2nd ed. 1880. These books are highly valued by serious students. They are models of lucid and graceful treatment of a perplexing subject. At the same time Osborn was always a zealous advocate of the rights of the native Indians, and his retirement from the army was largely due to his dissatisfaction with the policy of Lord Lytton, which, in his opinion, outraged native sentiment and needlessly provoked the Afghan war of 1879. On his return from India he settled at Hampstead, and mainly devoted himself to journalistic and literary work. He became London correspondent of the Calcutta ‘Statesman,’ and took a leading part in the conduct of the London ‘Statesman,’ which was published for a few months in 1879 and 1880 with a view to resisting Lord Beaconsfield's policy in India. In the ‘Scotsman,’ the New York ‘Nation,’ and the ‘Contemporary Review’ he also wrote much on India and on native claims to popular government.
Osborn was an indefatigable lawn-tennis player, and died of syncope on Good Friday, 19 April 1889, while engaged playing a match with Mr. Ernest Renshaw, the champion of all England, at the Hyde Park tennis-court, London. He married at Trinity Church, Bayswater, 12 Nov. 1864, Edith, daughter of the Rev. Gregory Rhodes, by whom he had two daughters.
A portrait in oils of Osborn was painted by Mr. J. R. Hodgson, R.A., in 1877, and was exhibited in the Royal Academy. It was presented to Osborn by the artist, and descended to his family.
Besides the works mentioned, Osborn also wrote ‘Friends of the Foreigner in the Nineteenth Century: a Critique,’ 1879, and ‘Lawn Tennis: its Players and how to Play,’ 1881; 2nd edit. 1884.
[Times, 25 April 1889 p. 7, 27 April p. 9; Barnes's Records of Hampstead, 1890, p. 466; East India Register, 1853 et seq.; Athenæum, 27 April 1889; Calcutta Statesman, May 1889; information from Miss Christabel Osborn.]
OSBORN, SHERARD (1822–1875), rear-admiral and author, son of Colonel Edward Osborn of the Madras army, was born on 25 April 1822. In September 1837 he was entered by Commander William Warren as a first-class volunteer on board the Hyacinth sloop, fitting for the East Indies. The Hyacinth arrived at Singapore in May 1838, and in September was ordered to blockade Quedah, then in a state of revolt. For this purpose she fitted out three country vessels as tenders, and, much to his delight, Osborn was appointed to command one of these. From December 1838 to March 1839 he was ‘captain of his own ship,’ and there can be no doubt that the responsibility thus thrust on him at a very early age went far to strengthen and mature his character. Parts of his journal during the time were afterwards (1857) published under the title of ‘Quedah; or Stray Leaves from a Journal in Malayan Waters.’ In 1840 the Hyacinth went on to China, and took part in the operations in the Canton river. In 1842 Osborn was moved into the Clio with Commander Troubridge, and in her was present at the capture of Woosung on 16 June. He was afterwards transferred to the Volage, and came home in the Columbine in 1843. He passed his examination in December, and, after going through the gunnery course in the Excellent was appointed gunnery-mate of the Collingwood, fitting out for the Pacific as flagship of Sir George Seymour [q. v.] On 4 May 1846 Osborn was promoted to be lieutenant of the Collingwood, in which he returned to England in the summer of 1848. He then had command of the Dwarf, a small steamer, employed during the disturbances of the year on the coast of Ireland. In 1849, when public attention was turned to the fate of Sir John Franklin, Osborn entered into the question with enthusiasm and energy, and in 1850 was appointed to command the Pioneer steam-tender in the arctic expedition under Captain Austin in the Resolute. Considered as a surveying expedition, it was eminently successful, while, as to the main object, by discovering traces of Franklin's having wintered at Beechey Island in 1845–1846, it proved that there was no truth in the idea that his ships had been lost in Baffin's Bay. Much of the success of the voyage was due to the steam-tenders, which, during the summers of 1850 and 1851, held out new prospects for arctic navigation. The way in which the Pioneer or Intrepid cut through rotten ice, or steamed through the loose pack in a calm, was an object-lesson to the whalers, and led directly to the employment of powerful screw-steamers in the whaling fleet. On the return to England in 1851, Osborn urged the renewal of the search. Not till the fate of Franklin and his people was discovered and the records brought home would England have done her duty towards them. In February 1852 he published an account of the two previous years' work, under the title of ‘Stray Leaves from an Arctic Journal,’ which further stimulated public interest; and early in the year another expedition was decided on, under the command of Sir Edward Belcher [q. v.] in the Assistance, Osborn again going in
