DELAMAINE, James. 1784? — Cape of Good Hope 1829?. British Colonial Officer. Ensign (1798), Captain (1823) and Major in Bengal Army (1827), then Lieutenant-Colonel and Political Agent at Nemaur. Served long under John Malcolm and knew Sanskrit and Persian. In 1823 the first European to visit Nasik Caves. Left India…
DARMESTETER, James. Château-Salins (Meurth, Lorraine) 28.3.1849 — Maisons-Laffitte near Paris 19.10.1894. French Iranian Scholar. Professor in Paris. Son of Calmann Darmesteter, a Jewish bookbinder, and Rosalie Brandeis, younger brother of the philologist Arsène Darmesteter (1846–1888). Educated in Paris, matriculated from Lycée Concordet in 1866. Then studied philology (lic. 1868) and…
DAMANT, Guybon Henry. Cowes, Isle of Wight 9.5.1846 — Khonoma (now in Kohima dt.), Nagaland 14.10.1879. British Civil Servant and Ethnologist in India (1869-79). Son of Henry James Damant (1816–1901), a lawyer, and Elizabeth Johnson Knight (1823–1906). Educated at St. Paul’s School (or Merchant Taylor’s School?) in London. Studies from…
CUST, Robert Needham. Cockayne Hatley, Bedfordshire 24.2.1821 — Campden Hill, London 28.10.1909. British Indologist. Son of Hon. and Rev. Henry Cckayne Cust (1780–1861), of a noble family (his uncle was Earl Brownlow), and Anna Maria Elizabeth Needham (1790–1866). Educated at Eton College, planned first to become a lawyer and began studies…
COWELL, Edward Byles. Ipswich 23.1.1826 — Cambridge 9.2.1903. British Indologist. Professor in Cambridge. In 1856-64 in India. Son of Charles Cowell (a merchant and maltster, d. 1842) and Marianne Byles. Educated in Ipswich, as a schoolboy of 15 already attracted to Sir William Jones’ Persian grammar and soon began translating…
CLAUSON, Gerard Leslie Makins. Valletta, Malta 28.4.1891 — Chelsea, London 1.5.1974 (or 1973?). Sir. British Linguist and Central Asian (especially Turkish) scholar, but began with Pāli studies. The eldest son of Sir John Eugene Clauson (1866–1918), officer and colonial administrator, and Mary Elizabeth Makins (1862–1949). Educated at Eton, studies at…
CIMMINO, Francesco. Naples 6.1.1862 — Naples 2.3.1939. Italian Indologist and Poet. Studies at Naples under Kerbaker, graduated in 1886, then at Turin under Flechia. Teacher at Liceo Genovesi and from 1898 libera docenza di letteratura sanscrita at R. Università di Napoli. In 1914 succeeded Kerbaker as Professor (incaricato) of Sanskrit…
CHRISTENSEN, Arthur Emanuel. Copenhagen 9.1.1875 — Copenhagen 31.3.1945. Danish Iranian Scholar. Professor in Copenhagen. Son of post official Vilhelm Christensen (1847–1921) and Dorothea Kjerstine Marcussen (1845–1923). Matriculated in Copenhagen 1893. Studied languages, mainly French and Latin, at Copenhagen, mag.phil. 1900. He had early become interested in the East and studied…
CHÉZY, Antoine Léonard de. Neuilly-sur-Seine near Paris 15.1.1773 — Paris 3.9. (or 31.8.) 1832. French Pioneer of Indology, the first Professor of Sanskrit in Paris. Born in the large family of Antoine de Chézy (1718–1798), a well known engineer and scientist, and Marie Barbe Pollin. The birth year is somewhat…
CHARDIN, Jean-Baptiste (1681 Sir John Chardin). Paris 16.11.1643 (Julian 6.11.) — Chiswick, London 5.1.1713 (25.12.1712). French Huguenot Jeweller and Traveller. Sent to the east by his father, the wealthy Parisian jeweller Daniel Chardin, he left with merchant Antoine Raisin of Lyon. In 1664 visited Persia (entering the service of Shah…