Arthur Louis
Keyser
Male
England
1856-02-01
Paddington, London, England
1924-03-06
Napoli, Italy
Arthur Louis Keyser was born in February 1856 in London. He was the ninth of the ten children – six sons and four daughters – of Dr Alfred Keyser (1817-79), a medical practitioner and native of London, and Ellen Keyser (née Ricardo; 1818-94), who was also from London. Alfred Keyser and Ellen Ricardo had married each other on 15 June 1840 in Saint George’s Church, Hanover Square, London.
Dr Alfred Keyser was the son of Isaac Keyser (1775-1817), a native of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and Rebecca Keyser (née Ricardo; 1778-1838), who was from London. Isaac Keyser and Rebecca Ricardo married each other on 15 May 1808 in the Great Synagogue of London, located north of Aldgate in the east of London. (This building was destroyed during World War Two.)
The ancestors of Arthur Keyser’s mother, Ellen Ricardo Keyser, can be traced back as far as a Daniel Israel Ricardo, who was born in 1554 in the Italian port city of Livorno. He and several of his ancestors subsequently lived in the Netherlands, his son Moses Ricardo being born in Amsterdam in 1600. Alfred Keyser and Ellen Ricardo had probably converted from Judaism to Anglicanism before their wedding in June 1840 in Saint George’s Church in London, which is Anglican. (Ellen Ricardo was a relation of the aforementioned Rebecca Ricardo.)
Arthur Keyser was educated at Clifton College but did not initially pursue a conventional profession, instead travelling to various parts of the world and writing several newspaper articles and books, some of which featured impressions of his voyages. The Anglo-Colonial Notes section of The Auckland Star newspaper (New Zealand) of 22 April 1885 included the following item: “In the March number of Longman’s Magazine, Mr Arthur Keyser, whose name will be familiar to Colonial pressman, describes the considerable vivacity the circumstances attending the hoisting of the Union Jack in New Guinea.”
The aforementioned piece from The Auckland Star newspaper mentions both Arthur Keyser’s first name and surname. It refers to the events surrounding the establishment of New Guinea (later Papua New Guinea) as a British Protectorate in November 1884. Commodore James Elphinstone Erskine of the warship HMS Nelson played a key role in the declaration of New Guinea as a protectorate, reading the proclamation during a ceremony held in the harbour of Port Moresby, New Guinea, on 6 November 1884.
Arthur Keyser was present at the aforementioned ceremony held in Port Moresby and subsequently wrote an account of it in his short book Our Cruise to New Guinea (1885). Keyser had been a passenger on the warship HMS Nelson during several of its earliest voyages, including one that took it to Australia in January 1882, its initial port of call being New South Wales. In late October 1882, HMS Nelson docked in Hobson’s Bay, Port Phillip, Victoria, and several of the Australian newspapers list a Mr Keyser as one of its few civilian passengers.
According to the Naval Historical Society of Australia website:
HMS Nelson had been built at Glasgow by John Elder and Co., in 1876 and is described as an armour-belted ship, twin screw, 12 guns. She was a sister ship of the Northampton. Her length between perpendiculars was 280 feet and her breadth was 60 feet. Load draught forward was 24 feet 6 inches and aft, 27 feet 3 inches. Displacement loaded was 7,986 tons, depth of hold, 23 feet 8½ inches and height of mid-ports above waterline was 12 feet 3 inches. Overall length was 301 feet and including the ram, was 310 feet.
[…]
Later voyages took HMS Nelson to Melbourne, New Zealand, Fiji, Brisbane and Port Moresby. It is interesting to note that the warship arrived at Port Moresby on the 2nd November 1884 and on the 6th, Commodore James Elphinstone Erskine, in the presence of a large number of native chiefs, proclaimed the Protectorate over what was to become British New Guinea, later Papua.
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During the time he spent in Victoria towards the end of 1882, Arthur Keyser took part in, and won, both the men’s singles and men’s doubles events at the that years Victorian Lawn Tennis Championships, which were held on the grounds of the Melbourne Cricket Club from 3 to 8 November. Keyser’s partner in the men’s doubles event was Lieutenant Maurice Portman, who was also listed as a passenger on HMS Nelson.
