Stephen Bartlett Lakeman

Sir Stephen Bartlett Lakeman, also known as Mazhar Paşa (1823 – 1900) was an English-born British and Ottoman adventurer, soldier, and administrator. A mercenary and veteran of several wars, including the Xhosa and Crimean conflicts, he was assigned by the Ottoman military to Wallachia, where he later settled, becoming in time a supporter of the liberal current in Romania. He was an influential figure in local politics during the early 1870s, and a mediator between Ion Brătianu's government and the Porte at the start of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. Lakeman is also noted for having introduced Eastern European fish species to England.

Biography Born into a family of Dutch origins but settled in Devon where he was born at Dartmouth, he was a graduate of the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris, France. Lakeman first saw action with the July Monarchy's armies resisting Abd al-Qadir's uprising in French Algeria. A captain and commander of the Waterkloof Rangers in clashes with the Xhosa people, he was made a Knight Bachelor by Queen Victoria, during a ceremony at Windsor Castle (25 November 1853).

Soon afterwards, he opted to join the Ottomans in their Crimean-centered conflict with the Russian Empire, becoming a binbaşı, and later a pasha (becoming known under his Turkish pseudonym Mazhar Paşa). Lakeman visited the Kaymakam, who agreed to meet with the diplomatic envoy and apologize for the lack of courtesy.

The Lakemans' house, also known to Bucharesters as Mazhar Paşa, remained an important landmark and meeting spot for political figures after the creation of a unified Principality of Romania.

Shortly after the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, he was present in Istanbul, as an unofficial representative of the Ion Brătianu cabinet. As Romania evaluated joining the Russian side in exchange for independence, Lakeman negotiated with Saffet Pasha, the Grand Vizier, arguing that the Bucharest authorities were to adopt neutrality and resist a Russian offensive He also called on the Ottoman Empire to offer assistance in the military effort. Despite the secret character of the proceedings, the Romanian press published allegations that Saffet had agreed to the demands, and that it had made other sizable concessions to the Brătianu government. He died in Bucharest, in relative obscurity.

Stephen Lakeman had three children with Maria: two sons, George (whose daughter, Georgeta Lakeman, married the banker Nicolae Chrissoveloni in 1941) and Dan (who settled in Argentina), as well as a daughter, Celia. Additionally, Lakeman himself admitted that he ordered his men to boil the severed heads of Xhosa people "for scientific interest". Volunteers of the Waterkloof unit were described by Lakeman as "brutally cruel […] killing without mercy all that came in their way when engaged in a fight, young as well as old, even braining little children".