COSQUIN, Emmanuel-Georges. Vitry-le-François (Marne) 25.6.1841 — ibid. 18.4.1919. French Folklorist. Son of a lawyer, himself studied law, but turned to journalist career. The work of Grimm brothers led him to collect and study popular narratives. Corresponding member of A.I.B.L. 1902, from now on concentrated on his studies. Already in his…
CHOUNAVEL, Constant. Socourt, Saint-Dié (Vosges) 9.4.1825 — Borella, Sri Lanka 23.8.1923. O.M.I. French Catholic Missionary in Sri Lanka. Son of Joseph Ch. and Christine Pierron. Studied theology and took the habit in 1849. Ordained 1852 in Marseille and left for Ceylon. In 1852-83 served in Jaffna Vicariate, then in Colombo…
CHENOT, F. 1??? — 1???. Frenchman in India (?), according to Vinson interpreter in Bourbon (Réunion). There are several possibilities. Thus geneanet.org knows one Joseph Dominique Anicet Chenot (Pondichéry 17.4.1800 – 18??), son of François Ch. and Anne Affonço, married 1820 in Pondichéry Adelaide Thomase Laforgue, three daughters and one…
CAUSSIN DE PERCEVAL, Armand-Pierre. Paris 11.1.1795 — Paris 15.1.1871. French Oriental (Arabic) Scholar. Son of Jean-Jacques-Antoine C. de P. (1759–1835, like his son Professor of Arabic at Collège de France) and Catherine Félicité Labroue (d. 1802). In 1833–71 Professor of Arabic at Collège de France in Paris, in 1821–71 also Professor of Vulgar…
BOUCHET, Jean Venant. Fontenay-le-Comte (Vendée) 1655 — 1732. Father. S.J. French Missionary in Thailand and India. First in Thailand, where he arrived with the French embassy in 1688. When the Jesuits were forced to leave in 1688 he entered Madurai mission. Following Roberto de Nobili’s methods lived as a sannyāsin.…
BLIN, Amédée. 1799? — 18??. French Colonial Officer. Still in Paris, he had some months attended the Hindustani classes of Garcin de Tassy. From 1823 (if not earlier) served in Pondichéry (1831 mentioned as Lieutenant of the Cypahi Battalion). His dictionary is “dédié à Mr. le Ministre de la Marine”.…
BESSE, Léon (Leo). 27.3.1853 — 19??. Father. S.J. French Jesuit Missionary and Historian in India. Joined the S.J. in 1881. Teacher and in 1903-09 Rector of St.Joseph’s College in Tiruchirappalli. Not to be confused with Jean Martial Léon Besse (1861–1920), a benedictine monk, who wrote much about French church history and cults of…
BATAILLARD, Paul Théodore. Paris 23.3.1816 — Paris 1.3.1894. French Archivist and Gipsy Scholar. Son of Pierre Charles B. and Agathe Vasse. Studies at Ecole de chartes. In the 1850s in French Indochine. From 1877 Archivist of Faculté de Médécine in Paris. Married 1849 Élisa Waldor (d. 1852, one daughter) and…
BARTH, Marie-Étienne-Auguste. Strasbourg 22.3.1834 — Paris 15.4.1916. French Indologist. Born in Strasbourg as the son of catholic father, commis-négociant Étienne B., and protestant mother, Marie-Wilhelmine Stoeber. Educated in Strasbourg, 1856 lic. ès lettres. Taught logic and rhetorics at Bouxviller Collège near Savern from 1857, privately studied Sanskrit, and in 1861…
BARRIGUE DE FONTAINIEU, Gérard Hilaire Prosper Emmanuel Hippolyte, Baron, 1895 Marquis de Fontainieu. Marmande (Lot et Garonne) 26.7.1863 — Paris 15.4.1927. French Indologist, specialist of Tamil and Hindustani. Son of Prosper BdeF and Françoise Delage, member of a family coming from Marseille and belonging to nobility from the early 18th century. Diplome…