JOINVILLE, Joseph Endelin de (rarely as de Jonville). 17?? — 18??. French Naturalist. Came to Ceylon in 1798 with Governor North, worked as surveyor, left the island in 1805 and disappears. A linguist, cartographer, botanist and artist. One Joseph de Joinville lived in 1753–1821, but no details about him are…
JACOLLIOT, Louis. Charolles (Saône-et-Loire) 31.10.1837 — Saint-Thibaut-des-Vignes (Seine-et-Maine) 30.10.1890. French Colonial Lawyer and Enthusiast of Indian Thought. Advocate, in 1865-69 judge in Tahiti and India (Chandernagar). He claimed that the Bible and Christianity originated in India and that missionaries and Indologists had concealed this “fact”. Christ he simply derived from…
HOMBURGER, Lilias. U.K. 1880 — 1969. Mlle. French Linguist, with mixed German-English-French background. Began her career as missionary. Studied linguistics (Meillet), Dravidian and African languages. As directeur d’études taught African linguistics at É.P.H.É. L. S. Senghor was among her students there. She proposed wide-reaching theories about the unity of African…
GUIMET, Émile-Étienne. Lyon 2.6.1836 — Fleurieu-sur-Saône near Lyon 12.10.1918. French Industrialist, Traveller and Collectioner, the Founder of Musée Guimet. Son of Jean-Baptiste G. (1795–1871), chemist and founder of the family industry, and Zélie (Rosalie) Bidault (1798–1876), a paintress and musician. In early years he concentrated on art and music (studied…
GUERRIER DE DUMAST, Auguste Prosper François, baron. Nancy 26.2.1796 — Nancy 26.1.1883. French Scholar, a lay Orientalist. Son of François Louis G. de D. and Marie Françoise Nicolle (d. 1796). After school in Nancy studied law in Paris. Served in army, participated in 1823 Spanish war. From 1828 civil servant…
GACHET, Benjamin. Lille 1839 — 1???. French Linguist. In 1871 he was a repetiteur at the É.P.H.É. In some sources called Brachet. Publications: “Les missionnaires dans l’Inde actuelle”, La Libre Conscience 6.11. & 13.11.1869. – Prières antèhistoriques. Œuvres de Koutsa et Hirayastoupa. Trad. du sanscrit védique en vers fr. et…
FRANÇOIS-MARIE DE TOURS (Francesco Maria Da Tours, Franciscus Maria Turonensis). 16?? — Patna ?.5.1709. Father. French Capuchin Missionary in India and Tibet. Came from Tours and joined the order in Italy. Worked first as Capuchin Missionary in Diarbekir, Turkey, came to India in 1680. Worked in Pondicherry and Surat, in 1701 left…
GATELLIER-BESNARD, Marie. 4.4.1940 — 9.5.1993. French Art Historian of Burma and Sri Lanka. Studies under J. Boisselier, also A. Bareau. Dr.-ès-lettres. Chargée de recherche in C.N.R.S. Fieldwork in Sri Lanka. Publications: Diss. publ. Les peintures murales de Sri Lanka. Ecole kandyenne XVIIIe-XIXe siècles. 266+152 p. P.E.F.E.O. 162. P. 1991. –…
GALLOIS-MONTBRUN, Joseph Armand. Monaco 19.3.1793 — Nice 21.12.1875. French Colonial Officer. Son of Pierre Alexandre G.-M. and Jeanne de Montalembert. Served in Martinique (1833), Pondichéry, and Réunion. Légion d’honneur 1856. Finally archivist of Alpes-Maritimes. Married Bathilde Laforest (d.?), Chantal Montbrun (d. 1844) and 1846 Gabrielle Parizet, two sons (with first…
FOUCHER D’OBSONVILLE, Charles Thomas Dominique (Foucher, chevalier d’O.). Montargis (Loiret) 1734 — Château-Thierry (Aisne) 14.1.1802. French Colonial Officer, Scholar and Author. In 1753-71 in India in the service of French Company, 1771-92 commandant of French troops in Île de Bourbon (Mauritius) and Île de France (Réunion). Edited the French translation of…