The Melbourne-based Australasian newspaper of 11 November 1882 provided a detailed report of both the men’s singles and men’s doubles events at that year’s Victorian Championships tournament. This report is reproduced in full below:
Lawn tennis – Inter-colonial lawn tennis championship
Double-set matches
The first round of the above was played on the Melbourne asphalt courts on Friday. A large number of ladies were present, and took great interest in the play. On the upper court Messrs Francis Highett and Louis Whyte, of the Melbourne Club, met Messrs Arthur Keyser and Maurice Portman, of HMS Nelson, and after some fine play on both sides, the latter were victorious by two sets to one, 3-6, 6-5, 6-5. As will be seen by the above scores the play was exceedingly close, and it is somewhat remarkable that the losers actually won 16 games, as against the winners’ 15.
On the lower court Messrs Hammill and R. Barton were defeated by Messrs Haworth Bertram and R.W. Martin, of Kew, by two sets to love, 6-5, 6-5. Both sets were well contested, the winners only gaining them on the last game.The third match took place between Messrs Murphy and Henty, of Kew, and Messrs Edward Crooke and S. Brown, of Melbourne, the former winning easily by two sets to love, 6-1, 6-0.
The draw for the second round was then made, and Messrs Portman and Keyser met Messrs Murphy and Henty. After some spirited play the former came out the victors, scoring two sets to love, 6-3, 6-1. The play of Mr Keyser in standing close to the net and volleying the balls seemed to take his opponents completely by surprise; but the dexterous manner in which he returned the ball drew forth repeated rounds of applause from the spectators.
The duties of umpires were satisfactorily undertaken by Messrs R. Cornish, W. Kilgour, E.D.L. Dickens, Dickson, and Captain Osborn, while the scorers at each court were Messrs H.J. Henty and L.L. Lewis.
The contest for the single set championship of the colonies took place on Monday afternoon on the courts of the Melbourne Club, when several exciting matches were played. The interest taken in the tournament was evinced by the large number of the patrons of the game who were in attendance, and the greater number of whom were ladies. The players entered were Messrs Francis Highett, Edward Crooke, Louis Whyte, Arthur Keyser and Ernest Raleigh, but the first-named gentleman was unable through illness to compete.
On the lower court Messrs Whyte and Crooke were the first to commence operations, but the former, who had secured the championship last year, proved far too skilful for his opponent, and won the three sets in succession, the scores being 6-1, 6-2, 6-0.
On the upper court the match between Messrs Keyser and Raleigh proved a very spirited contest, and in the first two sets “five-all” was called by the scorers prior to the commencement of the final games, which in each case were secured by Mr Keyser. In the final set this gentleman, however, came out a decided winner, the score for the match standing 6-5, 6-5, 6-2.
The winners in each of these matches were then pitted against each other for the championship, and as both are players of undoubted skill, an exciting contest was anticipated. The match was played on the lower court, and the light being rather dull was against the players, although in this respect both laboured under the same disadvantage.
In the first set Mr Whyte proved the victor, securing six games to four. On changing ends he again commenced well, winning the first game in good style, but Mr Keyser, by brilliant all-round play, took six games running, and made matters equal by thus winning the second set. In the third set he secured a rather easy win by six games to two, but in the fourth set a fine struggle took place, each player showing great skill and activity. The scorers called “five-all”, and as the points continued nearly equal up to the close of the eleventh game, considerable excitement prevailed. Mr Keyser, however, proved the victor, and having thus secured three games in succession was declared the single-handed champion for the year.
The umpires for the contest were Messrs Sladen, Dickson, R. Cornish, and Inglis, while Messrs H.J. Henty and L. L. Lewis acted as scorers.
The final round of the match between Messrs Arthur Keyser and Maurice Portman, of HMS Nelson, and Messrs Haworth Bertram and R.W. Martin, of the Kew Club, took place on Wednesday afternoon on the M.C.C. asphalt court. The result was a decisive victory for the former. The play was very good, but the volleying of Mr Keyser being almost unplayable, prevented the ordinary game played by Messrs Bartram and Martin having effect. The games scored were 6-1, 6-3.
Messrs Arthur Keyser and Maurice Portman have thus won the trophies for the double-handed championship, Mr Keyser being also the winner of the trophy for the single-handed championship; both matches have thus been won by visitors from the HMS Nelson. Mr Louis Whyte, being the runner-up in the single-handed match, takes the silver-mounted bracket.
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From his early thirties Arthur Keyser began to pursue a career as a diplomat, with postings in places including Quito (Ecuador) and Spain. He also continued to write. Arthur Keyser did not marry and died in Naples, Italy, in March 1924 at the age of 58.
