COURT, Auguste

COURT, Claude Auguste. Grasse (or Saint-Cézaire-sur-Siagne, both in Alpes-Maritimes) 24.9.1793 — Paris 21.1.1880. French soldier serving as a General under Rañjit Singh, a lay Archaeologist and Numismatist. Son of an officer, André Ambroise Court and Marguerite Diaque. Educated at Lycée de Casale in Piémont in 1804-10, at École polytéchnique and…

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COSTA DE MACEDO, Joaquim José da

COSTA DE MACEDO, Joaquim José da. Lisbon 25.4.1777 — Golegã 15.3.1867. Portuguese Historian. Son of Professor Agostinho José da Costa de M. Librarian, then Academician in Lisbon. In 1834-56 General Secretary of Academia das Ciências. Also other important public offices. Publications: Wrote on Portuguese and early colonial history. Sources: Several…

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COLEBROOKE, Henry Thomas

COLEBROOKE, Henry Thomas. London 15.6.1765 — London 10.12.(or 10.3. or 18.3. or 10.4.)1837. British Pioneer of Indology, Lawyer and Mathematician. 1782-1814 in India. Third son of Sir George Colebrooke (1729–1809), 2nd Bart., a banker and later the chairman of the E.I.C.’s directors (in 1769), and Mary Gaynor. Privately educated at…

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CŒURDOUX, Gaston

CŒURDOUX, Gaston-Laurent. Bourges 18.10.1691 (or 18.12.?) — Pondichéry 15.6.1779. S.J. French Missionary Priest and Pioneer of Indology in India. Joined the S.J. in 1715, ordained priest 1725, left for South India in 1732, and served in Madurai Mission in 1732-73, in 1744-51 as the superior of the mission. After the…

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CLOUGH, Benjamin

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…

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CLEMENS A IESU

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…

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CHÉZY, Antoine Léonard de

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…

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CHEVALIER, Jean-Baptiste

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…

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CHARDIN, Jean (Sir John Chardin)

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…

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