CLOUGH, Benjamin. Bradford, Yorkshire 1791 — Southwark, Kent 13.4.1853. British Methodist Missionary and Pāli Scholar in Sri Lanka. Lost his father, a militia officer, when four. Joined the Methodists in the age of 17 and became a preacher. Ordained priest and went to Ceylon among the first Methodist missionaries in…
CLEMENS A IESU (Clemente di Gesù, lay Giovanni Jacobo Peano di Penni, often called with hybrid name Clemente Peani or Clemens Peanus). Alessandria 7.4.1731 — Mattancherry 19.10.1782. Father. Italian Missionary and Precursor of Indology. A Discalced Carmelite monk. He joined the order in 1749, studied six years at missionary seminary…
CHÉZY, Antoine Léonard de. Neuilly-sur-Seine near Paris 15.1.1773 — Paris 3.9. (or 31.8.) 1832. French Pioneer of Indology, the first Professor of Sanskrit in Paris. Born in the large family of Antoine de Chézy (1718–1798), a well known engineer and scientist, and Marie Barbe Pollin. The birth year is somewhat…
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…