BRIGGS, John. Madapollam, Madras 18.9.1785 — Burgess Hill, Sussex 27.4.1875. British Colonial Officer and Oriental Scholar, 1801-35 in India. Son of physician James (or John?) Briggs (1758–1830) and Martha Pybus (1758–1788), came to England 1789. Educated at Eton 1794-99. From 1801 in Madras infantry, participated in both Maratha wars. In…
BRIGGS, Henry George. Bombay 20.10.1824 — Bombay 4.7.1872. British Merchant, Traveller, and Orientalist. Son of Henry Briggs. In 1843 travelled in South Africa, in 1845 in China. In 1846 settled at the office of Briggs & Co. in Bombay. For a while lived in Karachi (1854/55), then from 1856 Assistant…
BRENNAND, William. Clitheroe, Lancastershire 1818? — Wellington, Somerset ?.2.1897. British Teacher in India, Principal of Dacca College (1856). In 1896 had already been 23 years in retirement, living in Somerset. Married 1846 Iris Twisden (1827–1893), two daughters and one son. Apparently he claims a common Central Asian origin for the…
BREEKS, Susan Maria (née Denison). Woolwich, Kent 16.3.1841 — Brough, Cumbria 22.4.1923. Britishwoman in India, from 1863 wife of —> James Wilkinson Breeks (1830–1872). Daughter of Colonel Sir William Thomas Denison (1804–1871) and Caroline Hornby, marriage 1863. After her husband’s death in 1872 she edited his report on the tribes…
BREEKS, James Wilkinson. Warcop, Westmoreland 5.3.1830 — Ootacamund 7.6.1872. British Civil Servant and Ethnologist in India. Son of Richard Breeks and Elizabeth Wilkinson, educated at Haileybury. Arrived at Madras in 1849, served in revenue and financial departments. In 1861-64 Private Secretary to Governor William Denison (whose daughter he married 1863),…
BRAY, Denys de Saumarez. Aberdeen 29.11.1875 — Winchester 19.11.1951. Sir. British Civil Servant in India, a Scholar of Baluchistan and its Languages (Brahui). Son of Rev. Thomas William Bray (1840–1887) and Rachel Le Mesurier. Educated at the Realgymnasium in Stuttgart and Blundell’s School in Tiverton (Devon), then studies at Balliol…
BRANFILL, Brydges Robinson. Upminster Hall, Essex 22.11.1834 (or 1833?) — Billericay, Essex 26.5.1905. British Colonial Officer in India. Son of Champion Edward Branfill (1789–1844) and Anna Eliza Hammond (1797–1873). From 1854 in Bengal Cavalry, Lieutenant-colonel (1876). From 1871 Deputy-Superintendent in Trigonometrical Survey of India, in charge of Madras Party (in…
BRANDRETH, Joseph Edward Lyall. Liverpool 4.2.1823 — London 10.12.1907. British Civil Servant and one of the Pioneers of NIA Linguistics in India. Son of Joseph Pilkington Brandreth (1781–1853), a physician, and Alice Harper. Educated at Eton and Haileybury (learned Sanskrit there). Served in North India (Benares, Rajasthan, Punjab, Delhi. Rawalpindi).…
BRADLEY, William Henry. 6.10.1807 — Sandgate, Kent 22.8.1881. British Physician in India. Medical training in London (M.D. 1829), then served as naval surgeon. In 1837 joined Bombay Army as Assistant Surgeon, promoted Surgeon 1849 and Surgeon Major 1860. He served in Bhil campaign (1837-38), Afghanistan (1839-40) and Nagpur. From 1844…
BOYD, Palmer. Simla, India 29.9.1840 — 1875. British Indologist. Son of the Lieutenant-General Mossom Boyd (1781–1865) of Bengal Army and Charlotte Loftie (1806–1867), joined himself first the army and served from 1858 as second lieutenant in Bengal Artillery. Resigned in 1864 and from 1867 studied Sanskrit, etc. at Cambridge (Trinity…