John Borthwick Gilchrist (19 June 1759 – 9 January 1841) was a Scottish surgeon,

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

and

Indologist Indology, also known as South Asian studies, is the academic study of the history and cultures, languages, and literature of the Indian subcontinent, and as such is a subset of Asian studies. The term ''Indology'' (in German, ''Indologie'') is ...

. Born and educated in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

, he spent most of his early career in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, where he made a study of the local languages. In later life, he returned to

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

and lived in Edinburgh and

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. In his final years, he moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, where he died at the age of 81. He is principally known for his study of the

Hindustani language Hindustani (; Devanagari: , * * * * ; Perso-Arabic: , , ) is the '' lingua franca'' of Northern and Central India and Pakistan. Hindustani is a pluricentric language with two standard registers, known as Hindi and Urdu. Thus, the lang ...

, which led to it being adopted as the lingua franca of northern India (including present-day

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

) by British colonists and indigenous people. He compiled and authored ''An English-Hindustani Dictionary'', ''A Grammar of the Hindoostanee Language'', ''The Oriental Linguist'', and many more. His lexicon of Hindustani was published in Arabic script,

Nāgarī script The Nāgarī script or Northern Nagari of Kashi is the ancestor of Devanagari, Nandinagari and other variants, and was first used to write Prakrit and Sanskrit. The term is sometimes used as a synonym for Devanagari script.Kathleen Kuiper (2010 ...

, and in Roman transliteration. He is also known for his role in the foundation of

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

and for endowing the Gilchrist Educational Trust.

Biography

Early life and education

Gilchrist was born on 19 June 1759 in

, and baptised on 22 June 1759 with the names John Hay Gilchrist. His father was Walter Gilchrist, but very little is known about him except that he was a merchant who disappeared the year that John was born. His mother was Henrietta Farquharson (1730-1830), originally from Dundee, who lived to the very advanced age of 100. In later life, Gilchrist obtained a licence to use the name Borthwick, his maternal grandmother's surname, based on her descendancy from the Borthwick title in the Scottish peerage.House of Lords 7 HLC 124 July 1, 8, 12 13, 16, 1858 Walter G. Whicker - Appellant; Joseph Hume and others, - Respondents http://www.uniset.ca/other/cs3/11ER50.html He was educated at

George Heriot's School George Heriot's School is a Scottish independent primary and secondary day school on Lauriston Place in the Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. In the early 21st century, it has more than 1600 pupils, 155 teaching staff, and 80 non-teaching staff. ...

and the

Edinburgh High School The Royal High School (RHS) of Edinburgh is a co-educational school administered by the City of Edinburgh Council. The school was founded in 1128 and is one of the oldest schools in Scotland. It serves 1,200 pupils drawn from four feeder primar ...

(1773–1775). At the age of 16, he travelled to the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

, where he gained a knowledge of the cultivation and production of

indigo Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', m ...

. He remained there for two or three years before returning to Edinburgh.

Career in India

In 1782, Gilchrist was apprenticed as a surgeon's mate in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

and travelled to

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

. There, he joined 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 ...

's Medical Service and was appointed assistant surgeon in 1784. He marched with the company's Bengal Army to

Fatehgarh Fatehgarh is a cantonment town in Farrukhabad district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located on the south bank of the Ganges River. It is the administrative headquarters of Farrukhabad District. Fatehgarh derives its name from ...

, and during this journey he noted the extent to which the Hindustani language could be understood in different parts of the country. However, he was surprised that the company neither required nor encouraged their employees to learn it, and subsequent experiences convinced him that officers in the army should also learn it in order to communicate effectively with the Indian soldiers or sepoys.

Hindustani dictionary

Gilchrist began a systematic study of Hindustani, and from this work he created his first dictionary. In 1785 he requested a year's leave from duty to continue these studies. This leave was eventually granted in 1787 and Gilchrist never returned to the Medical Service. He spent 12 years living at various places, including

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

Faizabad Faizabad (Hindustani pronunciation: ɛːzaːbaːd is a city situated near the southern banks of Saryu river in Ayodhya district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The area of this Faizabad region is administered by Ayodhya Municipal Corpo ...

