Abudacnus, Josephus (fl. 1595–1643), scholar of oriental languages, was born in Cairo. His parents were Copts, his father probably connected with the Ottoman administration. His Arabic name, Yusuf ibn Abu Dhaqn, was Latinized as Josephus Abudacnus (or Barbatus). In 1595, after a rudimentary education in ...
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M. C. Lyons
Arberry, Arthur John (1905–1969), orientalist, was born at 37 Beeston Street, Buckland, Portsmouth, on 12 May 1905, fourth of the five children of William Arberry, signal boatswain in the Royal Navy, and his wife, Sarah Ann Bailey. Arberry won a scholarship to Portsmouth grammar school...
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Arbuthnot, Forster Fitzgerald (1833–1901), orientalist, was born at Belgaum, Bombay, India, on 21 May 1833, the second son of Sir Robert Keith Arbuthnot, second baronet, and his wife, Anne, daughter of Field Marshal Sir John Forster Fitzgerald (1784/5–1877). He was educated privately on the continent, at ...
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Arnold, Sir Thomas Walker (1864–1930), orientalist, was born at 1 Fore Street, Devonport, Devon, on 19 April 1864, the third son of Frederick Arnold, an ironmonger, and his wife, Matilda Christiana Sweet. He was educated first at Plymouth high school, then from 1880 at the ...
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Atkinson, James (1780–1852), orientalist, was born in the county of Durham on 9 March 1780, the son of James Atkinson. After studying medicine at Edinburgh and London, he accepted the post of medical officer on board an East Indiaman. In 1805 he was appointed an assistant surgeon in the ...
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Thomas Seccombe
revised by Janette Ryan
Baber, Edward Colborne (1843–1890), orientalist and traveller, was born at Dulwich, Kent, on 30 April 1843, the son of Edward Baber (1815–1901), headmaster of Dulwich College grammar school, and his wife, Mary Hayward Colborne (1818/19–1881). He was a great-nephew of ...
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Babington, Benjamin Guy (1794–1866), physician and orientalist, the fourth son of the physician and mineralogist William Babington (1756–1833) and his wife, Martha Elizabeth Babington, was born on 5 March 1794 in Guy's Hospital when his father was resident apothecary there. Educated at Charterhouse School...
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Stanley Lane-Poole
revised by James Falkner
Baillie, John (1772–1833), army officer in the East India Company and orientalist, younger son of George Baillie of Leys Castle, Inverness, and his wife, Anne (née Baillie), was born at Inverness on 10 May 1772, and entered the East India Company's service in 1790, arriving in ...
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Balfour, Francis (1744?–1818), surgeon and orientalist, was born in Edinburgh, the youngest of three sons of Arthur Balfour (1687–1746) of Fernie, Fife. He studied medicine in Edinburgh, graduating MD in 1767 with a dissertation De gonorrhoea virulenta. He entered the East India Company's...
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R. S. Simpson
Ballantyne, James Robert (1813–1864), orientalist, was born on 13 December 1813 in Kelso, Roxburghshire, the eldest son of Alexander Thomson Ballantyne (1776–1847), newspaper owner, editor, and printer in Edinburgh, and his wife, (Anne) Randall Grant (c.1786–1855). Alexander Ballantyne was a younger brother of ...
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Barker, William Burckhardt (1810–1856), orientalist, was born at Aleppo, Syria, on 12 January 1810, the third of four sons of John Barker (1771–1849), who was consul in Aleppo at the time of his son's birth, and his wife Marianne Hays (1779-1858). From both his parents he inherited a remarkable linguistic aptitude. He was the godson of ...
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Barnett, Lionel David (1871–1960), orientalist, was born in Liverpool on 21 October 1871, the eldest son of Baron Barnett, banker, and his wife, Adelaide Cowan. He was educated at the high school, institute, and University College, Liverpool. He went up to Trinity College, Cambridge...
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M. C. A. Macdonald
Beeston, Alfred Felix Landon (1911–1995), orientalist, was born at 12 Glebe Road, Barnes, south London, on 23 February 1911, the second child and only son of Herbert Arthur Beeston (1872–1941), an engineer and draughtsman, and Edith Mary Landon (1873–1965). In his undergraduate days he came to be called ...
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Bell, Sir Charles Alfred (1870–1945), administrator in India and Tibetologist, was born in Fort William, Calcutta, on 31 October 1870, the third son of Henry Bell, of the Indian Civil Service, and his wife, Anne, daughter of George Dumbell, of Douglas, Isle of Man...
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S. A. Cook
revised by John Gurney
Bevan, Anthony Ashley (1859–1933), orientalist and biblical scholar, was born at Trent Park, Barnet, on 19 May 1859, the eldest of the three sons of Robert Cooper Lee Bevan (1809–1890), of Fosbury House, Wiltshire, and Trent Park, head of the great banking-house later known as ...
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Beveridge [née Akroyd], Annette Susannah (1842–1929), orientalist, was born in Mount Street, Stourbridge, Worcestershire, on 13 December 1842, the third child and daughter surviving to adulthood of William Akroyd (d. 1869), a currier, and his wife, Sarah, née Walford, a daughter of the local livery stable owner. After his wife's death in 1849, ...
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Bicknell, Herman (1830–1875), orientalist and traveller, was born at Herne Hill, Surrey, on 2 April 1830, the third son of Elhanan Bicknell (1788–1861) and his third wife, Lucinda Sarah (1801–1850), who was the sister of Hablot Knight Browne (‘Phiz’). Clarence Bicknell (1842–1918), archaeologist and botanist, was his brother. He was educated at ...
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Birrell, John (1836–1901), orientalist, was born at Drumeldrie, Newburn parish, near St Andrews, on 21 October 1836, the elder of two sons of Hugh Birrell, architect, and his wife, Margaret Smith. His brother, George, an architect, died in 1876. After attending the parish school and ...
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Bleeck, Arthur Henry (1829–1877), orientalist, was born on 9 April 1829 in Westbury, Wiltshire, where he was baptized on 18 May 1829, the son of William Bleeck (1801–1873), who was from 1830 rector of Huish, Wiltshire, and his wife, Charlotte, née...
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Henry Beveridge
revised by Parvin Loloi
Blochmann, Henry Ferdinand [formerly Heinrich Ferdinand] (1838–1878), orientalist, was born in Dresden, Germany, on 7 or 8 January 1838, the son of Ernest Ehrenfried Blochmann, printer, and nephew of Karl Justus Blochmann, a distinguished pupil of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. He was educated at the ...
