BALLANTYNE, James Robert. Kelso, Teriotdale 13.12.1813 — Pimlico, London 18.2.1864. British (Scottish) Indologist in India. Son of Alexandet Thomson Ballantyne (1776–1847), a journalist and printer, and his wife Anne (sister of —> J. Michael), his younger brother was Robert Michael Ballantyne (1825–1894), a noted author of juvenile fiction. Educated at…
BALL, Valentine. Dublin 14.7.1843 — Dublin 15.6.1895. Irish Scientist in India. Son of the naturalist scholar Robert Ball (1802–1857) and Amelia Gresley Hellicar (1800–1895). Educated in Chester and Dublin (Rathmines School), studies at Trinity College, Dublin (B.A. 1864, M.A. 1872, LL.D. 1889). In 1860-64 worked as clerk in Dublin. He…
BÁLINT-ILLYÉS, Gábor Szentkátolnai. Szentkátolna (now Catalina in Romania) 13.3.1844 — Temesvár (now Timişoara in Romania) 25.5.1913. Hungarian Altaic Scholar, Polyglott and Linguist, also interested in Dravidian. Professor in Kolozsvár (now Cluj-Napoca in Romania). Son of Endre Bálint, of a Szekely noble family of hereditary borderguards, and Ágnes Illyés. He learnt…
BALFOUR, Francis. Fife 1744? — Fernie estate, Monimail, Fife 7.5.1818. British (Scottish) Physician in India. Son of Arthur Balfour (d. 1746), an officer, and Janet Peterson. Dr.Med. 1767 Edinburgh. From 1769 Assistant Surgeon in E.I.C.’s service in India, mainly in Calcutta, full surgeon 1777. He was a friend of Warren…
BALFOUR, Edward Green. Angus, Montrose, Forfarshire 6.9.1813 — London 8.12.1889. British (Scottish) Physician in India. Son of Captain George Balfour of E.I.C. marine and Susan Hume. Educated at Montrose, studies at Edinburgh University. Left for India in 1834, on way visited Mauritius, arrived 1836 and joined the Medical Department serving…
BALDAEUS, Philippus (Philips Baelde). Delft bapt. 24.10.1632 — Geervliet 1671. Dutch Priest and Traveller. Son of Jan Baelde (1610–1636), a merchant of Flemish origin, and Maria de Jomge (Junius, d. 1636), lost early his parents. After Latin school in Delft studied at Groningen and, in 1650-54, Leiden universities, then joined…
BALBI, Gasparo. 15?? — after 1590. Italian Merchant and Traveller, in the East 1579-86. He was from Venice and dealt in jewels, and therefore went to India. Started from Venice in 1579, travelled by the land route, via Aleppo, Basra, and Ormuz to Goa, where he stayed till 1582. Then…
BAKTAY, Ervin (Erwin, to 1925 Baktay-Gottesmann). Dunaharaszti 24.6.1890 — Budapest 7.5.1963 (when 73). Hungarian Art Historian. Son of Raoul Gottesmann (d. 1905) and Antonia Levys-Martinfalvy. Originally intended to become a painter, he studied in Munich under Simon Hollósy, whose brother Joszef was one of the first in Hungary to be…
BAKE, Arnold Adriaan. Hilversum 19.5.1899 — London 8.10.1963. Dutch Indologist in India and in the U.K. Born in a well-to-do family, son of William Herman Bake (1854–1916) and Johanna Bartha van den Burg (1857?–1932). School in Hilversum and in 1912-18 at gymnasium in Haarlem. He planned to go to Indonesia,…
BAINES, Jervoise Athelstane. Bluntisham, Huntingdonshire 17.10.1847 — Kidlington, Oxfordshire 26.11.1925. Sir. British Civil Servant in India and an Ethnologist. Son of the Rev. Edward Baines and his wife Catherine Eularia. Educated at Rugby, and Trinity College, Cambridge. Served in the I.C.S. in Bombay 1870-89. Then Census Commissioneer under the Government…