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…
BURNOUF, Jean-Louis. Urville near Valognes (Manche) 14.9.1775 — Paris 8.5.1844. French Classical Scholar interested in Sanskrit. Professor in Paris. Father of —> Eugène Burnouf (1801–1852). One of the 8 children of a poor weaver, lost early his father. In 1793 matriculated from the collège of Harcourt, without means had to…
BURNEY, Henry. 27.2.1792 — at sea 4.3.1845. British Colonial Officer (Captain, 1834 Lieutenant-Colonel) and Diplomat in South-East Asia (Burma). Son of Richard Thomas Burney (1768–1808) and his wife Jane, father was the headmaster of Orphan School at Kidderpore near Calcutta. Joined Indian army in 1807. Attached to the 20th Marine…
BUNSEN, Christian Karl Josias (then Karl, Freiherr von Bunsen). Korbach, Waldeck 25.8.1791 — Bonn 28.11.1860. German Diplomat and Scholar. Son of a Dutch officer, Heinrich Christian Bunsen, who died already before his birth in 1790 (but see below), and Johanette Brocken (or Brocki, 1750–1819). School in Korbach, studies of theology…
BUCHANAN-HAMILTON, Francis (until 1815 Francis Buchanan, then Francis Hamilton). Branziet, Callander, Pertshire 15.2.1762 — Callander 15.6.1829. British (Scottish) Physician in India, Traveller and Naturalist, a Pioneer of Burmese Studies and of Indian Archaeology. Son of Thomas B., a physician, and Elizabeth Hamilton, took himself a M.D. at Edinburgh in 1783…
BUCHANAN, Claudius (born Claud Buchanan). Cambuslang near Glasgow 12.3.1766 — Broxbourne, Hertfordshire 9.2.1815. Rev. British (Scottish) Missionary in India. Son of Alexander Buchanan, a schoolmaster, and Janet Somers. Studies at Glasgow 1782-84 and 1786 and, after several years’ interval spent in London, from 1791 at Cambridge (B.A. 1795), ordained priest…
BROWNE, James. 1744 — Patna 22.6.1792. British Colonial Officer in India. Lieutenant-Colonel. Joined Indian army in 1765, 1772 aide-de-camp of Warren Hastings. “Collector of the Jungleterry districts, 1773; had difficult work in administering the country and settling disturbances. Sent by the Council on an embassy to Shah Alam at Delhi…
BROWN, William. 1??? — 18??. British Colonial Officer in India. Captain, of the Revenue Survey (mentioned in 1822/42), in Dehra Dun. In 1828 surveyed Saharanpur, in 1842 Ludhiana. In 1842 he was Major. Publications: “Account of an ancient temple at Hissar, and of the ship model at that place”, JASB…