DAVIS, Samuel

DAVIS, Samuel. West Indies 1760 — Croydon, Surrey 16.6.1819. British Engineer and Civil Servant in India, interested in Indian Astronomy. Son of an officer, John Davis and his wife, née Phillips. Lost early his father and came to England with his mother. He “went to Bengal as an officer of…

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DANIELL, William

DANIELL, William. Kingston upon Thames, London 1769/70 — Camden Town, London 16.8.1837. British Painter in India. Nephew of —> Thomas Daniell (1749–1840). Son of innkeeper William Daniell and his wife Sarah. After his father’s premature death in 1779 came to live with his uncle. “Accompanied his uncle … to India.…

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DANIELL, Thomas

DANIELL, Thomas. Kingston upon Thames, London 1749 — Kensington, London 19.3.1840. British Landscape Painter in India. Uncle of —> William Daniell (1769/70–1837). Studied and worked in London, in India 1785-94. “Son of an innkeeper… Was in India painting for ten years, from 1784, with his nephew… and published his pictures……

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CSOMA DE KŐRÖS, Alexander

CSOMA DE KŐRÖS, Alexander (Kőrösi Csoma Sándor). Kőrös, Kovászna, Transylvania (now Chiuruş, Covasna in Romania) 27.3.1784 — Darjeeling 11.4.1842. Hungarian Tibetologist, in Ladakh and India 1822-42. Born of poor parents, András Csoma, a peasant and soldier, and Krisztina Getse (Ilona Göcz), belonging to the military nobility known as Székely (Sicules). Birth…

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CRAWFURD, John

CRAWFURD, John. Islay, Hebrides 13.8.1783 — South Kensington, London 11.5.1868. British (Scottish) Physician, Colonial Officer and South-East Asian Scholar. Son of the physician Samuel Crawfurd and Margaret Campbell, educated at Bowmore. Then studies of medicine at Edinburgh, M.D. From 1803 served as an army medical officer chiefly in Upper India…

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COURT, Auguste

COURT, Claude Auguste. Grasse (or Saint-Cézaire-sur-Siagne, both in Alpes-Maritimes) 24.9.1793 — Paris 21.1.1880. French soldier serving as a General under Rañjit Singh, a lay Archaeologist and Numismatist. Son of an officer, André Ambroise Court and Marguerite Diaque. Educated at Lycée de Casale in Piémont in 1804-10, at École polytéchnique and…

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COSTA DE MACEDO, Joaquim José da

COSTA DE MACEDO, Joaquim José da. Lisbon 25.4.1777 — Golegã 15.3.1867. Portuguese Historian. Son of Professor Agostinho José da Costa de M. Librarian, then Academician in Lisbon. In 1834-56 General Secretary of Academia das Ciências. Also other important public offices. Publications: Wrote on Portuguese and early colonial history. Sources: Several…

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COLEBROOKE, Henry Thomas

COLEBROOKE, Henry Thomas. London 15.6.1765 — London 10.12.(or 10.3. or 18.3. or 10.4.)1837. British Pioneer of Indology, Lawyer and Mathematician. 1782-1814 in India. Third son of Sir George Colebrooke (1729–1809), 2nd Bart., a banker and later the chairman of the E.I.C.’s directors (in 1769), and Mary Gaynor. Privately educated at…

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CŒURDOUX, Gaston

CŒURDOUX, Gaston-Laurent. Bourges 18.10.1691 (or 18.12.?) — Pondichéry 15.6.1779. S.J. French Missionary Priest and Pioneer of Indology in India. Joined the S.J. in 1715, ordained priest 1725, left for South India in 1732, and served in Madurai Mission in 1732-73, in 1744-51 as the superior of the mission. After the…

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