SHAKESPEAR, John (elder). 14.8.1774 — Langley Priory, Leicestershire 14.6.1858. British Oriental (Hindi/Urdu, Arabic and Persian) Scholar. Professor in Addiscombe. Son of a small farmer, John Shakespear, who died when he was 11, and his wife Martha. Educated at the parish school and privately. He studied Arabic in London in order…
SCHMIDT, Isaak Jakob (Jakov Ivanovič Šmidt). Amsterdam 14.10.1779 — St.Petersburg 27.8.(8.9.)1847. Dutch-born Central Asian Scholar in Russia. Academician in St. Petersburg. It is said that he was born in the Netherlands in a German (Moravian) merchant family, but Le Calloch points out that his father Johannes (Jan) Schmidt was born…
SCHLEGEL, Karl Wilhelm Friedrich (1814 von Schl.). Hannover 10.3.1772 — Dresden 12.1.1829. German Literate and Pioneer of Indology. Son of Johann Adolf Schlegel (1721–1793), Lutheran priest and author, of an old cultural family, and Erdmuthe Hübsch (1735–1811), nephew of the poet Johann Elias Schlegel (1719–1749), brother of —> A. W. von…
SCHLEGEL, August Wilhelm von. Hannover 5.9.1767 — Bonn 12.5.1845. German Indologist, Classical Scholar and Art Historian. Professor in Bonn. Son of Johann Adolf Schlegel (1721–1793), Lutheran priest and author, of and old cultural family, and Erdmuthe Hübsch (1735–1811), nephew of the poet Johann Elias Schlegel (1719–1749), himself started early the…
SCHILLING VON CANSTADT, Paul Ludwig, Freiherr (Cannstatt, Russian Pavel Lvovič Šilling fon Kanštadt, Baron). Real (Tallinn) 5.(16.)4.1786 — St.Petersburg 25.7.(6.8.)1837. Russian (German of Estonia) Officer, Diplomat, and Lay Sinologist also interested in Tibetan, and in Physics. Son of an officer, Ludwig Joseph Ferdinand Sch., of old Swabian noble family, spent…
SALOMONS (Prooije-S.), Henriette Johanna Wilhelmina. Rotterdam 20.5.1882 — the Hague 23.8.1959. Dutch Indologist. Daughter of Constant Theodoor Salomons, director of a gas factory, and Trinette Maria Kortman. From 1901 studies of Dutch at Leiden (i.a. under Uhlenbeck), with little progress, after B.A. moved to Utrecht and took Sanskrit under Caland.…
SAINT-MARTIN, Antoine-Jean. Paris 17.1.1791 — Paris 17.7.1832 (Brosset & S. de S. say 10.7.). French Oriental (mainly Armenian) Scholar. Son of a tradesman, he first planned commercial career, but at Collège des Quatre-Nations learned Persian, Syriac, Turkish and especially Arabic and Armenian and thus became interested in languages and student…
WOOD, Mark. Perth, Scotland 1747 — London 6.2.1829. Sir (Bart.). British (Scottish) Military Engineer and Traveller in India. Son of Alexander Wood. Cadet 1770, in 1772 joined Bengal Engineers, his two brothers were also in E.I.C.’s military service. Surveyor-General 1787, Chief Engineer in Bengal 1790, retired as Colonel and returned…
WOLFF, Joseph. Weilersbach near Bamberg 1795 — Isle Brewers, Somerset 2.5.1862. Rev. German Priest, Oriental Scholar and Traveller in Central Asia. Born in a Jewish family, his father David Wolff was a rabbi, his mother was Sarah. Educated in Stuttgart and Bamberg. After conversion to Catholic Christianity near Prague in…
WINSLOW, Miron. Williston, Vermont 11.12.1789 — Cape Town 22.10.1864. Rev. U.S. Missionary and Tamil Lexicographer in South Asia, where he remained in 1819-64. Son of Nathaniel Winslow and Anna Kellogg. Graduated from Middlebury College 1815 and Andover Theological Seminary 1818, ordained priest 1818. Together with his wife he arrived in…