HAMILTON, Alexander. 3.10.1762 — Liverpool 30.12.1824. British (Scottish) Pioneer of Indology. Born in Scotland (if not in India), son of William Hamilton (1722–1783), a merchant in Greenock (Inverclyde), and Jean Donald, and grandson of Alexander Hamilton, Laird of Grange in Ayrshire, brother of Major Walter Hamilton (1779–1818), who also wrote…
HALHED, Nathaniel Brassey. Westminster 25.5.1751 — London 18.2.1830. British Precursor of Indology. Son of William Halhed, a bank director, and Frances Caswal, educated at Harrow. From 1768 studies at Christ Church, Oxford (no degree), where —> William Jones prompted him to study Arabic. After a brush-off accepted a post of…
HAIG, Thomas Wolseley. Plumstead, Woolwich, Kent 7.8.1865 — Kensington, London 23.4./28.4./4.5.1938. Sir. British Colonial Officer and Historian of India. Lieutenant-Colonel. Son of Major Robert Wolseley Haig (of old Scottish family, 1830–1872) and Maria Georgina Brown (d. 1878). Educated at Wellington College and Sandhurst. In 1884 joined Senforth Highlanders, 1887 Indian…
HADLEY, George. 174? — London 10.9.1798. British Colonial Officer in India, Author of the first Hindūstānī Grammar in English. He joined the E.I.C.’s Bengal Army as a cadet in 1763, Lieutenant 1764, Captain 1766, retired 1771. In order to understand the sepoys, he compiled a Hindūstānī grammar and an English–…
GUYARD, Stanislas. Frottey-lès-Vesoul (Haute-Saône) 27.9.1846 — Paris 7.9.1884. French Oriental, especially Semitic scholar, but with wide interests, including Indology. Son of Auguste Guyard (1808–1882), a radical idealist who wanted to introduce a universal religion and homeopathy. Spent three years in Russia, came to Paris in 1861 in the age of…
GUMILËV, Lev Nikolaevič. Carskoe Selo 18.9.(1.10.)1912 — St.Petersburg 15.6.1992. Russian Historian of Central Asia, Archaeologist and geographer, also writer and translator. Son of Nikolaj Stepanovič Gumilëv (1886–1921) and Anna Ahmatova (1889–1966), both well-known poets who divorced when he was still a child. Because of his parents he was not allowed…
GRIFFITH, Ralph Thomas Hotchkin. Corsley, Wiltshire 25.5.1826 — Kotagiri, Tamil Nadu 7.11.1906. British Teacher and Translator of Sanskrit Literature. More than fifty years in India, 1853-1906. Son of Rev. Robert Clavey Griffith (1792–1844), Rector of Corsley, and Mary Hotchkin. Educated in Westminster, then studies at Uppingham and from 1843 at…
GRANT-DUFF, James Cunningham (born James Grant). Banff, Aberdeenshire 8.7.1789 — Fife 23.9.1858. British (Scots) Colonial Officer and Historian in India. Son of John Grant (1736–1799) and Margaret Duff (1757–1824), educated at Marischal College in Aberdeen. Joined the E.I.C.’s military service in Bombay in 1805. He “was at the storming of…
GORDON, Thomas Edward. Aberdeen 12.1.1832 — Kensington (London) 23.3.1914. Sir. British (Scottish) Colonial Officer in India. Son of captain William Gordon (1788–1834) and Maria Carlotta Loi Gonçalves de Mello (of Spain), educated at Edinburgh Military Academy, with his twin brother (Sir John James Hood Gordon, 1832–1904) entered the army (the…
GLADWIN, Francis. 1744/45? — 1812. British Colonial Officer and Orientalist (Persian Scholar) in India. Served in the Bengal Army at least 30 years, until his death. He was encouraged by Warren Hastings in his study of Oriental languages, mainly worked on Persian literature. From 1801 he was the first Professor…