ANDERSON, James Drummond. Fort William, Calcutta 11.11.1852 — Cambridge 24.11.1920. British Civil Servant in India, Bengali Scholar. Son of James Anderson (1811–1891, M.D.) and Ellen Mary Garstin (1831–1857). Born in Calcutta, he learned fluency of Bengali as child, but was sent to England when he was seven. Educated at the Cheltenham College and Rugby. Served in I.C.S. in 1875-1900, mostly in Assam. Finally Collector and soon Commissioner of Chittagong, 1894-98. After returning to England he was from 1907 University Lecturer in Bengali at Cambridge. M.A. 1909 and Litt.D. Cambridge. Married Frances Louisa Cordue (1861–1948), five sons and one daughter. One son, the younger James Drummond Anderson (1886–1968) was Financial Commissioner of the Punjab in 1941-46.

Publications: Articles on comparative NIA and Bengali in JRAS and in BSOS, and on religion in E.R.E.

– Short list of words of the Hill Tippera language. 13 p. Shillong 1885; A short vocabulary of the Aka language. 20 p. Shillong 1896.

– A collectionof Kachári folk-tales and rhymes. 61 p. Shillong 1895; The Kacháris. 19+128 p. L. 1911.

– Assamese and Bengali. Calcutta 1896; A Manual of the Bengali Language. 178 p. Cambridge 1920 (repr. 1962); The Peoples of India. 12+118 p. Cambridge 1913.

– Some Chittagong Proverbs compiled as an example of the dialect of the Chittagong District. 94 p. Calcutta 1897.

– Translated Bankimchandra Chatterjee’s Indira and other stories. 148 p. Calcutta 1925.

Sources: *G.A. Grierson, JRAS 1921, 149-152; Who Was Who 1916-1928; books in world cat.org; ancestry.com; Wikipedia.