Sir Denys de Saumarez Bray,
KCSI,
KCIE,
CBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(29 November 1875 – 19 November 1951) was an etymologist and British colonial civil servant in the
Empire of India
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
, who served as Secretary of the Foreign Department of the Government of India.
Bray's publications evidence his deep understanding of the
Brahui language
Brahui (; brh, , links=no; also known as Brahvi or Brohi) is a Dravidian language spoken by some of the Brahui people. The language is spoken primarily in the central part of the Balochistan Province of Pakistan, with smaller communities of sp ...
, and his later work on
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
re-arranged the much disputed order of
Shakespeare's Sonnets on the basis of the discovery of a hitherto unexpected rhyme-link or word-link, joining sonnet to sonnet to form an orderly and smoothly flowing whole. This later work culminated with the publication of ''The Original Order of Shakespeare's Sonnets''.
[The Original Order of Shakespeare's Sonnets by Sir Denys Bray, Methuen, 1925]
Early life
Bray was born in
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
when his father, the Rev.
Thomas William Bray
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the A ...
, a
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
cleric, was serving a cure in the
Scottish Episcopal Church
The Scottish Episcopal Church ( gd, Eaglais Easbaigeach na h-Alba; sco, Scots Episcopal(ian) Kirk) is the ecclesiastical province of the Anglican Communion in Scotland.
A continuation of the Church of Scotland as intended by King James VI, and ...
. He grew up there and in England and Germany, and was educated at a
Realgymnasium
''Gymnasium'' (; German plural: ''Gymnasien''), in the German education system, is the most advanced and highest of the three types of German secondary schools, the others being ''Hauptschule'' (lowest) and ''Realschule'' (middle). ''Gymnas ...
in
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
,
Blundell's School
Blundell's School is a co-educational day and boarding independent school in the English public school tradition, located in Tiverton, Devon. It was founded in 1604 under the will of Peter Blundell, one of the richest men in England at the t ...
in
Tiverton, and at
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...
(where he was Taylorian Scholar).
Diplomatic career
Bray passed the Indian Civil Service examination of 1898, and served in the
Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
,
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...
, and
Baluchistan
Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...
.
After serving as Deputy Secretary of the Foreign Department at
New Delhi
New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...
for four years. Bray was appointed Secretary in 1920, and filled the position with distinction for nearly a decade. He had a large share in shaping the treaty with
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
negotiated at
Kabul
Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...
by
Sir Henry Dobbs in 1921 (which amended the
Treaty of Rawalpindi
The Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919, also known as the Treaty of Rawalpindi, was a treaty which brought the Third Anglo-Afghan War to an end. It was signed on 8 August 1919 in Rawalpindi by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United King ...
, agreed originally in August 1919, and reaffirmed Britain's recognition of Afghanistan's complete independence, and restored to the Afghans the privilege of importing munitions through India).
King Amanullah’s impatient forcing of Western ways on his people after visiting Europe in 1928 led to a revolt, and grave danger to the inmates of the British Legation at Kabul. Early in 1929, Bray was responsible for the plans for the evacuation by air (a novel method at that time) of the women and children, and then of the Minister,
Sir Francis Humphreys, and his staff as part of the
Kabul Airlift.
On leaving India in 1930, Bray was appointed a member of the Council of the Secretary of State for the
India Office
The India Office was a British government department established in London in 1858 to oversee the administration, through a Viceroy and other officials, of the Provinces of India. These territories comprised most of the modern-day nations of I ...
, which was transformed before the completion of his seven years into a body of advisers. Throughout the time, he was on the Indian delegation to the annual Assembly of the
League of Nations
The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...
. Bray also represented India at the international broadcasting conference in 1936, at the diplomatic conference on terrorism in 1937, and in the mission to Spain on refugee relief in 1938.
Etymological research and publications
Bray’s publications included:
*1909: ''The Brahui Language, Part I''. Calcutta: Superintendent Government Printing (Reprinted 1977–78, Quetta: Brahui Academy, Bib ID 1174990).
*1913: ''Life History of a Brahui''. London: Royal Asiatic Society (Reprinted 1977, Karachi: Royal Book Co., Bib ID 2902021).
*1925: ''The Original Order of Shakespeare’s Sonnets''. London: Methuen, Bib ID 2535453.
*1934: ''The Brāhūī Language. Part II. The Brāhūī problem. Part III. Etymological vocabulary''. Delhi: Manager of Publications.
References
Sources
* ''Obituary of Sir Denys Bray'', The Times, Wednesday, Nov 21, 1951 (pg. 8; Issue 52164; col E).
The India list and India Office list, 1905
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bray, Denys
Denys
Denys ( uk, Денис) is both a form of the given name Denis and a patronymic surname. Amongst others, it is a transliteration of the common Ukrainian name ''Денис''. Closely related forms are ''Denijs'' and ''Dénys''. Notable people wit ...
1875 births
1951 deaths
People educated at Blundell's School
Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
Indian Civil Service (British India) officers
Etymologists
Knights Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire
Knights Commander of the Order of the Star of India
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
British people in colonial India