VINSON, Elie Honoré Julien. Paris? (thus French Wikipédia, English Wikip. claims Pondichéry and data.bnf.fr Bagnères-de-Luchon, Haute-Garonne) 21.1.1843 — Libourne (Gironde) 21.11.1926. French Indologist and Scholar of Religion. Professor in Paris. Probably born in France, but grew up in Karikal and Pondichéry, where his father was a civil servant, and thus…
ZIEGENBALG, Bartholomäus. Pulsnitz, Saxony 14.6.1683 (or 10.6.1682?) — Tranquebar, India 23.2.1719. German Missionary and Precursor of Indology (Tamil Scholar). In South India 1706-19. Son of the elder B.Z. (1640–1694), a modest grain merchant, and Maria Brückner (1646–1692). After gymnasium in Görlitz and Berlin, studied one year under A. H. Francke…
NEVILL, Hugh. Tottenham, Middlesex 19.6.1847 — Hyères, France 10.4.1897. British Civil Servant in Sri Lanka. Son of William Nevill 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…
NAU, Heinrich (Henry). Beltershausen, Marburg 21.9.1881 — Greensboro, NC 17.5.1956. German Lutheran Missionary and Student of Indology (Tamil). Son of a farmer, studied at Marburg. Emigrated to the U.S.A. in 1902. Now turned to religion and studied at Concordia Seminary in St.Louis. Missionary in South India 1905-14. Learned Tamil and Sanskrit.…
MOUSSET, Louis-Marie. Sanzay (Deux-Sèvres) 7.2.1808 — Pondichéry 8.2.1888. Father. French Tamil Scholar, Missionary in South India. Ordained 1834 and left to India 1835. Worked in Madurai and from 1844 Pondichéry, teaching 40 years at a seminary. Collaborated in Tamil lexicographical work with Dupuis from the beginning and then revised their…
MERVART, Aleksandr Mihailovič (Gustav-German Hristianovič M., born Gustav Hermann Christian Meerwarth). Mannheim (or Bruchsal) 1884 — Uhtpečlag 23.5.1932. Russian (German-born) Indologist (Tamil Scholar) and Ethnograph. Born in Germany, in Bruchsal (English Wikipedia) or rather Mannheim (all other sources).Studied at Heidelberg, Ph.D. 1907 (diss. on German history).From 1911 teacher of German in…
MAHON, George William. Madras 1808 — Aspley Guise, Woburn, Bedfordshire 1866. Rev. British Clergyman in India. Son of William Mahon, of Swansea. Matriculated 1824 Pembroke College, Oxford, B.A. 1828 and Fellow 1828–37. M.A. 1831, Chaplain 1834. After brief service in Bangalore, Chaplain of Fort St. George in 1839–49, removed because…
LOGAN, William. Ferney Castle near Reston, Berwickshire 17.5.1841 — 1914. British (Scottish) Civil Servant in India. Son of a farmer, educated at Musselburgh Academy. Studies at Edinburgh. In 1862 joined Madras Civil Service and served first in Arcot. In 1867 he was posted in Malabar. From 1876 Collector and Magistrate…
L’HERNAULT, Françoise. Rouen 17.3.1937 — Chennai 30.1.1999. French Scholar of South Indian Art and Archaeology. Studied history, art and archaeology in Paris, also Tamil at É.L.O.V., then two years at Annamalai. From 1971 at É.F.E.O. in Pondichéry in charge of photographic collections. Ph.D. 1984 Paris III (Sorbonne-Nouvelle). She was in…
LEWIS, John Penry. Galway, Ireland 1854 (hardly 1851) — Dorset 29.9.1923. British Civil Servant in Sri Lanka. Son of John Lewis and Sarah Scott. 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.…