The flag of Circassia. /
Urquhart, David,1805-1877.
[London] ; Published by order of the Circassian Committee, E. Beales, Esq., Chairman, 4, Stone Buildings, Lincoln's Inn,,
January 1, 1863.
David Urquhart (1805-1877), controversial Scottish diplomat, author and politician was based in the British embassy in Constantinople in the 1830s where he worked to counteract what he perceived as a growing threat posed by Russia to the Ottoman Empire. He supported the Circassian people of the northern Causasus in their long struggle against Russian control, organising an attempted delivery of arms and munition to them and even designed a Circassian national flag. Urquhart's activities nearly led to war with Russia in 1836 and the following year he was sacked and recalled to London in an attempt by the British government to calm the situation down. His enthusiasm for the Circassian cause was undimmed as shown in this speech made in Glasgow in 1838, the text of which was printed in this broadside for the Circassian Committee, a pro-independence British organisation, shortly before Russia finally completed conquest of the region in 1864.
England London.