GRAY, Basil. South Kensington, London 21.7.1904 — Oxford 10.6.1989. British Art Historian specialized in Indian, Iranian, and Chinese Art. Son of Charles Gray (1834–1915), an army surgeon, and Florence Elworthy Cowell (1867–1956), educated at Bradfield School. Graduated 1927 from Oxford (New College), then studied briefly under Strzygowski at Vienna. In…
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…
GABAIN, Annemarie von. Mörchingen (Morhange in Lorraine) 4.7.1901 — Berlin 15.1.1993. German Central Asian (Turcic) Scholar. Professor in Hamburg. Daughter of Arthur von Gabain (1860–1939), an officer (later General) with Huguenot background and Catholic mother, Maria Plewig, herself educated as Catholic. School in Mainz and Brandenburg. Studied first from 1920…
FRANKE, Alwin Wilhelm Otto. Gernrode, Harz 27.9.1863 — Berlin 5.8.1946. German Sinologist (started with Indology). Son of the Burgermeister Friedrich F. (1831–1889; from 1876 director of a prison in Coswig) and Henriette Ziegler (1832–1917). In 1882-87 studies of history, soon also of Indology and law at Freiburg, Berlin, Göttingen and…
ERDMANN, Friedrich Franz Ludwig von (Russian Fëdor Ivanovič Èrdman, born Friedrich Franz Ludwig Erdmann). Ludwigslust, Mecklenburg 15.3.1793 (or 1795?) — Kazan 2/14.2.1862. German Historian of Asia in Russia. Son of Johann Ernst Friedrich Erdmann (1759–1814), a vicar, and Luise Adel. Educated in Lübeck, studies at Rostock (O. G. Tychsen) and Göttingen.…
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…
D’JAKONOVA, Natal’ja Vasil’evna. St.Petersburg 28.11.(11.12.)1907 — 1996. Russian Iranian scholar. Daughter of an official. Graduated 1930 from Leningrad. Kand. filol. nauk 1946. In 1931 naučnyj sotrudnik in Ukrainian Oriental Institute (?) in Harkov (Kharkiv), in 1932-35 and 1942-45 at Oriental Institute of Soviet Academy, in 1935-42 and 1945-54 at Hermitage.…
DEMIÉVILLE, Paul Henri. Lausanne 13.9.1894 — Paris 23.3.1979. French (born Swiss) Sinologist and Buddhist scholar. Professor in Paris. Son of Paul D. (1855–1947, Professor of Medicine at Lausanne) and Annette Manuel. After gymnasium in Bern studied history of music and Russian at Munich, London, Edinburgh and Paris, dr. degree in…
COUVREUR, Walter. Antwerpen 25.7.1914 — Edegem, Prov. Antwerpen 17.9.1996. Belgian Linguist and Scholar of Tocharian. After school in Antwerpen studies at Leuven, also under Sieg at Göttingen. Ph.D. Leuven 1936 in Oriental languages and 1938 in Classics. In 1938-44 researcher of Nationaal Fonds van Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek in Brussels. From 1945…
CORDIER, Henri. New Orleans 8.8.1849 — Paris 16.3.1925. French Scholar of Asian History. Son of Ernest-Eugène Cordier (1811?–1880), a Savoyan working in the U.S.A. as businessman and banker, and Amélie-Henriette Oudin. In 1852 he came to France with his mother and was educated in Paris, also while his parents were…