ALTER, Franz Karl. Engelberg 27.1.1749 — Vienna 29.5.1804. S.J. Austrian (Silesian) Orientalist. Born in what is now Czech part of Silesia. Educated in Olmütz (Olomouc). Jesuit from 1766, after the suppression of the order taught Greek at a gymnasium, further studies at Vienna and Prague. Ph.D. From 1779 custos (librarian)…
ALLARD, Jean François. St.Tropez 8.3.1785 — Peshawar 23.1.1839. French General in North-West India. From 1803 in cavalry, served in Italy and was the aide-de-camp of marshal Brune. Like some other officers he turned after Waterloo to the East, visited first Iran, and continued then through Kandahar and Kabul to Lahore,…
ADELUNG, Friedrich Georg von. Stettin 25.2.1768 — St.Petersburg (or Berlin?) 30.1.1843. German (in Russia) Historian and lay Indologist. Son of the Prussian Oberfeldapothekar Paulus Ad. (1736–1785), nephew of the famous Linguist Johann Christoph Adelung (1732–1806). Studies at Leipzig (Law & Philosophy) 1787-90, then travelled in Central and South Europe. Settled…
ADAM, Matthew Thomson. 17?? — 18??. Rev. British Priest in India and Author of Books on Hindi/Urdu. Ordained 1819, arrived in 1820 at Calcutta with his wife and soon proceeded to Benares, working for London Missionary Society as teacher at Hindu College. He was a keen student of Hindi. In…
ABERCROMBY (-bie), Robert. Tullibody, Clackmanshire 21.10.1740 — Airthrey, Stirlingsgire 3.11.1827. Sir. British (Scottish) General. Son of George A. and Mary Dundas. Served as officer in the French war in India and in American revolutionary war. Lieutenant-Colonel 1773. In 1790–97 Governor of Bombay and (1793) commander-in-Chief of Indian Army, in 1791 visited…
ABEL-RÉMUSAT, Jean-Pierre. Paris 5.9.1788 — Paris 4.6.1832 (or 2.6.). French Sinologist and Buddhist Scholar. Son of a physician. As an early accident bound him for years to bed and deprived him of one eye, he is said to have sought for compensation in studies and writing and made rapid progress.…