Sir Charles Alfred Payton MVO (12 November 1843 – 11 March 1926) was a British adventurer, fisherman, diplomat and writer.
Career Charles Payton was born in York, the son of a Dissenting minister, and educated at Scarborough and at New College, London, which was not yet part of the University of London, but in 1860 he passed the university's matriculation with honours. He became an insurance clerk and then a railway clerk, and in 1864 he prospected for gold in California but was unsuccessful. Afterwards he became by turn a manufacturer of explosives, the owner of a Cornish china clay mine, a diamond digger at Kimberley, South Africa, a salesman on the Continent for a firm of coal merchants, a clerk at Toulouse, and a merchant at Mogador in western Morocco.
He was appointed British Consul at Mogador in 1880The London Gazette, 6 April 1880 and in 1890 his jurisdiction was expanded to the whole of southern Morocco (another consul was based at Tangier).The London Gazette, 17 June 1890
In February 1893 he was transferred to be consul at Genoa, ItalyThe London Gazette, 17 February 1893 and in September of that year joined with other British residents to found the Genoa Cricket & Athletic Club, now the Genoa Cricket and Football Club with a prominent professional football team.
In 1897 Payton was transferred to Calais in northern France to be consul for the departments of the Nord (except for Dunkirk where there was another consul), Pas-de-Calais, and Somme.The London Gazette, 15 June 1897 He remained there for the rest of his career; in 1906 he was appointed MVO,The London Gazette, 1 June 1906 in 1902 his territory was expanded to include the departments of Aisne and Ardennes, and in 1911 he was promoted to Consul-General.The London Gazette, 30 June 1911 He retired in 1913 and was knighted in the New Year Honours of 1914.The London Gazette, 31 July 1914 He died at Scarborough in 1926.
Publications The diamond diggings of South Africa: a personal and practical account, Horace Cox, London, 1872 Moss from a rolling stone, or, Moorish wanderings and rambling reminiscences, "The Field" Office, London, 1879 The Rod on the Rivieras, in Sport on the Rivieras, with chapters on river and sea fishing in the south of Europe by C.A. Payton by Eustace Reynolds-Ball & Charles Payton, Reynolds-Balls Guides, London, 1911 Days of a knight: an octogenarian's medley of memories (life, travel, sport, adventure), Hutchinson, London, 1924
Charles Payton was angling correspondent of The Field from 1867 to 1914, under the pen-name of "Sarcelle". He also contributed fiction to London Society magazine.
References PAYTON, Sir Charles Alfred, Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007, retrieved 18 Nov 2012 Obituary – Sir C.A. Payton, The Times, London, 13 March 1926, page 14 Review of Days of a Knight, The Queenslander, 2 May 1925, page 3