WOLFF, Fritz Georg. Berlin 11.11.1880 — Auschwitz after 31.3.1943. German Iranian Scholar. Son of a wealthy merchant, Emanuel Wolff (1850–1901), and Hedwig née Wolff (1860–1935). Educated in Berlin, then studied many languages at Munich, Heidelberg (i.al. Osthoff), Berlin and Giessen. Ph.D. 1905 Giessen, under Bartholomae. Lived some time in Münster,…
WILKS, Mark. Isle of Man 1759 — Kelloe House, Berwickshire 19.9.1831. British Colonial Officer in India. Son of Rev. James Wilks (1719–1777) and Elizabeth Christian, a family of Manx gentry. Joined the E.I.C.’s army and went to Madras in 1782. Learned soon Persian. In 1786 Deputy Secretary to the Military…
WILKINS, Charles. Frome, Somerset bapt. 21.6.1749 (not 1750!) — London 13.5.1833. Sir. British Pioneer of Indology. In India 1770-86. Son of Hugh Wilkins (Sengupta Walter Wilkins) and Mary Wray, a modest family. Trained as a printer. Joining the E.I.C.’s service he came to India as a Writer in July 1770…
WATHEN, William Henry. Gloucestershire 31.12.1794 — Cape Town 28.6.1866, when 71. British Civil Servant in India. Son of Samuel Wathen and Elizabeth Sheppard. In Bombay as early as 1810. In the 1820s and early 1830s Persian secretary to Bombay Government, in 1837/38 Chief Secretary to it. Introduced to Oriental studies…
RUNDALL, Frank Montagu (“Montie”). Madras 18.5.1851 — Tynemouth, Northumberland 25.4.1930. British Colonial Officer in India. Son of General Francis Hornblow R. (1823–1908), an irrigation engineer in India, and Fanny Ada Seton Burn. “Educated at Marlborough; joined the Berkshire regt., and Indian Staff Corps. Served in Upper Burma on Staff of…
ROTH, Heinrich (Henricus Rodius, Roa). Dillingen 18.12.1610 — Agra 20.6.1668. S.J. German Missionary and Precursor of Indology. Son of Johann Konrad Roth (d. 1637), a lawyer, and his wife Maria Susanna, grew up in Augsburg. Studies at Dillingen University and, after having fled the attacking Swedish, at Innsbruck Jesuit College. Joined…
ROST, Ernst Reinhold. Eisenberg, Sachsen-Altenburg 2.2.1822 — Canterbury 7.2.1896 (thus both Wikip., Weise & Wollaston; Stache-W. 2007 d. London 15.2.1896). German Indologist and South-East Asian Scholar in the U.K. Son of Christian Friedrich Rost, a Lutheran minister. After school in Altenburg studies of theology and Oriental languages at Jena (under Gildemeister). Ph.D.…
ROSS, Edward Denison. London 6.6.1871 — Istanbul 23.9.1940. Sir. British Oriental (Persian) Scholar in India. Professor in London. Son of Rev. Alexander J. Ross, D.D., the vicar of St.Philip’s in Stepney, educated in Marlborough, studies at University College, London. Further studies of Arabic and Persian in Paris (under Scheferand Renan)…
RODET, Léon. 1832? — 1895. French Oriental Scholar and Historian of Mathematics. Several internet sources (e.g. wikidata) give the impossible 1850 as his birth year (1832? in DataBnF). Studies at École polytechnique, Paris, then living in Paris styling himself only as a member of Société Asiatique, which perhaps indicates employment…
RIEU, Charles Pierre Henri. Geneva 8.6.1820 — London 19.3.1902. Swiss Indologist and Oriental Scholar in the U.K. Professor of Arabic in Cambridge. Son of an officer (later the first syndic of Geneva), Jean Louis Rieu (1788–1868), and Françoise Lasserre. After Geneva Academy studies of Arabic (Freytag, Gildemeister), Sanskrit (Lassen), etc.…