The Oriental Institute was a British educational institution in
Woking
Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...
,
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
, established by
Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner
Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner (14 October 1840 – 22 March 1899), also known as Gottlieb William Leitner, was a British orientalist.
Early life and education
Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner was born in Pest, Hungary, on 14 October 1840 to a Jewish fam ...
. It was also occasionally called the Oriental University Institute.
History
The site of the
Royal Dramatic College
The Royal Dramatic College was a home for retired actors in Woking, England; it was opened by the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) in 1865, and closed because of financial difficulty in 1877.
Origins of the College
On 21 July 1858, at the Princ ...
was purchased by Leitner in the spring of 1884. He immediately went about turning it into his idea of an Oriental Institute, decorating the interior with objects he had collected on his travels. Part of the building was turned into an Oriental Museum, said to have housed the most interesting collection of artefacts from the east in Britain, and it also contained an art collection. The Institute remained relatively obscure locally, with Leitner once remarking that "There is no place in the world where the Institute and its publications are less known than in Surrey." In 1889, the Shah Jahan Mosque was founded, with funding from
Sultan Shah Jahan, Begum of Bhopal
Shah Jahan Begum may refer to:
*Shah Jahan Begum of Bhopal
Shahjahan Begum (29 July 1838 – 16 June 1901) was the Nawab Begum of Bhopal (the ruler of the Islamic principality of Bhopal in central India) for two periods: 1844–60 (her m ...
, as a place for Muslim students of the Institute to worship when they were in Woking.
It was hoped the Institute would achieve full university status, and by the 1890s it was awarding degrees accredited by the
University of the Punjab
The University of the Punjab (Urdu, pnb, ), also referred to as Punjab University, is a public, research, coeducational higher education institution located in Lahore, Pakistan. Punjab University is the oldest public university in Pakistan. ...
in
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...
. Leitner intended it to be the academic centre for studies in this field - a role which was later taken on by the
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
's
School of Oriental and African Studies
SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ar ...
, founded in 1916. Leitner began publishing six academic journals at the Institute, in Sanskrit, Arabic, English and Urdu. They included ''Sanskrit Quarterly Review'', ''Al-Haqa’iq: an Arabic Quarterly Review'' and ''The Imperial and Asiatic Quarterly Review''. In a letter to ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'', G. R. Badenoch described a visit to the Institute, and wrote that he "considered that India is greatly indebted to Dr. Leitner" for the vast collection maintained at the Institute. One professor at the Institute was
Francis Joseph Steingass
Francis Joseph Steingass (March 16, 1825, Frankfurt am Main – January 1903) was a British linguist and orientalist of German Jewish descent.
Biography
Steingass completed his education, including a Ph.D., in Munich, Germany. Later, he was ...
, who taught languages.
Leitner fell ill in 1898, and died of pneumonia in 1899. Following his death, the Institute was closed, and the vast collection was sold on. Had it succeeded, the project might have had a profound effect upon the town, it is realistic to suppose that by 1914 there would have been an Oriental University at Woking, making the town a cultural centre of importance, and giving it an identity and status that it has tended to lack. But this remained hypothetical, and the Institute is now all but forgotten.
In literature
The Institute is mentioned on a number of occasions, as the 'Oriental College' in the early chapters of ''
The War of the Worlds
''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by ''Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and by ''Cosmopolitan (magazine), Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appear ...
The War of the Worlds
''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by ''Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and by ''Cosmopolitan (magazine), Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appear ...
, Chapter IX
See also
*
Shah Jahan Mosque, Woking
The Shah Jahan Mosque (also known as ''Woking Mosque'') in Oriental Road, Woking, England, is the first purpose-built mosque in the United Kingdom. Built in 1889, it is located southwest of London. It is a Grade I listed building.
The Mosque ...