Falconer, Ion Keith (1856–1887)

Irish orientalist, missionary, and athlete. A brilliant scholar, Falconer was appointed professor of Arabic at Cambridge University at an early age, and went to Arabia to work as a Free Church missionary.

Falconer was born into an Anglo-Irish aristocratic family, as the third son of the Earl of Kintore. He began his evangelistic work while still a student at Cambridge, and went on to minister to the poor in the East End of London. In 1878, he won a race against the fastest cyclist in the world, and also rode from Land's End to John o'Groats. In 1885, he translated the Fables of Bidpai.