6 July: Boreham on Ion Keith Falconer
An Epic of the Desert
Tomorrow marks the birthday of an extraordinary man who landed on an extraordinary land to undertake an extraordinary mission. The man was the Hon. Ion Keith Falconer; the land was Arabia; the mission, which proved to be a singularly tragic and yet singularly fruitful one, was peculiarly his own. Australians who, in visiting the Homeland, spend a few hours at Aden, will be interested to know that it was from that sun-baked city that Ion Keith Falconer set out into the desert on the adventure that, culminating in his death at the age of 30, stands indelibly inscribed among the archives of selfless aspiration and humanitarian devotion.
Who was Ion Keith Falconer? The question flashes upon the screen of one's fancy, a rare succession of dramatic and colourful scenes. Let any man desiring a fascinating study in human personality take the outstanding but strangely contrasting facts of Ion Keith Falconer's life, and, as if they were pieces of a gigantic jigsaw, attempt to fit them into a composite, variegated, but harmonious whole. To begin with, Falconer was a born aristocrat. Entering the world at Edinburgh in 1856, he was the third son of the eighth Earl of Kintore. Lord Stonehaven, who served as Governor-General of Australia from 1925 to 1931, was another scion of the same illustrious house. Educated at Harrow and Cambridge, Mr. G. W. E. Russell, the well known essayist, says that Ion was one of the most engaging and magnetic students of his day. His perfect naturalness and transparent sincerity won the hearts of tutors and graduates alike.
Academic And Athletic Brilliance Matched
Phenomenally brilliant, he was made lecturer in Hebrew at Clare College at twenty-six; examiner in Semitic languages at thirty; and, at the same age, was appointed Professor of Arabic. This was just before he took the step that cost him his life. Side by side with these dazzling academic triumphs, Ion Keith Falconer took his place as one of the nation's most victorious athletes. Standing six feet four inches and broad in proportion, he was the idol of every sports field in the country. He won the amateur cycling championship of Great Britain; and, in a contest with the professional champion, had no difficulty in beating him. In 1883, he established a record for the ride from Land's End to John o' Groats, a distance, following the route that he took, of nearly a thousand miles.
Although so young, he attracted the attention and won the admiring friendship of men so different in type as General Gordon, Lord Dufferin, and Sir Isaac Pitman. He was invited to become attache at Stamboul to Lord Dufferin, or to go as private secretary to the Ambassador at St. Petersburg. Seeing that the diplomatic service made no appeal to him, General Gordon begged him to join his own staff in Syria, but this attractive overture was also declined. It was Ion's skill as a stenographer that caught the attention of Sir Isaac Pitman. Nobody knows why Ion Keith Falconer first dabbled in shorthand. Just as some people love crossword puzzles and others mental gymnastics, Falconer welcomed any study that taxed to the utmost all his intellectual powers; it was this that led him to a mastery of Hebrew, Arabic, and phonography. Having acquired a working knowledge of the winged art, he soon became an expert in its practice and an authority on its history. The six-page article on shorthand in the ninth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica is from his clever pen.
Sun Sets Early On A Work Well Done
Caught in the sweep of the evangelical revival that sent men like C. T. Studd, the Test cricketer, and Stanley Smith, the Cambridge oarsman, as missionaries to China, Ion Keith Falconer was seized by an irresistible desire to labour in a field that should be distinctively his own. His mind turned to Arabia. If, somewhere in the arid interior of that strange land, he could, with his own hands, plant an effective medical mission, he felt that he would have made life well worthwhile. In 1884 he went out to investigate the possibilities of his project; selected the oasis of Shekh Othman as the base of operations; made preliminary arrangements; and returned home to secure a doctor, to gather the requisite equipment, and to make his final plans. Later in the same year he sailed once more for Aden. His second stay was scarcely longer than his first. His exploratory visit had occupied eighteen weeks; when he went out to settle, he died after five months. Although he put a brave face on it, and kept going, he was in the grip of fever almost all the time.
He died in his sleep very early on the morning of May 11, 1887, and was buried at Aden the same evening. The spot is a wild and forbidding one, contrasting grimly with the dreamy little cemeteries of his native land. Behind and around, the black mountain rocks keep gloomy vigil, whilst, not far away, the ocean chants his requiem as it breaks on the white Arabian sands. Although his career was so pitifully brief, he had achieved his purpose.
The medical mission of his dreams had been established; and, through every day and every night of the years that have followed, its healing and helpful influences have been like streams of crystal water flowing out into those dry and thirsty sands. Any visitor to Aden who drives down the old desert road to Yemen, and finds, among the palms of the oasis, the great hospital with its efficient staff and its up-to-date equipment, and who sees there, comfortably housed and well-fed, a group of lepers, some of whom are on the high road to complete recovery, will feel that Ion Keith Falconer's brief span of existence was by no means spent in vain.
