Sir Patrick MacChombaich[needs IPA]de ColquhounQC (/kəˈhuːn/kə-HOON; 13 April 1815 – 18 May 1891) was a British diplomat, legal writer and
sculler who influenced early Cambridge
rowing.
From 1840 to 1844, Colquhoun was
Plenipotentiary of the Hanse Towns at
Constantinople, Persia and Greece, through his father's connections.[7] In Constantinople he was close friends with
James Redhouse. He encountered the author
George Borrow on his travels and was not impressed.[8] He then returned to England and joined the Home Circuit. He was well respected in the literary world and became a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Literature in 1845.
Charles Leland wrote Who that knows London knoweth not Sir Patrick Colquhoun? I made his acquaintance in 1848, when, coming over from student-life in Paris.[9] He was also a noted linguist. From 1857 to 1866, he was Aulic Counsellor to the King of Saxony and standing Counsel to the Saxon Legation. He was then member of the Supreme Court of Justice in Corfu from 1858 to 1861. In 1861, when he was
Chief Justice of the Ionian Islands, he was knighted on 14 November.[10] Colquhoun became
Queen's Counsel in 1868 and a bencher of the
Inner Temple in 1869.
Colquhoun died at 2 King's Bench Walk at the age of 76. He was a member of the
Order of the Temple and associated with fringe Freemasonry.[11]
Colquhoun married Katherine de St Vitalis. Their daughter married Sir
James Redhouse.[12]
Publications
A Summary of the Roman Civil Laws 1849
Russian Despotism and Ruthlessness: As disclosed in authentic documents 1877
^The Dictionary of National Biography erroneously calls him the great-grandson of the other Patrick Colquhoun rather than his grandson (see the Men-at-the-Bar citation here which says so, and also the Alumni Cantabrigienses (Venn) and Gentleman's magazine citations in the
James Colquhoun article, which concur; also note the dates of birth are 35 years apart in each case: 1745, 1780, 1815, which leaves little room for an additional intervening generation).