HAEGHEN, Philippe van der. Brussels 24.2.1825 — Paris 1886. Belgian Scholar interested in Indology. Son of Guillaume v. d. H. and Marie-Anne-Antoinette-Sophie De Wez. His biography is rather unclear, but he seems to have worked for several members of nobility as librarian, etc. He was a polymath who wrote on many different topics, often in a highly polemical way. A militant Catholic. Married, his only (?) son died early.

Publications: Wrote much on history and education, translated European books.

– “De l’étude du Tamoul”, Bull. Belgian Acad. 2:22, 1855, 285-304.

– Maximes populaires de l’Inde méridionale traduites et expliquées par Ph. van der Haeghen. 39 p. Lp. 1858 (with Tamil text by J. P. Rottler).

– “Les manuscrits sanscrits de la Bibliothèque de Madras”, Revue de l’Orient 4:1, 1865, 161-166.

– “Les écoles et l’alphabet des Tamouls: manuscrit de Philippe Van der Haeghen (1874), édité et annoté”, par C. Vielle et E. Francis, Acta Orientalia Belgica 25, 2012, 127-141.

Sources: Briefly in Chr. Vielle, “Indianisme et bouddhisme à Louvain, de Félix Nève à Étienne Lamotte” (https://dial.uclouvain.be/pr/boreal/object/boreal%3A226663/datastream/PDF_01/view); French Wikipédia with bibliography.