MACARTNEY, George. Nanjing 19.1.1867 — Jersey 19.5.1945. British Diplomat in Central Asia. Son of Halliday Macartney (1833-1905, Scottish officer in Chinese service) and a Chinese princess, born in China. From 1877 in London. Studies in France. In 1887 went to India, working as Chinese interpreter. In 1890-1918 he lived in…
KETELAAR, Joan Josua (Johann Joshua K., Kettler, Kessler). Elbing, East Prussia (now Elbląg in Poland) 1659 — Bandar Abbas 1716. German Traveller. Son of Josua Kettler, a bookbinder, apprenticed to the same craft, but accused for stealing and attempted murder of his master had to escape to Stockholm. From 1682…
KAŁUSKI, Antoni. w Nakle, powiat Włoszczowa, województwo Kielce 19.6.1894 — Moscow 20.9.1935. Polish Diplomat and Indologist. Born in a poor farmer family in the then Russian part of Poland, went to Gymnasium in Częstochow, matriculated in 1912. Studies of Polish, linguistics and Sanskrit at Cracow under Rozwadowski and Gawroński. Interrupted…
HÜGEL, Carl Alexander Anselm, Freiherr von. Regensburg 25.4.1796 — Brussels 2.6.1870. Austrian Diplomat, Traveller, Naturalist and Horticulturist. Son of Johann Aloys Josef Fr. von H., a diplomat and statesman, and Anna von Holthof. Began law studies at Heidelberg, but soon, in 1811, joined Austrian army and served in Napoleonic and…
GULIK, Robert Hans van. Zutphen, Guelderland 9.8.1910 — the Hague 24.9.1967. Dutch Sinologist, Diplomat and Author, began his career as an Indologist. Son of Willem van G., a physician serving in colonial army, and Bertha de Ruiter, spent the years 1914-23 in Surabaya and Batavia (Jakarta) in Java. Then school…
GRENARD, Joseph-Fernand. Paris 4.7.1866 — Saint-Mandé (Val de Marne) 1.4.1945. French Traveller. Companion of Dutreuil de Rhins in his travels of exploration in Central Asia and Tibet. Son of telegraph official Alphonse Grenard and Jenny Panthin. Studied at École des sciences politiques and É.L.O.V. For particulars of the travel see…
GOBINEAU, Joseph Arthur, “comte” de. Ville d’Avray near Paris 14.7.1816 — Turin 13.10.1882. French Diplomat, Iranian Scholar and Theoretician of Pseudo-Scientific Racism. Son of Louis de Gobineau (1784–1858), a government official and eager royalist, who is said to have adopted the title of a count without right, and Magdeleine de…
GIRARD DE RIALLE, Julien. Paris 27.9.1841 — Santiago (Chile) 23.11.1904. French Civil Servant and Diplomat interested in Indology and Ethnology. Graduated in 1861, travelled anonymously in the Balkans and wrote travel accounts. In 1865-66 by the order of French government in Syria. Privately he studied Sanskrit, Avestan and linguistics (also…
ELIOT, Charles Norton Edgcumbe. Sibford Gower, Oxfordshire 8.1.1862 — Strait of Malacca 16./17.3.1931. Sir. British Oriental Scholar and Diplomat. Son of Edward Eliot, a curate, and Elizabeth Harriet Wyatt Watling. Educated at Cheltenham College, studies from 1880 at Balliol College, Oxford (classical philology, also Sanskrit, B.A. 1885). Fellow of Trinity…
ELIAS, Ney. Widmore, Bromley, Kent 10.2.1844 — London 31.5.1897. British Diplomat and Explorer. Son of Ney Elias (d. 1891), a merchant with Jewish background, and his wife Sophia, educated in London, Paris and Dresden. “Went to Shanghai in a merchant’s firm in 1866, led an expedition in 1868 to examine…