DAVIS, Samuel. West Indies 1760 — Croydon, Surrey 16.6.1819. British Engineer and Civil Servant in India, interested in Indian Astronomy. Son of an officer, John Davis (from 1759 Commissary general of West Indies) and his wife, née Phillips. Lost early his father and came to England with his mother. Cadet…
DAVIES, John. 1812? — London 18.9.1890. Rev. British Indologist and Welsh Scholar. From Salford. From 1838 studies at Cambridge (St.John’s College, B.A. 1842, M.A. 1845). Ordained priest 1842. Curate of Smallwood in 1853-57, Rector of Walsoken, Norfolk 1857-71, then retired from church service and moved to London. Married 1846 Mary…
DAVIES, Cuthbert Collin. Narbeth, Pembrokeshire 16.4.1896 — 5.11.1974. British (Welsh) Historian of South Asia. Son of David Collins Davies. Served as officer in WW I 1915-16 in France, then in Indian North-West Frontier and in the third Afghan war. Studied at University of Wales in Aberystwyth (B.A. 1923). Ph.D. 1926 Cambridge…
DAVIDSON, John. India 28.8.1845 — Menton, France (?) 9.9.1917. British Colonial Officer in India. Son of the physician Alexander Davidson (1797–1883) and Mary Anne Blundell. Educated at Winchester College, joined the army in 1863 and the Punjab Cavalry in 1866. From 1875 assistant adjutant-general in Pañjab Frontier Force. Served in…
DAVID-NÉEL, Alexandra (née Louise Eugènie Alexandrine Marie David). St.Mandé (Seine) 24.10.1868 — Digne (Basses-Alpes) 8.9.1969. French Bauddha and Traveller. The only child of Louis Pierre David (1815–1904), a huguenot freemason and ardent republican, also a journalist and teacher, and Alexandrine Borleman, a Catholic Belgian. From 1873 grew up in Belgium.…
DAUMAL, René. Boulzicourt (Ardennes) 16.3.1908 — Paris 21.5.1944. French Poet interested in India. Son of anticlerical socialist teacher Lon Daumal. Educated at Lycée de Reims and Lycée Henri-IV, studies at Sorbonne. Born in rural milieu he became a socialist and active anticlerical, but at the same time he was also…
DARMESTETER, James. Château-Salins (Meurth, Lorraine) 28.3.1849 — Maisons-Laffitte near Paris 19.10.1894. French Iranian Scholar. Professor in Paris. The youngest son of Cerf (Calmann) Darmesteter (d. 1867), a Jewish bookseller and bookbinder, and Rosalie Brandeis (d. 1880), younger brother of the philologist Arsène Darmesteter (1846–1888). The surname refers to family background…
DAPPER, Olfert. Jordaan, Amsterdam, baptized 6.1.1636 — Amsterdam 29.12.1689. Dutch Physician and Geographer. Son of a Lutheran linen weaver (d. 1644) and his wife Trintje Heeren (d. 1672). From 1658 studies at Utrecht, in 1659 Med.Dr. Then living in Amsterdam, where he became friend with mayor Nicolaas Witsen (1641–1717, known…
DANTINNE, Jean. Liège 1930 (?) — 1996. Belgian Buddhist Scholar (Sanskrit, Chinese, Tibetan). Studies of Buddhist philology, Chinese and Japanese at Louvain (Leuven, i.al. under Lamotte) 1964-66, also Indology at Liège. From 1975 Lecturer in Modern and Classical Chinese at Liège, then Professor (?) at Louvain-la-neuve (1983). But if he…
DANIÉLOU, Alain (nom-de-plume Shiva Sharan). Neuilly-sur-Seine (Seine) 4.10.1907 — Lonay, Switzerland 27.1.1994. French Musicologist deeply interested in India. Son of Charles Daniélou (1878–1953), an anticlerical Breton journalist and politician, and Madeleine Clamorgan (1880–1956), an ardent catholic from Normandy, his brother Jean Daniélou (1905–1974) was a jesuit and cardinal. Educated at…