CHEVALIER, Jean-Baptiste. Blois 23.4.1729 — Conan near Blois 30.4.1789. French Traveller in India and Tibet. Son of Jean-Baptiste Chevalier, a lawyer and royal adviser, and Marie-Catherine de La Saussaye. In French colonial service left for Bengal in 1752, in 1755-57 explored still independent Assam, trying without success to get an…
CHARDIN, Jean-Baptiste (1681 Sir John Chardin). Paris 16.11.1643 (Julian 6.11.) — Chiswick, London 5.1.1713 (25.12.1712). French Huguenot Jeweller and Traveller. Sent to the east by his father, the wealthy Parisian jeweller Daniel Chardin, in 1664 he visited Persia (entering the service of Shah Abbas II in Isfahan), then Surat and…
CHAMBERS, William. Newcastle-upon-Tyne 21.11.1748 — Calcutta 22.8.1793. British Colonial Official and a Pioneer of Indology. Son of Robert Chambers (d. 1749), an attorney in Newcastle, and Anne Metcalf, younger brother of —> Robert Chambers (1737–1823). Educated in Newcastle. Went to India before 1774. Political servant of E.I.C., apparently first in…
CHAMBERS, Robert. Newcastle-upon-Tyne 14.1.1737 — Paris 9.5.1803. Sir. British Colonial Official and a Pioneer of Indology. Son of Robert Chambers (d. 1749), an attorney in Newcastle, and Anne Metcalf, brother of —> William Chambers (1748–1793). Educated at Royal Grammar School in Newcastle. Studies from 1754 at Oxford (Lincoln College; 1758…
CASSIANO DA MACERATA (lay Giovanni Beligatti). Macerata 1708 — Macerata 4.2.1791. Italian Missionary and a Pioneer of Indology, in India and Tibet in 1739-56. Son of Gaetano Beligatti and Margarita Compagnucci. In 1725 joined the Capuchin order in their monastery at his home-town Macerata. In 1738 he was selected with…
CAREY, William. Paulerspury, Northamptonshire 17.8.1761 — Serampur 9.6.1834. British Missionary and Pioneer of Indology, in India 1794–1834. Son of Edmund Carey, a village schoolmaster, and Elizabeth Wells, became in the age of 14 apprentice to a shoemaker in Hackleton. He was interested in religion and joined the Baptists in 1783,…
CAMPBELL, Alexander Duncan. Edinburgh 6.1.1786 (hardly 1789) — London 4.4.1857. British (Scottish) Civil Servant in India, interested in Telugu. Son of William Campbell (1760–1815) and Catherine Gunning. Member of Madras Civil Service, in 1806 Collector and Magistrate in Bellary (1821 still there), 1816 Member of the Board of Superintendence for…
CALMETTE, Jean. Rodez (Aveyron) 5.5.1692 (not 1693) — Chickballapur, Karnataka ?.2.1740 (hardly 1739). S.J. French Missionary and a Pioneer of Indology. He joined the S.J. as novice in Toulouse in 1709 (not in 1720!). Ordained 1725 and left for India in 1726 and worked at Carnatic mission, in Carveypondi (near…
CAIN, John. 184? — 17.3.1917. Rev. British Missionary in India. Arrived in India in 1869, from 1874 in Dummagudem in Godavari dt. working there until his death. Married 1880 Sarah Davies (d. 1934), the first Australian missionary in India. He collected notes about Dravidian tribal languages and customs and participated…
BURROW, Reuben. Hoberley, near Shadwell, Leeds 30.12.1747 — Baxar, Bihar 7.6.1792. British Mathematician in India. “Son of a farmer, educated at Leeds. Became a clerk, usher, schoolmaster, assistant astronomer and schoolmaster at Greenwich, arithmetical teacher at the Tower, edited the Royal Almanack. Went to India in 1782, learnt Sanskrit.” In…