DOWNING, Clement. 16?? — at sea 1736. British Engineer in India 1715-23. In Mughal service. Birth and early years unknown, to India perhaps in 1715. According to his title page he was “Midshipman on board the Salisbury; afterwards Lieutenant of the Victory Frigate, Fame Gally, and Revenge Grab, part of…
DOW, Alexander. Crieff, Perthshire 1735/36 — Bhagalpur 31.7.1779. British (Scottish) Colonial Officer, Historian and Persian Scholar in India. Son of a customs officer. He had mercantile education in Dunbar and briefly worked in Eyemouth, but had to leave Scotland (possibly after a fatal duel). He came to Bencoolen (Sumatra) as…
DOROW, Carl Friedrich Ferdinand Wilhelm. Königsberg 22.3.1790 — Halle 16.12.1846. German Antiquarian Scholar. A precursor of Indian art history who, according to Mode, did not share the common contempt of Indian art of his times. Son of Friedrich Dorow and Sophie Reichardt. Lost early his father, educated in Marienburg (Malbork in…
DOMENICO DA FANO (Dominicus a Fano,lay Francesco Magnani). 1674 — 1728. Father. Italian Capuchin Missionary. Joined Capuchin order 1690. In Tibet in 1706-11and 1716-25, with interval in Europe. He was the Head of the Capuchin Mission in Lhasa, until his death, when he was succeeded by —> Orazio Della Penna.…
DESVAULX, Nicolas-Jacques, baron d’Oinville. Chandernagor 28.3.1745 — Paris 9.7.1817. French Officer in India. Son of an officer (some say a wealthy merchant) working in India for the French Company, grew up in Paris. In 1762 he joined the army and after a few years was sent according to his own…
DESIDERI, Ippolito. Pistoia, Tuscany 21.12.1684 — Rome 14.8.1733. S.J. Italian Missionary and a Pioneer of Tibetology, in Tibet in 1715-21, in India 1714-15, 1721-27, last years in Rome. Son of Iacopo Desideri and Maria Maddalena Cappellini, a patrician family, educated at Jesuit school in Pistoia. Joined Jesuits in 1700 and…
DESGRANGES, Jean-François (Pouillon-Desgranges). Bonneval (Eure-et-Loir) 30.9.1765 — Paris 8.11.1848 (or 1851). French Former Priest and Teacher, the author of the first French Sanskrit grammar. Because of missing information and misinformation (he is often claimed to be an officer), this was very hard nut to crack, only solved through the valuable…
DELAMAINE, James. 1784? — Cape of Good Hope 1829?. British Colonial Officer. Ensign (1798), Captain (1823) and Major in Bengal Army (1827), then Lieutenant-Colonel and Political Agent at Nemaur. Served long under John Malcolm and knew Sanskrit and Persian. In 1823 he was the first European to visit Nasik Caves…
DAVIS, Samuel. West Indies 1760 — Croydon, Surrey 16.6.1819. British Engineer and Civil Servant in India, interested in Indian Astronomy. Son of an officer, John Davis (from 1759 Commissary general of West Indies) and his wife, née Phillips. Lost early his father and came to England with his mother. Cadet…
DANIELL, William. Kingston upon Thames, London 1769/70 — Camden Town, London 16.8.1837. British Painter in India. Nephew of —> Thomas Daniell (1749–1840). Son of innkeeper William Daniell and his wife Sarah. After his father’s premature death in 1779 came to live with his uncle. “Accompanied his uncle … to India.…