buried on the imperial enclosure of Gonder near the church of Gem Jabet Mariyam .

The author JR Hooker rates his achievements in three parts: "as a political agent, Plowden was valuable; as a writer of travel literature he was engaging and intelligent; but as a consul he was useless, his commercial reports being limited to three in 1852. He was never at his post after 1855. "

Plowden's writings were published posthumously eight years after his death by his brother Trevor Chichele Plowden under the title Travels in Abyssinia and the Galla Country, with an account of a mission to Ras Ali in 1848 (London, 1868).

Plowden provided an early testimony to the Tsar cult from Abyssinia and his possessed people :

"These Zars are spirits or devils of a somewhat humorous turn, who, taking possession of their victim, cause him to perform the most curious antics, and sometimes become visible to him while they are so to no one else - somewhat I fancy after the fashion of the "Erl King." The favorite remedies are amulets and severe tom-toming, and screeching without cessation, till the possessed, doubtless distracted with the noise, rushes violently out of the house, pelted and beaten, and driven to the nearest brook, where the Zar quits him, and he becomes well. / dt. These tsars are ghosts or devils of a somewhat humorous kind who, by taking possession of their victim, cause them to perform the strangest antics and sometimes become visible to their victim while they are to no one else - what I imagine like the "Erlkönig". The preferred remedies are amulets and violent fanfare, and screeching without end, until the possessed, who is undoubtedly distracted by the noise, forcibly rushes out of the house, is beaten and beaten, and is driven to the nearest stream, where the tsar leaves him and he's fine again. "

Fonts

  • Travels in Abyssinia and the Galla country: with an account of a mission to Ras Ali in 1848. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1868. ( digitized )

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hooker, "The Foreign Office and the 'Abyssinian Captives'", Journal of African History , 2 (1961), p. 245
  2. ^ WC Plowden: Travels in Abessinia and the Galla Country, with an account of a mission to Ras Ali in 1848 , London, 1868, Chapter XIII , p. 259. - Cf. also p. 264 ff.

literature

  • Plowden, Walter FC Chicheley: Records of the Chicheley Plowdens, AD 1590-1913. London: Heath, Cranton & Ouseley. 1914 ( digitized version )

Web links

Wikisource: Plowden, Walter Chichele  - Sources and full texts
personal data
SURNAME Plowden, Walter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Plowden, Walter Chichele
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British diplomat, first British consul in Abyssinia
DATE OF BIRTH 1820
DATE OF DEATH 1860