Author: W. W. Follett Synge
Alternate names: William Webb Follett Synge; William Synge
Born: 1826-08-25
Died: 1891-05-29
Bio: William Webb (W. W.) Follett Synge, born to the Rev. Robert Synge, M.A., by his first wife, Anne, was a British diplomat and author. After being educated almost entirely abroad, he joined the Foreign Office in June 1846. He served in the British legation at Washington from 1851-53, during the presidency of Millard Fillmore. Returning to the UK, he began his literary career in his leisure time, writing in a journal called *The Press*. His contributions to *Punch* began during the Crimean War (1853–56), and include a well-received poem, *Sursum Corda* (*Lift up your Hearts*), which reflected on the bloody Battle of the Alma (September 1854).

In July 1856 he was appointed secretary to Sir William Gore Ouseley’s special mission to Central America, and during his absence on that mission obtained the rank of assistant clerk at the Foreign Office in December 1857. Synge returned to work in London in February 1860. He was appointed commissioner and consul-general for the Sandwich Islands (now the Hawaiian Islands) in December 1861, and in that capacity stood proxy for the Prince of Wales at the christening of Albert Kamehameha, the prince of Hawaii. In 1865 he escorted Queen Emma of Hawaii to England. In October 1865 he became consul-general and commissary judge in Cuba; but here his health, already impaired, gave way, and he retired from the foreign service in October 1868.

Settling first at Guildford, and then in 1883 at Eastbourne, Synge gave himself up to literature. He wrote regularly for *The Standard*. In 1875 he published his first novel, *Olivia Raleigh*; in 1883 he began to contribute to the *Saturday Review*. Synge was a friend of William Makepeace Thackeray, and shared with him an interest in nonsense verse, which later gave rise to Synge's *Bumblebee Bogo’s Budget*, a book of rhymes for children. In addition to his contributions to periodicals both in prose and verse, he published two novels and a book of children's verse.

Source: [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Synge)