DUNCAN, Jonathan. Wardhouse, Forfarshire 15.5.1756 — Bombay 11.8.1811. British (Scottish) Civil Servant in India. Son of Alexander Duncan (d. 1792), one of the directors of E.I.C., and Jean Michie. Accepted to the E.I.C.’s civil service he arrived at Calcutta in 1772. After serving in various subordinate capacities, he was selected,…
DUBOIS, Jean-Antoine. Saint-Remèze (Ardèche) bapt. 10.1.1766 — Paris 17.2.1848. Abbé. French Missionary and Pioneer of Indology in South India. Educated at College de Bourg-Saint-Andéol and the seminary of Missions etrangères in Paris. Ordained priest in 1791, in January 1792 left for India. Worked in Pondichéry and Tranquebar, from 1799 in…
DOWNING, Clement. 16?? — at sea 1736. British Engineer in India 1715-23. In Mughal service. Birth and early years unknown, to India perhaps in 1715. According to his title page he was “Midshipman on board the Salisbury; afterwards Lieutenant of the Victory Frigate, Fame Gally, and Revenge Grab, part of…
DOW, Alexander. Crieff, Perthshire 1735/36 — Bhagalpur 31.7.1779. British (Scottish) Colonial Officer, Historian and Persian Scholar in India. Son of a customs officer. He had mercantile education, but had to leave Scotland after a fatal duel. He came to Bencoolen (Sumatra) as a sailor and entered in 1760 the E.I.C.’s…
DOROW, Wilhelm. Königsberg 22.3.1790 — Halle 16.12.1846. German Antiquarian Scholar. A precursor of Indian art history who, according to Mode, did not share the common contempt of Indian art of his times. Lost early his father, educated in Marienburg (Malbork in Poland). For a while studied at Königsberg. Moved 1811…
DOMENICO DA FANO (Dominicus a Fano,lay Francesco Magnani). 1674 — 1728. Father. Italian Capuchin Missionary, in Tibet in 1706-11and 1716-25, with interval in Europe. He was the Head of the Capuchin Mission in Lhasa, until his death, when he was succeeded by —> Orazio Della Penna. Started the quarrel against…
DESVAULX, Nicolas-Jacques, baron d’Oinville. Chandernagor 28.3.1745 — Paris 9.7.1817. French Officer in India. Son of an officer working in India for the French Company, grew up in Paris. In 1762 he joined the army and after a few years was sent according to his own wish to India. In 1778…
DESIDERI, Ippolito. Pistoia, Tuscany 21.12.1684 — Rome 14.8.1733. S.J. Italian Missionary and a Pioneer of Tibetology, in Tibet in 1715-21, in India 1714-15, 1721-27, last years in Rome. Son of Iacopo D. and Maria Maddalena Cappellini, a patrician family, educated at Jesuit school in Pistoia. Joined Jesuits in 1700 and…
DESGRANGES, Jean-François (Pouillon-Desgranges). Bonneval (Eure-et-Loir) 30.9.1765 — Paris 8.11.1848 (or 1851). French Former Priest and Teacher, the author of the first French Sanskrit grammar. Because of missing information and misinformation (he is often claimed to be an officer), this was very hard nut to crack, only solved through the valuable…
DELAMAINE, James. 1784? — Cape of Good Hope 1829?. British Colonial Officer. Ensign (1798), Captain (1823) and Major in Bengal Army (1827), then Lieutenant-Colonel and Political Agent at Nemaur. Served long under John Malcolm and knew Sanskrit and Persian. In 1823 the first European to visit Nasik Caves. Left India…