CHAMBERS, William. Newcastle-upon-Tyne 21.11.1748 — Calcutta 22.8.1793. British Colonial Official and a Pioneer of Indology. Son of Robert Chambers (d. 1749), an attorney in Newcastle, and Anne Metcalf, younger brother of —> Robert Chambers (1737–1823). Educated in Newcastle. Went to India before 1774. Political servant of E.I.C., apparently first in…
BURTON, Richard Francis. Barnham House, Elstree, Hertfordshire 19.3.1821 — Trieste 20.10.1890 (Dingle & Garrett: born in Torquay, Devon, Penzer explains: born in Toquay, baptised in Elstree, Herts). Sir. British (partly of Irish origin) Oriental Scholar, Pioneer of Anthropology, Traveller and Diplomat. Son of colonel Joseph Netterville Burton (1782–1857) and Martha…
BURROW, Reuben. Hoberley, near Shadwell, Leeds 30.12.1747 — Baxar, Bihar 7.6.1792. British Mathematician in India. “Son of a farmer, educated at Leeds. Became a clerk, usher, schoolmaster, assistant astronomer and schoolmaster at Greenwich, arithmetical teacher at the Tower, edited the Royal Almanack. Went to India in 1782, learnt Sanskrit.” In…
BROWNE, Edward Granville. Uley near Dursley, Gloucestershire 7.2.1862 — Cambridge 5.1.1926. British Oriental Scholar (mainly Persian, Turkish and Arabic, also Hindi-Urdu). Professor in Cambridge. Son of Sir Benjamin Chapman Browne (1839–1917), a civil engineer, and Annie Atkinson. Educated at Trinity College in Glenalmond and at Eton. Studies at Pembroke College,…
BROCKHAUS, Hermann. Amsterdam 28.1.1806 — Leipzig 5.1.1877. German Indologist and Iranian Scholar. Professor in Leipzig. Born in Amsterdam in a German family, son of the famous publisher Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus (1772–1823) and Sophie Wilhelmine Arnoldine Beurhaus (d. 1809). In 1810 the family returned to Germany after mother’s death. School in…
BRIGGS, John. Madapollam, Madras 18.9.1785 — Burgess Hill, Sussex 27.4.1875. British Colonial Officer and Oriental Scholar, 1801-35 in India. Son of physician James (or John?) Briggs (1758–1830) and Martha Pybus (1758–1788), came to England 1789. Educated at Eton 1794-99. From 1801 in Madras infantry, participated in both Maratha wars. In…
BORECKÝ, Miloš. Prague 28.12.1903 — Washington, DC, U.S.A. 18.3.1954. Czech Oriental (Iranian) Scholar in the U.S.A. Son of —> Jaromír Borecký (1869–1951) and Františka Schöpffová. In 1922-30 studies of Indo-Iranian at Charles University of Prague under Lesný and Rypka, further studies at Sorbonne and Oxford. Ph.D. 1930 Prague. Worked as…
BORECKÝ, Jaromír. Buddies (now České Budějovice) 6.8.1869 — Prague 8.5.1951. Czech Poet, Translator and Librarian, listed as an Oriental scholar by Heyne and apparently knew some Sanskrit and certainly Persian. Son of Jan Ludvik Borecký and Anna Isáková. He is said (by Bečka) to have been a student of the…
BLOCHMANN, Henry (Heinrich) Ferdinand. Dresden 8.1.1838 — Calcutta 13.7.1878. German Oriental Scholar in India, Specialist of Arabic, Persian, and Urdu. Son of a printer, Ernest Ehrenfried Blochmann (1789–1862), educated in Dresden, studies at Leipzig (Arabic under Fleischer) and Paris. In order to be able to go to India he joined…
BLOCHET, Gabriel Joseph Edgar. Bourges (Cher) 12.12.1870 — Paris 5.9.1937. French Oriental (Arabic and Iranian) Scholar and Historian of Religions. Son of a cavalry officer. After studies in Paris (i.al. ancient Iranian under Darmesteter at É.P.H.É. and Arabic (diploma), Persian, Turkish and Urdu at É.L.O.V.), from 1895 Assistant, then Librarian…