Tristram Speedy


Tristram Charles Sawyer Speedy was a well-known English explorer and adventurer during the Victorian era.

Life

Speedy was born at Meerut, India, a son of James Speedy, an army officer, and his wife Sarah, an army officer's daughter. After being educated in England, Speedy returned to India as an army officer himself. He served in the North-West Frontier Province from 1854 to 1860, receiving the Indian Mutiny, Punjab and Eufoszai medals.
While hunting in the Horn of Africa, Speedy was summoned to the court of Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia, who bestowed on him the title Basha Felika. Tewodros employed him to train his army; however, Speedy fell out with the emperor and had to flee the country.
He then served as locum tenens and British vice-consul at the Red Sea port of Massawa. In early 1864, Speedy resigned to travel to New Zealand, where he served in the Waikato Militia. He was promoted to captain in 1864, and received the Maori Wars medal.
During the 1868 Expedition to Abyssinia, Speedy's knowledge of Ethiopia was crucial to the commander, Sir Robert Napier. Speedy was recalled to join the expedition and received the Abyssinian War Medal. After an audience with Queen Victoria, Speedy was appointed guardian to Prince Alamayu Simeon, the young son of the late Emperor Tewodros, who had committed suicide rather than surrender to the British. Speedy's collection of Ethiopian objects from this time is now in the British Museum.
Speedy married Cornelia Cotton in England, then returned to India with his wife and the Abyssinian prince. He was stationed at Sitapur as District Superintendent of the Oudh Police from 1869 to 1871. During this time, he accompanied the Duke of Edinburgh on a shooting trip in Nepal.
n military or noble garb, 1868
In 1871, Speedy sailed to the Straits Settlements in Malaya and became superintendent of police on the island of Penang. He resigned in 1873 to raise and command a body of Indian troops to restore order in Larut, a mining district in the Malayan state of Perak, for the Mentri Ngah Ibrahim.
In 1874, Speedy was appointed assistant British resident of Larut and established and named Malaysia's oldest town, ‘Thaipeng’, meaning ‘Heavenly Peace’. He remained there until 1877.
The following year, by then Major and Mrs Speedy spent several months exploring Sudan; his wife published a book about their travels.
In 1883–85, Speedy took part in the mission led by Vice-Admiral Sir William Hewett to the court of Emperor Yohannes IV of Ethiopia to negotiate the region's disputed borders. He returned to Ethiopia in 1897 as part of Rennell Rodd, 1st Baron Rennell's mission to the court of King Menelik to negotiate the Anglo-Ethiopian Treaty, which defined the border with Sudan.

Cultural references