William Synge

William Webb Follett Synge (25 August 1826 – 29 May 1891) was a British diplomat and author, known for his contributions to The Standard, Punch and the Saturday Review.

Biography William Synge was born in 1826 to the Rev. Robert Synge, M.A. (d. 1862), by his first wife, Anne (d. 1844), daughter of William Webb Follett. After being educated almost entirely abroad, he joined the Foreign Office on 26 June 1846.

He served in the British legation at Washington from 15 September 1851 to 1 July 1853, during the presidency of Millard Fillmore. Whilst there he married, on 27 January 1853, Henrietta Mary, youngest daughter of Robert Dewar Wainwright, colonel in the United States army.

Synge returned to work in London on 28 February 1860. He was appointed commissioner and consul-general for the Sandwich Islands (nowadays the Hawaiian Islands) on 27 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. On 30 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 on 31 October 1868. in 1883 he began to contribute to the Saturday Review. Synge was also acquainted with many of the writers of his time, both in England and America. one of whom, Robert, went on to serve in the Foreign Office, rising to Assistant Master of the Ceremonies before his untimely death.

Robert Follett Synge - b. 8 December 1853 Francis Julian Synge - b. 2 July 1856 Gilbert Hugo Follett Synge - d. 18 March 1868 William Makepeace Thackeray Synge - b. 5 August 1860 Maria Montresor Auchmuty Synge

William Synge died at Eastbourne on 29 May 1891.

Publications Olivia Raleigh, London, 1875. Tom Singleton, Dragoon and Dramatist, 3 vols. London, 1879. - Vol. I, Vol. II, Vol III Bumblebee Bogo’s Budget, 1888.