Laurence Oliphant (1829–1888) by Thomas Rodger © National Portrait Gallery, London
Article
Leslie Stephen
revised by Anne Taylor
Oliphant, Laurence (1829–1888), diplomatist, traveller, and mystic, the only child of Sir Anthony Oliphant (1793–1859) and his wife, Maria (d. 1881), daughter of Colonel Campbell of the 72nd highlanders, was born at Cape Town. Thomas Oliphant, the musician, was his uncle.