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From The Times (London), 10 March 1924
Obituary – Mr Arthur L. Keyser
News has been received by cable of the sudden death at Naples of Mr Arthur Louis Keyser, formerly of the Consular Service, and for many years a familiar figure in London. Mr Keyser was born in 1856, the son of Alfred Keyser, of Kings Hill, Great Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, and had just passed his 68th birthday. Educated at Clifton College, he showed no early preference for any profession, but a very decided one for a life of pleasure, which he pursued, as he recently related in his book of reminiscences, Trifles and Travels, with much personal enjoyment, until compelled to seek for means of earning an income.
This he found in the Malay Peninsula. There, under the guidance of Sir Frank Swettenham, he began in 1888 an official career which terminated in 1919, when he retired from the post of Chargé d’Affaires at Quito, in Ecuador. From the Malay Peninsula he went as Consul to Brunei, in Borneo, and after an interval in Somaliland settled down in the regular Consular Service at Cadiz and subsequently at Seville, where he did useful service in difficult conditions during the war.
He spent more than half of his long term of service in Spain, but he had an unusually varied career, serving in every continent among people of every creed and colour. He has left and interesting record of his experiences in People and Places, published in 1922. The two books mentioned are frankly revealing, and they leave the impression of a charming personality, which, as Mr Keyser’s numerous friends could testify, was more than justified by personal acquaintance.
Indeed, as the reviewer of the books in these columns inferred, Mr Keyser had a genius for making friends. He also had the less usual capacity of retaining their friendship when made. Possessed of a singular charm of manner and appearance, he added to their number wherever he went. In variety they may be said to have ranged from a famous sporting duchess to “a coal-black king, who had painted his whole naked body in lurid stripes to resemble a tiger,” and who proceeded to stalk a goat and kill it with his teeth.
Mr Keyser certainly had “a way” with native potentates. On one occasion in Somaliland a chief who desired an interview planned to start proceedings “with six to four” in his favour by keeping his shoes on contrary to Mohamedan etiquette. Mr Keyser waited till the scene was set, and then sent an attendant first for his hat, then for a scarf, and finally for an umbrella. At last the chief asked if he were cold. “Yes,” he replied sadly, “it is my head, for I suffer from the same kind of cold in my head as your honour does in his feet.” The shoes came off. But he also had the gift of securing the attachment of the potentates’ humble subjects among whom he served.
Mr Keyser, who was one of a large family, never married. One sister, Lady William Phipps [née Constance Emma Keyser], and two brothers survive him out of a family of ten.
1878 - 1886
1
17
9
1882 - Victorian Championships (Amateur)
Round 1
Arthur Louis Keyser 1 *
bye
Round 2
Arthur Louis Keyser 1 *
J. Brown
w.o.
Quarterfinals
Arthur Louis Keyser 1 *
C.F. Watson
3-0
ret.
Semifinals
J.F. Bacon 1 *
Arthur Louis Keyser
5-6
6-4
6-3
Round 2
Russell R. Perkins 1 *
Arthur Louis Keyser
6-2
6-2
Round 1
Valentine Gill Hall 1 *
Arthur Louis Keyser
6-2
6-5
Round 1
William C. Taylor 1 *
Arthur Louis Keyser
6-1
6-2
5-6
6-5
Round 1
Arthur Louis Keyser 1 *
Ernest Raleigh
6-5
6-5
6-2
Final
Arthur Louis Keyser 1 *
Louis Australia Whyte
4-6
6-1
6-2
6-5
Round 1
Arthur Louis Keyser 1 *
James Brown
w.o.
Quarterfinals
Arthur Louis Keyser 1 *
C.F. Watson
3-0
ret.
Semifinals
J.F. Bacon 1 *
Arthur Louis Keyser
5-6
6-4
6-3
Round 1
Arthur Louis Keyser 1 *
Charles Thomas Wallis
6-3
6-5
6-2
Round 2
George S. Murray Hill 1 *
Arthur Louis Keyser
6-5
6-2
4-6
3-6
6-2
Round 1
Arthur Louis Keyser 1 *
A.S. Walford
2-6
5-6
6-4
6-0
6-1
Round 2
Edgar Lubbock 1 *
Arthur Louis Keyser
6-3
6-3
6-3
Round 1
Herbert Fortescue Lawford 1 *
Arthur Louis Keyser
w.o.