George Percy Badger was born at
Chelmsford on 6 April 1815. His father served in the
British Army and in 1821 his
regiment was transferred in
Malta. After his father's death in 1823, George's mother decided to raise her sons in Malta, thus George Badger passed there his youth where he learned the
Maltese language and
Arabic, which he studied also in
Beirut from 1835. On 8 January 1840 Badger married Maria Wilcox in
Valletta. He returned to England in 1841, and after some theological studies at the Church Missionary College,
Islington, he was ordained Anglican priest in 1842. For his knowledge of the
Near East he was appointed by the
Archbishop of Canterbury as delegate to the Christians of
Church of the East in
Mesopotamia and
Kurdistan, and in this work he was engaged for three years. On his return to England in 1845 he was appointed chaplain in
Bombay. Thence he was transferred to
Aden, where he chiefly resided during the remainder of his term of service. He served as staff chaplain and Arabic interpreter to the force in the
Anglo-Persian War. Badger returned to England in 1861, and in the same year again joined
Sir James Outram in the latter's visit to Egypt. In 1862 he left the service, and devoted himself henceforth mainly to literature. In 1872 he left England serving as secretary and interpreter of
Sir Bartle Frere in a diplomatic travel in
Zanzibar. In recognition of his various services Badger was, in 1873, created
D.C.L. by the
Archbishop of Canterbury, and
Knight of the Crown by King
Victor Emmanuel II of Italy in the same year. Badger helped a Catholic priest from
Diyarbakır,
Louis Sabunji, to continue his journal,
Al Nahla, in London in 1877.{{cite journal|author=L. Zolondek|title=Sabunji in England 1876-91: His Role in Arabic Journalism|journal=Middle Eastern Studies|date=January 1978|volume=14|issue=1|page=103|doi=10.1080/00263207808700368 ==Works==