MAJOR, Richard Henry. Jersey (Wikipedia: Shoreditch, London) 3.10.1818 — Kensington 25.6.1891. British Geographer. Son of the elder R.H. Major, a physician, and his wife Elizabeth. The father died when he was three and he was brought up by his paternal grandfather. School in London (Merchant Taylors’ School). From 1844 in…
JOYCE, Thomas Athol. London 4.8.1878 — Wroxham, Norfolk 3.1.1942. British Anthropologist. Son of a newspaper editor. Educated at Dulwich College. Studies at Oxford (Hertford College, M.A. 1902), then worked in British Museum. In WW I in intelligence service in War Office. In 1927 field expedition to Mayan sites in British…
HEAD, Barclay Vincent. Ipswich, Suffolk 2.1.1844 — London 12.6.1914. British Numismatist. From 1864 working in British Museum, soon (1870) as Keeper of the Department of Coins and Medals. Retired in 1906. Married with Mary, at least one daughter. Publications: Edited a number of coin catalogues of British Museum, wrote on…
BARRETT, Douglas Eric. 10.3.1917 — 26.9.1992. British Art Historian of India. Studies of Classics at Oxford. In 1939-46 Major in British Artillery. From 1947 in British Museum, first working with Islamic art. Now also studied Arabic and Persian at S.O.A.S. He developed an interest in Indian art and became its…
MAURICE, Thomas. Hertford 25.9.1754 — London 30.3.1824. Rev. British Priest and Oriental Scholar. Son of Thomas Maurice (d. 1763), a schoolmaster of Welsh ancestry, lost early his father. “Educated at Christ’s Hospital, Ealing and Bath, and at St. John’s and University Colleges, Oxford, 1774-78 [B.A. 1778], ordained. Held several curacies…
LANE-POOLE, Stanley Edward. London 18.17.1854 — London 29.12.1931. British Historian, Archaeologist and Oriental (Arabic) Scholar. Son of Edward Stanley Poole (1830–1867, also an Arabic scholar) and Roberta Reddelien (1820–1866), through his paternal grandmother grand-nephew of Edward William Lane (1801–1876, famous Arabist). After parents’ early death raised by his grandmother and…
RIEU, Charles Pierre Henri. Geneva 8.6.1820 — London 19.3.1902. Swiss Indologist and Oriental Scholar in the U.K. Professor of Arabic in Cambridge. Son of an officer (later the first syndic of Geneva), Jean Louis Rieu (1788–1868), and Françoise Lasserre. After Geneva Academy studies of Arabic (Freytag, Gildemeister), Sanskrit (Lassen), etc.…
KING, Leonard William. London 8.12.1869 — 20.8.1919. British Archaeologist and Assyriologist. Professor in London. Son of Robert King (d. 1886) and Mary Scarborough, educated at Rugby and King’s College, Cambridge (B.A. 1891, M.A. 1895, D.litt. 1914). From 1892 in British Museum, working under Wallis Budge, from 1913 Assistant Keeper of…
HAAS, Ernst Anton Max. Coburg 18.4.1835 — London 3.7.1882. German Indologist in London. Son of Friedrich Haas. After school in Coburg studies of Germanic and Romance philology at Berlin and Bonn. Through comparative linguistics he became interested in Sanskrit and went to Tübingen to study under Roth, then also Weber’s…
GRAY, Basil. London 21.7.1904 — Oxford 10.6.1989. British Art Historian specialized in Indian, Iranian, and Chinese Art. Son of Charles Gray, an army surgeon, and Florence Elworthy Cowell, educated at Bradfield School. Graduated 1927 from Oxford (New College). In 1928 participated at British Museum excavations in Constantinople and now became…