FITZCLARENCE, George Augustus Frederick, First Earl of Munster. London 29.1.1794 — London 20.3.1842. British Officer and Traveller. Illegitimate son of William IV and Dorothea Bland (née Jordan, from Ireland). Served as officer in Napoleonic wars and 1815-18 in India. Major-General. Earl and Privy Councillor 1833. Married 1819 Mary Wyndham (1792–1842),…
FITCH, Ralph. 1550? — London (?) 1611. English Merchant and Traveller in India. In February 1583 left London with other merchants of the Levant Company (with John Newberry as leader) with the purpose of opening trade with India. They travelled through Tripolis, Aleppo (May), Baghdad and Basra to Ormuz (September),…
FISCHER, Kurt (Curt) Bruno Otto. Berlin 2.3.1892 — Berlin 25.8.1942. German Bauddha. Son of a modest official, Gustav F. and Emilie Christophersen, himself worked then as official. Adopted Buddhism in 1918. Pupil, secretary and successor of Dahlke (d. 1928) as the leader of Buddhistisches Haus in Berlin-Frohnau, where he was…
FISCHER, Klaus. Zittau (Sachsen) 23.11.1919 — Bonn 25.3.1993. German Archaeologist and Art Historian of South Asia. Professor in Bonn. Studied archaeology and art history at Heidelberg, Ph.D. there 1948 (diss. on barock architecture). In 1952 obtained a travel grant and studied two years art history in Calcutta under J. N. Banerjea…
FIRTH, John Rupert. Keighley, Yorkshire 17.6.1890 — Linfield, Sussex 14.12.1960. British Linguist and Phonetician. Professor in London. Educated at Keighley. Studied history at Leeds University (M.A. 1913). A brief time Lecturer in History at City of Leeds Training College, then joined Indian Educational Service in 1914, just before the war.…
FIÓK, Károly. Nagy Károlyi (now Carei in Romania) 29.4.1857 — Debrecen 21.5.1915. Hungarian School-teacher and Translator of Sanskrit Literature. Studies of Classics, IE, Persian and Sanskrit at Berlin and Munich. In 1886-1907 teacher at ev.-reform. Obergymnasium in Budapest, in 1907-15 teacher of Latin at ev.-reform. High School in Debrecen. With…
FINOT, Louis. Bar-sur-Aube (Aube) 20.7.1864 — Toulon (Var) 16.5.1935. French Indologist and South-East Asian Scholar. Son of Bernardin-Florentin F., a notary, and Marie Valentine Doré. After school in Troyes studies of law and economic history in Paris. From 1890 employed in Bibliothèque Nationale as a stagiaire, from 1892 as sous-bibliothécaire.…
FINCK, Franz Nikolaus. Krefeld, Ruhr 26.6.(26.2.?)1867 — Berlin-Südende 3./4.5.1910. German Linguist (Indo-Europaean and Gipsy, but also Bantu, Polynesian and Caucasian). Professor in Berlin. Son of the factory-owner Jakob F. and Agnes Neumann. Gymnasium in Krefeld, then in military service. After interrupted law studies served in army in 1886-91, then studied…
FINCK, Felix (lay Henricus Finck). Antwerpen 1868 — Maryabad, Punjab (Pakistan) 29.3.1932. Father. Belgian Capuchin (OFM) Missionary, Historian and Tibetan Scholar in India. From Antwerpen, worked in Maryabad in Western Punjab. In 1912 living in Calcutta, then 191?-21 in Bettiah. Publications: Wrote on the old Mughal mission of Jesuits. –…
FINCH, William. 15?? — Baghdad ?.8.1613. British Merchant and Traveller in India. Native of London. He came to Surat with Hawkins in 1608 and had to stay there because of an illness, but joined later Hawkins in spring 1610 at Jahangir’s court and spent one and a half year in…