ST. ANDREW ST. JOHN, Richard Fleming. Ealing (?) 12.9.1839 — Brentford, Middlesex 6.2.1919. British Officer and Burmese Scholar. Son of Rev. Henry St.Andrew St.John (1796–1874) and Emily Murray Belcher. Lieutenant. Deputy Commissioner in Burma. Also visited Andamans. In the 1890s he taught Burmese at Oxford and at University College in…
SORLEY, Herbert Tower. 12.4.1892 — 7.8.1968. British Civil Servant in India, Sindhi Scholar. Son of John T. Sorley, City Chamberlain of Aberdeen. M.A. 1914 Aberdeen. From 1915 served in I.C.S. in Sindh and other parts of Bombay Presidency, apparently until 1947. In 1939 he was Collector of Bombay, then Chief…
SOMS (Y) CASTELÍN, Enrique. Barcelona 1860 — 1913. Spanish Linguist. Ph.D. Professor of Greek at Salamanca, from 1891-1913 at Madrid. After Gelabert y Gordiola’s death (1894) taught Sanskrit classes at Madrid University until Daza de Campos was nominated in 1897. Friend of Miguel de Unamuno. Publications: Translated G. Curtius’ Gramática…
SMITH, Ray Caldwell. 20.7.1872 — India 1922. Rev. U.S. Presbyterian Missionary in India. Son of Rev. George B. Smith (1841–1941) and Anna Elizabeth Caldwell (1842–1906). Studies at San Francisco Theological Seminary, graduated and ordained 1900. Soon after marriage to India. In 1914 in Fatehpur, then at Landour Language School in…
SMIRNOV, Vasilij Ivanovič. Tver gub. 1898 — 19??. Russian Indologist, specialist of Bengali. Son of a farmer. Graduated from teacher college 1918, worked as schoolteacher until 1928. Now studies at Moscow Oriental Institute, soon moved to Leningrad, graduated there 1932. Further studies under Barannikov. From September 1936 Docent at Leningrad…
SITTIG, Ernst. Berlin 1.2.1887 — Tübingen 25.12.1955. German Linguist and Classical Scholar. Professor in Tübingen. Educated in Berlin, studies at Jena, Berlin and Halle. Ph.D. 1911 Halle. In WW I served in the decipherment department of the army and in 1919-24 continued same work in Foreign Ministry. PD 1923 Berlin,…
SIMON, Ernst Julius Walter (Ximen Xuade). Berlin 10.6.1893 — London 22.2.1981. German Sinologist and Sino-Tibetan Scholar in the U.K. Professor in London. Son of Jewish mathematician Heinrich Simon (1859–1930) and Cläre Abraham (murdered in Ghetto Theresienstadt). Studies of classical and Romance philology in 1911-14 at Berlin, 1915-18 in army. Employed…
SILVESTRE DE SACY, Antoine Isaac (baron 1814). Paris 21.9.1758 — Paris 21.2.1838. French Oriental (Arabic and Persian) Scholar. Professor in Paris. Son of Abraham Jacques Silvestre (1722–1765), a notary, and Marie Marguerite Judde, a Jansenist Jewish family, lost early his father. Educated in a Benedictine abbey, also learned Semitic languages…
SHIRT, George. Cawthorne near Barnsley, Yorkshire 1843 — Quetta 16.6.1886. Rev. British Missionary in India. Son of the elder George Shirt (1813–1896) and his wife Sarah (1811–1848). Educated at C.M.S. College in Islington, London, studies at Cambridge (B.A. 1864). Left for India in 1866 and worked for Church Missionary Society…
SELIGMAN, Brenda Zara (née Salaman). London 26.6.1883 — Kensington, London 2.1.1965. British Anthropologist. Daughter of Myer and Sarah Salaman, a well-to-do Jewish family, grew up on London. Studied pre-medical biology at Bedford College in London. Married 1905 —> Charles Gabriel Seligman (1873–1940), with whom she then collaborated, but also became…