TOLFREY, William

TOLFREY, William. 1778 — Colombo 4.1.1817. British Colonial Officer in India and  Civil Servant in Sri Lanka. Son of a colonial official (in India?), grew up in England. He came to the island in 1805, after having served in army in India in 1794–1805, participating in Mysore and Maratha wars.…

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PERTOLD, Otakar

PERTOLD, Otakar. Jaroměř, Hradec Králové 21.3.1884 — Prague 3.5.1965. Czechoslovakian Indologist and Anthropologist. Professor in Prague. Born in Northern Bohemia as son of a chemist and owner of a sugar factory. Educated in Slany 1894-1902, then studies of classical philology, philosophy, Oriental languages (under Zubatý et al.) and astronomy at…

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PARKER, Henry

PARKER, Henry. 1849 — 19??. British Engineer and Civil Servant in Sri Lanka. Arrived in 1873 and in 1873-1904 worked as Irrigation Officer at Public Works Department, serving in different parts of the island. Interest in ancient reservoirs led him to archaeology. At the same time he achieved an important…

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NEVILL, Hugh

NEVILL, Hugh. Tottenham, Middlesex 19.6.1847 — Hyères, France 10.4.1897. British Civil Servant in Sri Lanka. Son of William N. and Mary Oridge (d. 1857). Came to Ceylon when 17 as private secretary to Chief Justice and served 27 years there, finally (1895-97) District Judge in Batticaloa. He left Ceylon because…

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LEWIS, John Penry

LEWIS, John Penry. Galway, Ireland 1854 (hardly 1851) — 1923. British Civil Servant in Sri Lanka. After school in Middlesex, studies at Queen’s University in Belfast (B.A. 1876, M.A. 1882). In 1877 joined Ceylon Civil Service, served in revenue and judicial departments. Government Agent of Northern Province, then of Central…

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LE MESURIER, Cecil J. R.

LE MESURIER, Cecil John Reginald. Cephalonia, Ionian Islands 7.2.1855? — 11.2.1932. British Colonial Civil Servant in Sri Lanka. Son of Cecil Brooke Le M. and his Greek wife Nicolina Zancarol (married 1854). In 1881 already in Ceylon. In 1896 dismissed from service on ground of having converted to Islam and…

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HOCART, Arthur Maurice

HOCART, Arthur Maurice. Etterbeek near Brussels, Belgium 26.4.1883 — Cairo 9.3.1939. British scholar of Sri Lankan Archaeology and Ethnology. Son of James H., a Protestan missionary in Belgium, educated in Brussels and Guernsey, where the family originated. Graduated 1906 from Oxford (Exeter College) in classics, then studied philosophy and psychology…

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HARDY, R. Spence

HARDY, Robert Spence. Preston, Lancashire 1.7.1803 — Headingley near Leeds 16.4.1868. Rev. British Methodist Missionary in Sri Lanka. Son of John Hardy and Ann Spence. From 1819 printer in York, in 1825 ordained as Wesleyan minister and left for the first time as missionary to Ceylon where he worked three…

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GOLDSCHMIDT, Paul

GOLDSCHMIDT, Paul. Danzig 19.12.1850 — Galle 7.5.1877. German Indologist. Son of a Kommerzienrat, perhaps somehow (but not closely) related to —> Siegfried G.1 He matriculated from Danzig 1867. Studies of Indology in 1867-72 (interrupted by voluntary military service) at Heidelberg, Tübingen (Roth), Berlin (Weber) and Göttingen. Ph.D. 1872 Göttingen (under Benfey).…

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GOGERLY, Daniel John

GOGERLY, Daniel John. London 25.8.1792 — buried Colombo 6.9.1862. British Methodist Missionary in Ceylon. Son of Daniel and Elizabeth G. Worked as a printer, but soon joined Wesleyan Mission. Arrived at Jaffna in October 1818 taking the supervision of Methodist Mission press. Ordained priest 1823, in 1822-34 stationed at Negombo.…

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