LUMSDEN, Matthew. Leochal-Cushnie, Aberdeenshire 1777 — Cheltenham, Gloucester (B) or Tooting Common, Surrey (G & W) 18.3. or 31.3.1835. British (Scottish) Civil Servant and Oriental Scholar in India. Son of John Lumsden (1727–1795) and Anne Forbes (1734–1811), cousin of —> Harry Burnett Lumsden (1821–1896). Educated at King’s College, Old Aberdeen.…
LÓCZY, Lajos. Pozsony (Bratislava) 2.11.1849 — Balatonarács/Balatonfüred 13.5.1920. Hungarian Geologist, Palaeontologist, Geographer and Traveller in Central Asia and China. Son of Sándor Lóczy and Mária Kuhn, school in Arad. After Technische Hochschule, Zürich, from 1874 worked in Hungarian National Museum. In the 1877-80 participated (like Bálint) in the Széchenyi Expedition…
LINSCHOTEN, Jan Huyghen van (born Jan Huygen). Haarlem 1563 — Enkhuizen 8.2.1611. Dutch Traveller. Born in a Roman Catholic family, son of a public notary, son of Huig Joostenszoon Huygen, an innkeeper and notary, and Marretje Tin Henriksdachter. Grew up in Enkhuizen (Latin School there), then was sent to Spain…
LEWIS, James (pseudonym Charles Masson). Aldermanbury (London) 16.2.1800 — Edmonton, Middlesex 5.11.1853. British pioneer of Archæology in Afghanistan. Son of oil dealer George Lewis and Mary Hopcraft, apparently had a good education (in Walthamstow, London). Served in E. I. Company’s army, from 1821 in Bengal Artillery, soon after participation in…
LEITNER, Gottlieb Wilhelm. Pest 14(17?).10.1840 — Bonn 22.3.1899. Austro-Hungarian Indologist and Anthropologist in the U.K. and India. Professor in Lahore. Son of Leopold Saphir, a physician, of Austrian Jewish family living in Hungary. Father died early and his mother, Marie Henriette Herzberg, remarried Johann Moritz Leitner (a Protestant Christian convert)…
LE GENTIL DE LA GALAISSIÈRE, Guillaume-Joseph-Hyacinthe-Jean-Baptiste. Coutances (Manche) 12.9.1725 — Paris 22.10.1792. French Astronomer and Traveller, in India 1768–71. Instead of the planned career in church and studied theology in Paris, but turned to astronomy. Left for India in 1760 in order to observe the transit of Venus in 1761,…
LEBEDEV, Gerasim Stepanovič (Herasim Lebedeff). Jaroslavl 1749 (not 1746) — St.Petersburg 15.7.(27.7.)1817. Russian Musician, Traveller and Pioneer of Indology. Son of Stepan Lebedev and his wife Paraskov’a. Father was a poor Orthodox clergyman, who did not allow him to obtain higher education. The family moved to St.Petersburg, where he studied…
LAUFER, Berthold. Köln 11.10.1874 — Chicago 13.9.1934. German Sinologist and Anthropologist in the U.S.A. Son of Max Laufer (of Jewish background) and Eugenie Schlesinger, a wealthy family. His younger brother was —> Heinrich Laufer (1877–1925). After gymnasium in Cologne studied at Berlin 1893-95, first law, but soon ethnology and Oriental…
KNOX, Robert. London 8.2.1641 — Wimbledon, London 19.6.1720. British (Scottish) Traveller. In South Asia in 1657-94 (1659-79 prisoner in Ceylon). Son of Robert Knox, a Puritan and commander in E.I.C.’s service. Grew up in Wimbledon, Surrey. After mother’s death sailed with his father in January 1657 to Fort George. On…
KLEMENC (Klementz), Dmitrij Aleksandrovič. Gorjaino, gub. Samara 14.12.1848 — Moscow 8.1.1914. Russian Central Asian Scholar and Traveller. Born in a land owner family belonging to minor nobility. Educated in Samara and Kazan, studies at physico-mathematical faculties at Kazan and from 1870 at St.Petersburg. In his youth he was a noted…