GERARD, Alexander. Aberdeen 17.2.1792 — Aberdeen 15.12.1839. British (Scottish) Colonial Officer and Explorer in India. Son of Gilbert Gerard (1760–1815), D.D., and Helen Duncan (1765–1838), brother of —> James G. Gerard (1795–1835) and —> Patrick Gerard (1794–1848). Graduated from King’s College, Aberdeen, in 1808 and joined the Bengal Native Infantry…
GENTIL, Jean Baptiste Joseph. Bagnols-sur-Cèze (Rhône) 25.6.1726 — Bagnols-sur-Cèze (Rhône) 15.2.1799. French Officer in India. Born in a noble family, joined the army and went out to India in 1752 as officer in an infantry regiment. “Served with distinction under Dupleix, Law of Lauriston, Lally, etc. After the collapse of…
FRYER, George Edward. India 25.11.1832 — Kensington, London 1891. British Colonial Officer and Pāli Scholar in India and Burma. Son of Colonel George Fryer (1802–1870), of Madras army. School at Rugby, in the age of 20 joined Indian army, and Sarah Moore. Served eight years in regiment and, after a…
FRYE, John Percival. London 1807 — Berhampore, West Bengal 16.4.1856. British Colonial Officer in India. Served in Madras Infantry. Lieutenant 1839. From 1844 as Lieutenant Assistant to the Agent in Ganjam, from 1849 Assistant to the Agent, then in 1858 (?) as Lieutenant in charge of the Agency in the…
FRANCKLIN, William. 1763 — 12.4.1839. British Colonial Officer and Historian in India. Son of Thomas Fr. (1721–1784), an academic clergyman, and his wife, née Venables. Educated at Westminster and Trinity College, Cambridge. Cadet of E.I.C. 1782, joined the Bengal Native Infantry in 1783. In 1786 travelled in Iran, resided 8…
FORLONG, James George Roche. Springhall, Lanarkshire 11.1824 — Edinburgh 29.3.1904. British (Scottish) Military Engineer and Scholar of Religion in India. Major-General. Son of William Forlong (1790–1878), of Erines, and Crawfurd Pollock Gordon. Educated as an engineer, joined Indian army in 1843. “In the S. Mahratta Company, 1845-6, in the Madras…
FORBES, Charles James Forbes Smith- (C. J. F. Smith). 1834 — Tharrawaddy, Burma 28.11.1879. British Colonial Officer in Burma, Pāli and Burmese scholar. Came to the East in 1858 as Captain of Queen’s Army, and was sent to Burma with his regiment. He soon became so fascinated with the country…
FITZCLARENCE, George Augustus Frederick, First Earl of Munster. London 29.1.1794 — London 20.3.1842. British Officer and Traveller. Illegitimate son of the future king William IV and Dorothea Bland (née Jordan, 1761–1816, an actress from Ireland). Served as officer in Napoleonic wars and 1815-18 in India. Major-General. Earl and Privy Councillor…
FERGUSSON, John. 17?? — Cape of God Hope 4.9.1773 (?). British Colonial Officer in India. Captain. The author of the first English Hindustani dictionary in 1773, describing the colloquial speech of soldiers for the use of officers, mixing together different forms of language (but with some preponderance of Magahī). Early…
EVEREST, George. Gwernvale near Crickhowell, Wales (or Greenwich?) 4.6.1790 — London 1.12.1866. Sir. British (Welsh) Colonial Officer (Military Engineer) and Geographer in India. Eponymous for Mount Everest. Son of William Tristram Everest (1747–1825), a solicitor and justice of peace, and Lucetta Mary Smith (1766–1809). Educated at the military schools of…