BESANT, Annie (née Wood). London 1.10.1847 — Adyar (Madras) 19.9.1933. British Theosophist. Daughter of William Burton Perse Wood (1816–1852) and Emily Mary Roche Morris (1817?–1874), an English-Irish family. Lost early her father, educated privately in England, Germany and France. Married Rev. Frank Besant (1840?–1917) in 1867, but was legally separated…
BENNETT, Charles Henry Allan (Bhikkhu Ananda Metteyya Thera). London 8.12.1872 — London 9.3.1923. British Bauddha. Son of engineer Samuel Bennett and Charlotte Corbyn, lost early his father. He grew up in a strictly Roman Catholic home, but left church in his teens. Educated in Bath. Studied science (analytical chemistry), suffered…
BENDALL, Cecil. London 1.7.1856 — Liverpool 14.3.1906. British Indologist, a Specialist of Buddhist Mahāyāna Literature in Sanskrit. Professor in Cambridge. Son of London tradesman Robert Smith Bendall (1812–1865) and Elizabeth Kay Holmes (1818–1897). Attended the City of London School, together with Stevenson (?) and Webster, learnt Sanskrit from Nicholl. In…
BELLEW, Henry Walter. Nusserabad (Nasirabad, Ajmer dt.) 30.8.1834 — Farnham Royal, Buckinghamshire 26.7.1892. British Physician and Orientalist (Pashto Scholar) in India. Son of Captain (later Major-General) Henry Walter Bellew (1803–1842) of the Bengal army (killed in Afghan war) and Anna Jeremie (1811–1905), educated at St. George’s Hospital, London. Served in…
BELLASIS, Augustus Fortunatus. India, Bombay Presidency 9.10.1822 — Red Sea 23.3.1872. British Civil Servant in India. Son of Lieutenant-Colonel Daniel Hutchins Bellasis (1785–1836) and Mary Tadman. In Bombay Presidency from 1842, served as Collector and Magistrate of Hyderabad (Sind) and finally President of the Harbour and Pilot Board in Bombay.…
BELL, Harry Charles Purvis. Bombay (Mumbai) 21.9.1851 — Kandy 6.9.1937. British Archaeologist of Sri Lanka. Son of General Harry Wainwright Bell (1821–1888) of Irish/Scottish descent, and Harriet Elizabeth Isabella Croker (1822–1900). From 1864 educated at Cheltenham College, but never went to a university. From 1873 in Ceylon Civil service, served…
BELL, Charles Alfred. Calcutta 31.10.1870 — Oak Bay, Victoria, B.C. 8.3.1945. Sir. British Tibetan Scholar, Traveller, and Civil Servant in India. Born as a son of a civil servant (in India) Henry Bell and his wife Anne. Educated at Winchester College, studies at Oxford (New College). In 1891 joined Indian…
BEAMES, John William. Greenwich 21.6.1837 — Clevedon, Somerset 24.5.1902. British Civil servant and Indologist in India, a Pioneer of Comparative NIA Studies. Served in India in 1858-93. The eldest son of the Rev. Thomas Beames (1815–1864) and Susanna Amelia Dewsnap (1811–1868). Educated first at Merchant Taylor’s School, then 1856-57 at…
BEAL, Samuel. Devonport 27.11.1825 — Greens Norton, Northamptonshire 20.8.1889. British Priest, Sinologist and Buddhist Scholar. Although a priest, he was no missionary like most Sinologists of his time especially in the U.K. Son of the Rev. William Beal (d. 1872), a Wesleyan minister. Educated at Kingswood and Devonport schools and…
BAYNES, Herbert Morton Walker. Kensington, Middlesex / Bayswater, Westminster 2.2.1855 — Cumberland / Manly, both in NSW, Australia 1.9.1928. British Scholar of Indian Religions, a Theosophist. In peoplepill briefly called “British Civil Servant and Orientalist”, and werelate.org adds “Translator in the High Court in London. Was fluent in 22 languages”.…