MACAN, Turner. Kilbrogan, Bandon, county Cork 30.9.1792 — Calcutta 24.7.1836. Irish Colonial Officer and Oriental Scholar in India. Major. Son of Robert Macan (1750–1808) and Hannah Bagwell. The grandfather had simplified his name from McCann to Macan. In 1795 the family moved to Carriff (now Carrive), county Armaghan. Joined army…
LUMSDEN, Matthew. Leochal-Cushnie, Aberdeenshire 1777 — Cheltenham, Gloucester (B) or Tooting Common, Surrey (G & W) 18.3. or 31.3.1835. British (Scottish) Civil Servant and Oriental Scholar in India. Son of John Lumsden (1727–1795) and Anne Forbes (1734–1811), cousin of —> Harry Burnett Lumsden (1821–1896). Educated at King’s College, Old Aberdeen.…
LITTRÉ, Michel-François. Avranches, Normandy 25.5.1765 — 20.12.1827. French Pioneer of Indology. Son of goldsmith Jean Littré and Marie Anne Liégears (1739–1768). Served in French navy and adopted revolutionary ideas. Then settled in Paris as tax-collector. In order to give good education to his sons he achieved a library and studied…
LEYDEN, John Casper. Denholm, Cavers, Roxburghshire 8.9.1775 — Batavia (Jakarta) 28.8.1811 (or 10.9.?). British (Scottish) Physician and Orientalist, a Pioneer of South-East Asian Studies. Son of John Leyden, a shepherd, and Isabella Scott. He was educated at Kirktown parish school and Edinburgh University, learned Oriental languages already at home in Edinburgh…
LE ROUX DESHAUTESRAYES, Michel-Ange-André (des Hautesrayes, des Hautes-Rayes). Conflans-Sainte-Honorine near Pontoise 10.9.1724 — Rueil Malmaison near Paris 9.2.1795. French Orientalist and Sinologist, a Pioneer of Buddhist Studies. Professor in Paris. Son of Antoine Le Roux Hautesrayes and Catherine Geneviève Fourmont. Through his mother nephew of the Orientalist brothers Etienne and…
LE GENTIL DE LA GALAISSIÈRE, Guillaume-Joseph-Hyacinthe-Jean-Baptiste. Coutances (Manche) 12.9.1725 — Paris 22.10.1792. French Astronomer and Traveller, in India 1768–71. Instead of the planned career in church and studied theology in Paris, but turned to astronomy. Left for India in 1760 in order to observe the transit of Venus in 1761,…
LEBEDEV, Gerasim Stepanovič (Herasim Lebedeff). Jaroslavl 1749 (not 1746) — St.Petersburg 15.7.(27.7.)1817. Russian Musician, Traveller and Pioneer of Indology. Son of Stepan Lebedev and his wife Paraskov’a. Father was a poor Orthodox clergyman, who did not allow him to obtain higher education. The family moved to St.Petersburg, where he studied…
KOSEGARTEN, Johann Gottfried Ludwig. Altenkirchen, Rügen 10.9.1792 — Greifswald 18.8.1860. German Indologist and Orientalist. Professor in Greiswald. Son of the minister and poet Ludwig Gotthard Kosegarten (1758–1818) and Katharina Linde, born in what was then Swedish Pomerania. Educated at home. In 1808-12 studies of theology and history at Greifswald, where…
KNOX, Robert. London 8.2.1641 — Wimbledon, London 19.6.1720. British (Scottish) Traveller. In South Asia in 1657-94 (1659-79 prisoner in Ceylon). Son of Robert Knox, a Puritan and commander in E.I.C.’s service. Grew up in Wimbledon, Surrey. After mother’s death sailed with his father in January 1657 to Fort George. On…
KLAPROTH, Heinrich Julius von. Berlin 11.10.1783 — Paris 28.8.1835. German Oriental Scholar in Russia and France. Son of the mineralogist and chemist (discoverer of uranium) Martin-Heinrich Klaproth (1743–1817) and Christine Sophie Lehmann (1748–1803). Gymnasium in Berlin. As a fifteen years old schoolboy he started the study of Chinese from Bayer’s…