FORSTER, Johann Georg Adam (George Forster). Nassenhuben near Danzig (now Mokry Dwór in Poland) 27.11.1754 — Paris 10.1.1794. German Scientist, Author and Traveller interested in India. The eldest son of —> Reinhold Forster (1729–1798) and Justine Elisabeth Nicolai. As a youth travelled with his father in 1765 in Russia and…
FORSTER, George. 1752 — Nagpur 5.1.1792. British Civil Servant and Traveller in India. Served in Madras as early as 1776. In 1782 he travelled from India using the unusual route through Kashmir, Afghanistan, Herat, by the Caspian Sea to Baku, then to Astrakhan and Moscow and by ship from St.Petersburg…
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…
FITCH, Ralph. Derby 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 Tripoli, Aleppo (May), Baghdad and Basra to Ormuz…
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 E.I.C. expedition in spring 1610 at Jahangir’s court and spent one and a…
FILCHNER, Wilhelm. Munich (or Bayreuth?) 13.9.1877 — Zürich 7.5.1957. German Geodesist and Explorer. Son of Eduard Filchner (1836–1882), Lazarettverwaltungsinspektor in Bayreuth, and Rosine von Leistner (1855–1908), Catholic. Lost early his father and lived in Munich with his mother and uncle. After school entered military career. As a second lieutenant he…
FEDERICI, Cesare de (Fedrici). Erbanno (Brescia) c. 1530 — 1600/03. Italian (Venetian) Merchant and Traveller in India. Left Venice in 1567 (Charpentier & Lach 1563, long stay in the Near East), travelled via Aleppo and Basra to Ormuz, by ship to Diu and Goa. From Goa he went by land…
FALCONER, Hugh. Forres, Moray 29.2.1808 — London 31.1.1865. British (Scottish) Physician, Botanist, Palaeontologist, Geologist and Traveller in India. Son of David Falconer and Isabel Mackrae, educated at Forres. Studies at Aberdeen University (graduated 1826). M.D. 1829 Edinburgh. Joined the E.I.C.’s medical service in Bengal in 1830, succeeded Royle in 1832…
EVANS-WENTZ, Walter Yeeling (born Wentz, added his mother’s surname c. 1910). Trento, N.J. 2.2.1878 — Encinitas, Calif. 17.7.1966. U.S. Traveller, Anthropologist and Tibetologist. Son of Christopher Wentz (1836–1921), a wealthy estate owner from New Jersey, of German origin, and Mary Evans Cook (d. 1898), of Irish descent. Originally Baptist, but…
ELPHINSTONE, Mountstuart. Dumbarton, Scotland 6.10.1779 — Hookwood, Surrey 20.11.1859. British (Scottish) Civil Servant in India. The youngest son of John, the 11th Baron Elphinstone (1737–1794), and Anne Ruthven (1737–1801). Educated in Edinburgh and Kensington. From 1795 writer in E.I.C.’s service, was sent to Benares, where he soon learned Persian and…