WOOD, Mark. Perth, Scotland 1747 — London 6.2.1829. Sir (Bart.). British (Scottish) Military Engineer and Traveller in India. Son of Alexander Wood. Cadet 1770, in 1772 joined Bengal Engineers, his two brothers were also in E.I.C.’s military service. Surveyor-General 1787, Chief Engineer in Bengal 1790, retired as Colonel and returned…
WOOD, John. Perth, Scotland 1812 — London 13.11.1871. British (Scottish) Naval Officer in India and Traveller in Central Asia. Educated at Perth Academy, in 1826 joined the E.I.C.’s navy. “Commanded the first [steam] vessel, the Indus, in the navigation of the Indus river, 1835-6; Assistant to Burnes in his commercial…
WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK (Guglielmus de Rubruquis, Guillaume de Rubrouck, Willem van Ruysbroeck, Risbroucke). 1215/20 — after 1255. Flemish Traveller, a Franciscan Monk. Probably born in Rubrouck in French Flanders. In 1248 participated in the 7th Crusade. Head of the embassy sent by Louis IX of France to the Mongol Khan…
WARNER, Langdon. Cambridge, Mass. 1.8.1881 — ibid. 9.6.1955. U.S. Art Historian and Central Asian Explorer. Son of advocate Joseph Bangs Warner (1848–1923) and Margret Woodbury Storer. Educated at Harvard College (A.B. 1903). Participated in Pumpelly–Carnegie Expedition to Trans-Caspia in 1904-05. In 1906-13 Assistant Curator of Oriental Art in Museum of…
ROE, Thomas. Low Leyton near Wanstead in Essex 1580/81 — Bath 6.11.1644. Sir. British Diplomat in India. Son of Sir Robert Rowe and Elinor Jermy, lost early his father. After early studies 1593-97 at Oxford (Magdalen College) he became esquire of the body to Queen Elizabeth I and was knighted…
ROCKHILL, William Woodville. Philadelphia, Pa. 1.4.1854 — Honolulu 8.12.1914. U.S. Diplomat, Traveller, Sinologist and Tibetan Scholar. Son of Thomas Cadwalader Rockhill (1819–1871) and Dorothea Anne Woodville (1823–1913). Lost his father when 13 (but ancestors.familysearch.org claims he died 19.2.1854) and the mother settled in Paris to avoid the Civil War. Studies…
TURNER, Samuel. Gloucestershire 19.4.1759 (hardly 1749) — London 2.1.1802. British Colonial Officer in India, a Traveller and Diplomat. “Connected with Warren Hastings; entered the military service of the E.I.Co., 1780, and was Captain in 1799. Was sent by Warren Hastings on an embassy to Tibet, from Jan. 1783 to March…
TREBECK, George. Middlesex 1800 — Shah Merdon, Afghanistan 30.8.1825. British Traveller in Central Asia. Son of Charles Trebeck. In 1815 arrived at Calcutta with his father and brother, trained as a solicitor. In 1819 became Moorcroft’s assistant in his travels in Kashmir and Afghanistan. Died a few days after Moorcroft.…
THÉVENOT, Jean de. Paris 16.6.1633 — Mianeh (Miana), Persia 28.11.1667. French Traveller in Persia and India. Nephew of the travel writer Melchisédek Thévenot (1620–1692), librarian and Oriental scholar. Educated at Collège de Navarre, studies at Paris. With paternal inheritance made first several travels in Europe (1652-55), Levant (1655-59) and Persia…
TERRY, Edward. Leigh near Penshurst, Kent 1590 — Great Greenford, Ealing (London) 8.10.1660. Rev. British Traveller in India. Probably of a well-to-do family. After school in Rochester studied from 1608 at Oxford (Christ Church): B.A. 1611, M.A. and ordination 1614. In 1616 he sailed to India as ship’s chaplain and…