FORBES, James. London 19.5.1749 — Aix-la-Chapelle 1.8.1819. British (Scottish) Civil Servant and Artist in India. Son of Timothy Forbes and Elizabeth Crow. In 1765 he came to Bombay as a writer, 1775 private secretary to Lieutenant-Colonel Th. Keating. After a visit to England in 1780 collector and resident in Dabhoy.…
FORBES, Duncan. Kinnaird, Pertshire 28.4.1798 — London 17.8.1868. British (Scottish) Oriental Scholar (Persian and Urdū). Born in a poor family, in 1801 remained with his grandfather, when the parents moved to the U.S.A. In the age of 12 he still knew not English (or was illiterate in it), but as…
FORBES, Charles James Forbes Smith- (C. J. F. Smith). 1834 — Tharrawaddy, Burma 28.11.1879. British Colonial Officer in Burma, Pāli and Burmese scholar. Came to the East in 1858 as Captain of Queen’s Army, and was sent to Burma with his regiment. He soon became so fascinated with the country…
FORBES, Alexander Kinloch. London 7.7.1821 — Poona (Pune) 31.8.1865. British (Scottish) Civil Servant in India and Pioneer of Gujarātī Studies. Son of John Forbes-Mitchell (1781–1822) and Ann Powell. Educated in Finchley (London) and Haileybury. Arrived at Bombay in 1843 and became Assistant Judge in Ahmedabad, then in Surat, later Commissioner…
FOOTE, Robert Bruce. Cheltenham, Gloucestershire 22.9.1834 — Calcutta 29.12.1912. British Geologist in South India, a Pioneer of Indian Prehistoric Archaeology. Son of physician Dr. William Henry Foote (1785–1835) and Sophia Wells. Joined the Geological Survey of India 1858 at the age of 24, remained there 33 years, working in South…
FONTANE, Marius Étienne. Marseille 4.9.1838 — Berck-sur-Plage (Pas-de-Calais) ?.8.1914. French Literate. In the age of 17 he joined a commercial house, in whose service he had to travel much, also in Asia. He met Ferdinand de Lesseps and became his secretary and thus participated in the work both in Suez…
FONSECA, José Nicolau da. (1837–1886) Historian of Portuguese India, himself from Goa.
FOLKERT, Kendall Wayne. 5.3.1942 — Ahmedabad, Gujarat 29.10.1985. U.S. Scholar of Indian Religion. Son of Wallace Chester Folkert (1918–2014) and Myrtle Catherine DeWitt (1919–1966). Studies at Western Michigan University (B.A. 1964) and Harvard, also at Göttingen (C. Colpe). Ph.D. 1975 Harvard (under Ingalls), fieldwork for this in Varanasi 1972. Associate…
FOLEY, Mary Cecilia. Wadhurst, Sussex 8.10.1859 — London 22.10.1925. British Geologist interested in Pāli. Daughter of Rev. John Foley (1805–1888) and Caroline Elizabeth Windham, sister of —> C. A. F. Rhys Davids (1858–1942), whom she then assisted in Pāli editions. Studied geology at London University College, B.Sc. 1891, Chief Lady…
FOKKER, Abraham Anthony. Karmat / Batavia 27.9.1862 — the Hague 1.1.1927. Dutch Indonesian Scholar. Born in Indonesia, son of Abraham Marinus Fokker (1823–1863) and Antonia Neeltje van Rijck. Ph.D. 1894 Leiden. Professor in Batavia (Jakarta), then taught Malay at Amsterdam University. Married 1885 Margaretha Wilhelmina Heemskerck (1869–1954), one daughter, and…