Sir Alexander Condie Stephen | |
|---|---|
 Stephen caricatured by Spy for Vanity Fair, 1902 | |
| Born | 20 July 1850 |
| Died | 10 May 1908 (aged 57) |
| Occupation | British diplomat |
Sir Alexander Condie Stephen KCMG KCVO CB (20 July 1850 – 10 May 1908) was a British diplomat and translator from Russian and Persian.
He was the first translator of Lermontov's long poem "The Demon" into English, in 1875. He translated "Fairy Tales of a Parrot" from Persian in 1880.
In 1884–5, he was Assistant Commissioner on the Afghan Boundary Commission. he had the crucial role of keeping communications open between the commission, in north-west Afghanistan and threatened by a large Russian army, and the British government in London. When the commission's presence almost triggered a war in the aftermath of the Panjdeh incident, he was sent to London to report to the government in person.[1]
He was knighted KCVO on 24 August 1900, for being HM minister resident in Dresden and Coburg. He was Groom in Waiting to King Edward VII from 1901.[2]
He was caricatured in a Vanity Fair "Spy" print on 18 December 1902, as "Russian, Persian and Turkish".
Stephen is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.
- ^ Salisbury, Robert (2020). William Simpson and the Crisis in Central Asia, 1884-5. ISBN 978-1-5272-7047-3
- ^ "No. 27336". The London Gazette. 23 July 1901. p. 4838.