BLAND, Nathaniel (born Nath. Crumple). Liverpool 3.2.1803 — Homburg-les-Bains 10.8.1865. British Oriental (Persian) Scholar. Son of the elder Nathaniel Bland (Crumple), who was of Irish origin, but had changed his name and settled at Randalls Park in Leatherfield. Educated at Eton (1818-) and in 1821-25 at Christ Church, Oxford (1825 B.A.). Distinguished as Persian scholar, studied i. al. the history of chess. In 1845 M.A. Later he “took to gambling, had to sell his estate [R. Park], and took his own life”. For Indology he remains marginal.
Full details of Bland’s background are found in the JRAS: His grandfather was Francis Crumple of Surrey, who married Dorothea Bland of Kerry, their son was Nathaniel Crumple, who inherited the Bland property and took the name. The Blands were an English (originally Yorkshire) family in Ireland.
Publications: “Account of the Atesh Kedah, a Biographical Work on the Persian Poets, by Hajji Lutf Ali Beg, of Ispahan”, JRAS 7, 1843, 345-392; “Véritable auteur du Dabistan”, JA 4:8, 1846, 371-377; “On the earliest Persian Biography of Poets, by Muhammad Aúfi”, JRAS 9, 1848, 111-176; “On the Persian Game of Chess”, JRAS 13, 1852, 1-70; “Lettre à M. Garçin de Tassy sur Mas’oud poëte persan et hindoui”, JA 5:2, 1853, 356-371; “On Muhammadan Science of Tâbír or Interpretation of Dreams”, JRAS 16, 1856, 118-171; and other works.
– Persian chess, illustrated from oriental sources; especially in reference to the great chess, improperly ascribed to Timur, and in vindication of the Persian origin of the game, against the claims of the Hindus. 70 p. L. 1850 (the same as the JRAS article above, but with revisions?).
Sources: H.B[everidg]e, D.N.B. Suppl. 1, 216f.; Buckland, Dictionary; JRAS N.S. 2, 1865, iii-v; briefly in Wikipedia
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