F W Boreham
Tomorrow marks the birthday of an extraordinary man who landed on an extraordinary land to undertake an extraordinary mission. The man was the Hon. Ion Keith Falconer; the land was Arabia; the mission, which proved to be a singularly tragic and yet singularly fruitful one, was peculiarly his own. Australians who, in visiting the Homeland, spend a few hours at Aden, will be interested to know that it was from that sun-baked city that Ion Keith Falconer set out into the desert on the adventure that, culminating in his death at the age of 30, stands indelibly inscribed among the archives of selfless aspiration and humanitarian devotion.
Who was Ion Keith Falconer? The question flashes upon the screen of one's fancy, a rare succession of dramatic and colourful scenes. Let any man desiring a fascinating study in human personality take the outstanding but strangely contrasting facts of Ion Keith Falconer's life, and, as if they were pieces of a gigantic jigsaw, attempt to fit them into a composite, variegated, but harmonious whole. To begin with, Falconer was a born aristocrat. Entering the world at Edinburgh in 1856, he was the third son of the eighth Earl of Kintore. Lord Stonehaven, who served as Governor-General of Australia from 1925 to 1931, was another scion of the same illustrious house. Educated at Harrow and Cambridge, Mr. G. W. E. Russell, the well known essayist, says that Ion was one of the most engaging and magnetic students of his day. His perfect naturalness and transparent sincerity won the hearts of tutors and graduates alike.
Academic And Athletic Brilliance Matched
Phenomenally brilliant, he was made lecturer in Hebrew at Clare College at twenty-six; examiner in Semitic languages at thirty; and, at the same age, was appointed Professor of Arabic. This was just before he took the step that cost him his life. Side by side with these dazzling academic triumphs, Ion Keith Falconer took his place as one of the nation's most victorious athletes. Standing six feet four inches and broad in proportion, he was the idol of every sports field in the country. He won the amateur cycling championship of Great Britain; and, in a contest with the professional champion, had no difficulty in beating him. In 1883, he established a record for the ride from Land's End to John o' Groats, a distance, following the route that he took, of nearly a thousand miles.
Although so young, he attracted the attention and won the admiring friendship of men so different in type as General Gordon, Lord Dufferin, and Sir Isaac Pitman. He was invited to become attache at Stamboul to Lord Dufferin, or to go as private secretary to the Ambassador at St. Petersburg. Seeing that the diplomatic service made no appeal to him, General Gordon begged him to join his own staff in Syria, but this attractive overture was also declined. It was Ion's skill as a stenographer that caught the attention of Sir Isaac Pitman. Nobody knows why Ion Keith Falconer first dabbled in shorthand. Just as some people love crossword puzzles and others mental gymnastics, Falconer welcomed any study that taxed to the utmost all his intellectual powers; it was this that led him to a mastery of Hebrew, Arabic, and phonography. Having acquired a working knowledge of the winged art, he soon became an expert in its practice and an authority on its history. The six-page article on shorthand in the ninth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica is from his clever pen.
Sun Sets Early On A Work Well Done
Caught in the sweep of the evangelical revival that sent men like C. T. Studd, the Test cricketer, and Stanley Smith, the Cambridge oarsman, as missionaries to China, Ion Keith Falconer was seized by an irresistible desire to labour in a field that should be distinctively his own. His mind turned to Arabia. If, somewhere in the arid interior of that strange land, he could, with his own hands, plant an effective medical mission, he felt that he would have made life well worthwhile. In 1884 he went out to investigate the possibilities of his project; selected the oasis of Shekh Othman as the base of operations; made preliminary arrangements; and returned home to secure a doctor, to gather the requisite equipment, and to make his final plans. Later in the same year he sailed once more for Aden. His second stay was scarcely longer than his first. His exploratory visit had occupied eighteen weeks; when he went out to settle, he died after five months. Although he put a brave face on it, and kept going, he was in the grip of fever almost all the time.
He died in his sleep very early on the morning of May 11, 1887, and was buried at Aden the same evening. The spot is a wild and forbidding one, contrasting grimly with the dreamy little cemeteries of his native land. Behind and around, the black mountain rocks keep gloomy vigil, whilst, not far away, the ocean chants his requiem as it breaks on the white Arabian sands. Although his career was so pitifully brief, he had achieved his purpose.
The medical mission of his dreams had been established; and, through every day and every night of the years that have followed, its healing and helpful influences have been like streams of crystal water flowing out into those dry and thirsty sands. Any visitor to Aden who drives down the old desert road to Yemen, and finds, among the palms of the oasis, the great hospital with its efficient staff and its up-to-date equipment, and who sees there, comfortably housed and well-fed, a group of lepers, some of whom are on the high road to complete recovery, will feel that Ion Keith Falconer's brief span of existence was by no means spent in vain.
F W Boreham
posted by Geoff Pound at
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