Henry Thomas Colebrooke
FRS FRSE (15 June 1765 – 10 March 1837) was an English
orientalist and mathematician. He has been described as "the first great
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
scholar in Europe".
Biography
Henry Thomas Colebrooke was born on 15 June 1765. His parents were
Sir George Colebrooke, 2nd Baronet,
MP for
Arundel and Chairman of the
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...
from 1769, and Mary Gaynor, daughter and heir of Patrick Gaynor of
Antigua. He was educated at home.
In 1782 Colebrooke was appointed through his father's influence to a
writership with the East India Company in
Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
. In 1786 and three years later he was appointed assistant collector in the revenue department at
Tirhut
Mithila (), also known as Tirhut, Tirabhukti and Mithilanchal is a geographical and cultural region of the Indian subcontinent bounded by the Mahananda River in the east, the Ganges in the south, the Gandaki River in the west and by the foothill ...
. He wrote ''Remarks on the Husbandry and Commerce of Bengal'', which was privately published in 1795, by which time he had transferred to
Purnia
Purnia ()(also romanized as Purnea) is a city that serves as the administrative headquarters of both Purnia district and Purnia division in the Indian state of Bihar.
Total geographical area of Purnia Urban Agglomeration is which is nex ...
. This opposed the East India Company's monopoly on Indian trade, advocating instead for free trade between Britain and India, which caused offence to the East India Company's governors.
[
He was appointed to the magistracy of Mirzapur in 1795 and was sent to ]Nagpur
Nagpur (pronunciation: aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nagpur is projected to ...
in 1799 to negotiate an allowance with the Raja of Berar. He was unsuccessful in this, due to events elsewhere, and returned in 1801.
On his return was made a judge of the new court of appeal in Calcutta, of which he became president of the bench in 1805. Also in 1805, Lord Wellesley
Richard Colley Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, (20 June 1760 – 26 September 1842) was an Anglo-Irish politician and colonial administrator. He was styled as Viscount Wellesley until 1781, when he succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of ...
appointed him honorary professor of Hindu law
Hindu law, as a historical term, refers to the code of laws applied to Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs in British India. Hindu law, in modern scholarship, also refers to the legal theory, jurisprudence and philosophical reflections on the nat ...
and Sanskrit at the college
A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...
of Fort William. In 1807 he became a member of council, serving for five years, and was elected President of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta
The Asiatic Society is a government of India organisation founded during the Company rule in India to enhance and further the cause of "Oriental research", in this case, research into India and the surrounding regions. It was founded by the p ...
. Colebrooke married Elizabeth Wilkinson in 1810. The marriage was short-lived and she died in 1814.[ He returned to England in 1815.][
In 1816 he was elected to the fellowship of both the ]Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
and the Royal Society of Edinburgh[ In 1820 he was a founder of the ]Royal Astronomical Society
(Whatever shines should be observed)
, predecessor =
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. He often chaired the society's meetings in the absence of the first president, William Herschel
Frederick William Herschel (; german: Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel; 15 November 1738 – 25 August 1822) was a German-born British astronomer and composer. He frequently collaborated with his younger sister and fellow astronomer Caroline ...
, and was elected as its second president on Herschel's death, serving 1823–1825. In 1823 he was also a founder of the Royal Asiatic Society
The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, commonly known as the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS), was established, according to its royal charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the en ...
, chairing its first meeting although he declined to become its president.
Works
After eleven years' residence in India, Colebrooke began the study of the Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
; and to him was entrusted the translation of the major ''Digest of Hindu Laws'', a monumental study of Hindu law
Hindu law, as a historical term, refers to the code of laws applied to Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs in British India. Hindu law, in modern scholarship, also refers to the legal theory, jurisprudence and philosophical reflections on the nat ...
which had been left unfinished by Sir William Jones
Sir William Jones (28 September 1746 – 27 April 1794) was a British philologist, a puisne judge on the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William in Bengal, and a scholar of ancient India. He is particularly known for his proposition of th ...
. He translated the two treatises, the '' Mitacshara'' of Vijnaneshwara and the '' Dayabhaga'' of Jimutavahana Jīmūtavāhana (c. 12th century) was an Indian Sanskrit scholar and writer of legal and religious treatises on Vaishnavism of early medieval period. He was the earliest writer on ''smriti'' (law) from Bengal whose texts are extant.
Major works
Jī ...
, under the title ''Law of Inheritance''. During his residence at Calcutta he wrote his ''Sanskrit Grammar'' (1805), some papers on the religious ceremonies of the Hindus, and his ''Essay on the Vedas
upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute th ...
'' (1805), for a long time the standard work in English on the subject. A posthumous essay on his father's life was published by Sir T. E. Colebrooke in 1873 as part of a reprinting of ''Miscellaneous Essays''.
Indological
*
*
* (by Amara Singh; with an English interpretation and annotations by H.T. Colebrooke)
*
*
*
*
*
*
Botanical
*
*
* (with William Jack)
*
References
Further reading
* Buckland, C. E., ed. (1906). "Colebrooke, Henry Thomas" in ''Dictionary of Indian Biography.'' London: Swan Sonnenschein & Company. Pp. 87–88. Also available online at
"Colebrooke, Henry Thomas"
archive.org.
* Colebrooke, Thomas E. (1873). "Life of Colebrooke" in Frederick Max Müller's ''Chips from a German Workshop,'' (1875). Vol. IV, pp. 377–317. London: Longmans, Green & Company. Also available here in reprint edition (1881)
"Life of Colebrooke"
archive.org.
* Higgenbothom, J. J. (1874). "Colebrooke, Henry Thomas" in ''Men Whom India Has Known: Biographies of Eminent Indian Characters.'' Madras: Higgenbothom & Company. Pp. 75–79. Also available online
"Colebrooke, Henry Thomas"
archive.org.
* Rocher, Rosane and Ludo (2011). ''The Making of Western Indology: Henry Thomas Colebrooke and the East India Company''. London: Routledge for the Royal Asiatic Society.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colebrooke, Henry Thomas
1765 births
1837 deaths
British Indologists
Hindu law
British historians of mathematics
Sanskrit–English translators
Younger sons of baronets
Fellows of the Royal Society
Honorary members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences
Translators of the Bible into Persian
Presidents of the Royal Astronomical Society
Presidents of The Asiatic Society
Henry
Henry may refer to:
People
*Henry (given name)
* Henry (surname)
* Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry
Royalty
* Portuguese royalty
** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal
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