WHITEHEAD, Richard Bertram. Liverpool 6.11.1879 — Cambridge 4.3. 1967. British Numismatist. Son of Rev. Robert Wh. Educated at Liverpool College and Exeter College, Oxford. In 1902 he joined I.C.S. and in 1903 arrived in the Punjab. From 1904 Assistant Commissioner, first in Ambala, then in different parts of the Punjab. After retirement from India he settled down in Cambridge in 1922 and formed a tie with the University as a Fellow-Commoner of St.John’s College. D.Litt. 1940 Cambridge. Married 1928 Margaret Elizabeth Barnes (née Edben), widowed in 1961.
In the Punjab, Whitehead soon became interested in history and antiquities, especially in numismatics, fully understanding its great importance for history. Soon he became an authority especially on the coins of ancient North-West India, but also on Indo-Muslim numismatics (especially of the Mughals and Afghan Durranis). In 1910 he was one of the founders of the Numismatic Society of India.
Publications: Edited the Gazetteers of Maler Kotla, Faridkot, and Kapurthala, c. 1906.
– Numismatic articles and reviews since 1909 in JASB, NC, JRAS, JPHS, e.g. “The Mint Towns of the Mughal Emperors in India”, JASB N.S. 8, 1912, 425-531; “The Place of Coins in Indian History”, JPHS 2, 1913, 5-20.
– Catalogue of the Collection of Coins illustrative of the History of the Rulers of Delhi upto 1858 A.D. in the Delhi Museum of Archaeology. 96 p. Calcutta 1910.
– Catalogue of Coins in the Punjab Museum, Lahore. 1-2. Oxford 1914 (1. Indo-Greek Coins. 12+218 p. 20 pl.; 2. Coins of the Mughal Emperors. 115+441 p. 21 pl.), 3. Coins of Nadir Shah and the Durrani Dynasty. 70+195 p. 14 pl. Oxford 1936.
– The Pre-Muhammadan Coinage of North-Western India. 56 p. 14 pl. N.Y. 1922.
– “Notes on Indo-Greek Numismatics”, NC 1923, 294-343; “Notes on the Indo-Greeks”, NC 1940, 89-122; 1947, 28-51; 1950, 205-232.
– “Some notable coins of the Mughal Emperors of India”, NC 1923, 115-149; 1926, 361-416; 1930, 199-220; “The Portrait Medals and Zodiacal Coins of the Emperor Jahāngīr”, NC 5:9, 1929, 1-25 & 5:11, 1931, 91-130.
– “The River courses of Ancient Punjab and Sind”, IA 61, 1932, 163-169.
– “A commentary on rare and unique coins, other than punch-marked, found at Taxila between 1912 & 1914”, J. Marshall, Taxila. 2. Cambridge 1951, 795-842.
Sources: A.D.H. Bivar, JNSI 30, 1968, 1-13 (9-13 bibliography, with photo) and *NC 7:7, 1967, 279-286; B.N. Mukherjee, JASB 4th Ser. 10, Yearbook for 1967, 1968, 187–190; Wikipedia.
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