Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 2.djvu/497

 seemed to favour peace between England and Russia; but the period proved to be one of diplomatic difficulty. Loftus attended the Tsar on his visit to England in 1874; but subsequently disturbances in the Balkan provinces of the Turkish empire brought the Russian and British governments to the verge of war. In October 1876 Loftus was sent to the Crimea to confer with Prince Gortchakoff, the chief Russian minister, then in attendance upon Alexander II at Livadia, as to the basis of a conference for the preservation of peace to be held at Constantinople. But the proposal of a conference was rejected by the Porte; and war between Turkey and Russia broke out in June 1877.

During the progress of the war Loftus was often an object of suspicion to the Russian government (Reminiscences, 2nd ser. ii. 230–8). Before the Congress of Berlin met in July 1878, he wisely suggested a preliminary Anglo-Russian understanding; and this, notwithstanding some doubts on the part of de Giers, Russian assistant minister for foreign affairs, was brought about by means of a discussion of the San Stefano Treaty between Count Schouvaloff, Russian ambassador in London, and Lord Salisbury [q. v. Suppl. II], then British foreign secretary. In the course of a leave of absence at Marienbad during 1878 he met, at Baden-Baden, Gortchakoff, now released from the regular conduct of foreign affairs, and they discussed the Russian mission to Kabul, which de Giers had denied at St. Petersburg. The mission was subsequently withdrawn after the Treaty of Berlin.

Early in 1879 Loftus expressed to Lord Salisbury his desire for a more genial climate and less arduous duties. Accordingly Lord Dufferin [q. v. Suppl. II] succeeded him at St. Petersburg, and he was appointed governor of New South Wales and Norfolk island. He held office in Australia from 1879 to 1885. During his first year there he opened the first international exhibition held at Sydney. In 1881 he entertained Princes Albert Edward and George (afterwards King George V) of Wales, while on their tour round the world in the Bacchante. To Loftus's suggestion was due the sending of a New South Wales contingent of troops to the Sudan expedition in 1884.

After his return home he wrote at Linden House, Leatherhead, his ‘Diplomatic Reminiscences’ (1837–62, 2 vols. 1892; second series, 1862–99, 2 vols. 1894). The personal element in these is small, and the chronological order is not always precise. Without literary pretensions, the reminiscences have few rivals among later English records as a continuous narrative of diplomatic life and letters extending over more than forty years. He died at Englemere Wood Cottage, near Ascot, the house of his sister-in-law, Lady Eden, on 7 March 1904. He was buried at Frimley.

Loftus married at Fulham, London, on 9 Aug. 1845, Emma Maria (d. 1902), eldest daughter of Admiral Henry Francis Greville, C.B. He had issue three sons and two daughters. His elder daughter, Evelyn Ann Francis, died at Berlin on 28 Sept. 1861, and in her memory her parents began the building of the English church at Baden-Baden, which was completed with the aid of the Empress Augusta and Mrs. Henry Villebois. The eldest son, Henry John, joined the diplomatic service, and the third, Montagu Egerton, M.V.O., is British consul at Cherbourg.

 LOHMANN, GEORGE ALFRED (1865–1901), Surrey cricketer, second of five children of Stewart Lohmann, member of the London Stock Exchange, by his wife Frances Watling, of a Gloucestershire family, was born at Kensington on 2 June 1865. After education at Louvain school, Wandsworth, he was for a time employed in the settlement department of the Stock Exchange. He showed early promise as a cricketer with the Church Institute Club at Wandsworth Common (1876–8); in 1883 he attracted the notice of Walter William Read [q. v. Suppl. II], and turning professional, first appeared for Surrey at the Oval in 1884. As a medium pace bowler he met with great success in 1885, when he took 150 wickets with an average of 14½ runs a wicket. His most brilliant seasons were from 1888 to 1890, when in first-class cricket he took 209, 202, and 220 wickets respectively. Lohmann played in the Gentlemen v. Players matches from 1886 to 1896. He visited Australia thrice: in 1886–7 and 1887–8, both times with Shaw and Shrewsbury's teams, and in 1891–2 with Lord Sheffield's team. His best bowling performances were against the Australians at Sydney, where in February 1887 he took