GOLDSCHMIDT, Paul. Danzig 19.12.1850 — Galle 7.5.1877. German Indologist in Sri Lanka. Findagrave calls him Philip Paul Goldschmidt, but no other source confirms this. Son of a Geheimer Kommerzienrat, perhaps somehow (but not closely) related to —> Siegfried Goldschmidt.1 He matriculated from Danzig 1867. Studies of Indology in 1867-72 (interrupted…
GOGERLY, Daniel John. London 25.8.1792 — buried Colombo 6.9.1862. British Methodist Missionary in Ceylon. Son of Daniel Gogerly (1762–1838) and Elizabeth Forster. Worked as a printer, but soon (1806) joined the Wesleyan Mission. Arrived at Jaffna in October 1818 taking the supervision of Methodist Mission press. Ordained priest 1823, in…
GEIGER, Wilhelm Ludwig. Nürnberg 21.7.1856 — Neubiberg near Munich 2.9. 1943. German Iranian Scholar and Indologist. Professor in Erlangen and Munich. Husband of —> Magdalene Geiger. Son of Johannes Leonhard Geiger (1820–1894), a Lutheran minister, and Emma Paur (1832–1918). Studied classical philology and Oriental languages at Berlin, Bonn and Erlangen…
FREUDENBERG, Johann Philipp. Raubacher Hütte bet Dierdorf, Kr. Neuwied 18.2.1843 — Colombo 2.2.1911. German Merchant in Sri Lanka. Son of the elder J. Ph. Freudenberg, an industrialist, and Caroline Bernhardt. Entered business and served in a coffee firm in Cologne, Rotterdam, Marseille and London. In 1873 went to Colombo and…
FERGUSON, Donald William. Colombo 8.10.1853 — Croydon near London 29.6.1910. British (Scottish) Journalist and Scholar of Sri Lankan History (especially of Colonial Period). Son of —> Alastair M. Ferguson (1816–1892) and Anne Mackerras. The father came to Ceylon in 1837, was a long time the chief proprietor and editor of…
DICKSON, John Frederick. Harmondsworth, Middlesex 17.9.1835 — London 21.12.1891. Sir. British Civil Servant and Pāli Scholar in Sri Lanka. Son of Robert Dickson (1805–1875), a physician, and Mary Ann Coope. Educated in Westminster and studied from 1855 at Christ Church, Oxford. Graduated B.A. in 1859 and joined colonial service. Served…
CROSBY, Josiah. Falmouth, Cornwall ?.5.1880 — 4.12.1958. Sir. British Diplomat interested in South-East Asian History. Son of Captain J. P. Crosby and his wife Christina, educated in Newcastle. Studies at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge (B.A. 1902, M.A. 1928). Came to Thailand as young cadet in 1904, spent many years…
COPLESTON, Reginald Stephen. Barnes, London 26.12.1845 — Wandsworth, London 19.4.1925. Rev. British Priest in Sri Lanka and India. Son of Rev. Reginald Edward Copleston, of Barnes, Surrey. Educated at Merchant Taylor’s school, studies from 1864 at Exeter College, Oxford (B.A. 1869). In 1870-75 Fellow of St. John College. M.A. 1871,…
COOMARASWAMY, Ananda Kentish (Kumārasvāmi). Colombo 22.8.1877 — Needham, MA 9.9.1947. Sri Lankan/British Art Historian and Indologist in the U.S.A. Son of Sir Mutu Coomaraswamy (1834–1879, a noted Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer and statesman) and Elizabeth Clay Beeby (1851–1939, she came from Kent, therefore “Kentish”), lost early his father and grew…
COLES, Stephen. Ringwood, Hampshire 1837 — Sri Lanka 13.9.1901. Rev. British Missionary, member of Church Mission Society in Sri Lanka. Son of William Coles and his wife Harriet. After Highbury Training College arrived in Ceylon as early as 1861 and remained there until his death. Married 1860 Elizabeth Sarah Nicklin…