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

, and

Ghazipur Ghazipur is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Ghazipur city is the administrative headquarters of the Ghazipur district, one of the four districts that form the Varanasi division of Uttar Pradesh. The city of Ghazipur also constitu ...

. He travelled extensively to work with native speakers and also to garner material. In Ghazipur, to help finance his work, he also engaged in the production of indigo, sugar and opium – an enterprise which was initially successful but eventually failed. In 1786, he advertised his first publication, ''A Dictionary: English and Hindoostanee. To which Is Prefixed a Grammar of the Hindoostanee Language''. This was published by subscription and issued in instalments to be completed in 1790. It was the first printed publication in

Devanagari Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system), based on the ...

type, as developed by the Orientalist and typographer,

Charles Wilkins Sir Charles Wilkins (1749 – 13 May 1836) was an English typographer and Orientalist, and founding member of The Asiatic Society. He is notable as the first translator of ''Bhagavad Gita'' into English, He supervised Panchanan Karmakar to c ...

. The government promised to take 150 sets at 40 rupees each, and the price rose eventually to 60 rupees.

Background to the Hindustani language

In Northern India, the Hindustani language developed from the need of the new migrants of

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

and Turkish origin to communicate with people in Delhi and the surrounding regions. The local populace spoke

Dehlavi dialect Kauravi ( hi, कौरवी, ur, ), also known as Khaṛībolī is a set of Western Hindi varieties of Shauraseni Prakrit mainly spoken in Northwestern Uttar Pradesh. Standard Hindi and Urdu are based on Khariboli, specifically on its ...

, one of the

Hindi languages The Central Indo-Aryan languages or Hindi languages are a group of related language varieties Spoken across North India and Central India. These language varieties form the central part of the Indo-Aryan language family, itself a part of the ...

, which supplied the basic vocabulary and grammar but also absorbed a lot of words from

to form Hindustani. Gilchrist popularized Hindustani as the language of British administration. When he started as a surgeon with the East India Company's payroll, he was told that Persian was India's main language, but he quickly discovered that none of the people he met spoke either Persian or Arabic very well. His interactions with people helped him to discover that Hindustani was already known to some in the East India Company. They referred to the language as

Moors The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or ...

language or simply Jargon, and it was Gilchrist who adopted this as the new language of administration for British India.

Fort William College

On Gilchrist's suggestion, the Governor-General, the

Marquess of Wellesley Earl of Mornington is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1760 for the Anglo-Irish politician and composer Garret Wellesley, 2nd Baron Mornington. On the death of the fifth earl in 1863, it passed to the Duke of Wellington; si ...

, and the East India Company decided to set up a training institution for its recruits 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 ...

. This started as the ''Oriental Seminary'' or ''Gilchrist ka madrasa'', but was enlarged within a year to become

Fort William College Fort William College (also known as the College of Fort William) was an academy of oriental studies and a centre of learning, founded on 18 August 1800 by Lord Wellesley, then Governor-General of British India, located within the Fort William c ...

in 1800. Gilchrist served as the first principal of the college until 1804, and through the personal patronage of Wellesley received a generous salary of 1500 rupees a month, or about £1800 per year (about £180,000 in present-day terms). During this time, he also published a number of books: ''The Stranger's East India Guide to the Hindoostanee or Grand Popular Language of India'', ''The Hindustani Manual or Casket of India'', ''Nastaliq-e-Hindoe'', ''The Hindu Roman Orthoeptical Ultimatum'', ''The Oriental Fabulist'', and others. Under Gilchrist's leadership, Fort William also became a centre for

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' One of Gilchrist's pupils was the missionary

Henry Martyn Henry Martyn (18 February 1781 – 16 October 1812) was an Anglican priest and missionary to the peoples of India and Persia. Born in Truro, Cornwall, he was educated at Truro Grammar School and St John's College, Cambridge. A chance encount ...

, an Anglican priest and chaplain for the East India Company, who revised the Hindustani version of the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

and later translated it, together with the Book of

Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

and

Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...

, into Urdu and Persian. By the early nineteenth century, the Persian language was gradually replaced by Urdu as the vernacular to serve as the administrative language in a growing colonial bureaucracy. In 1803, Gilchrist inducted other writers into the college, who helped make rapid strides in

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

language and literature. Subsequently, a Hindi translation of the Bible appeared in 1818 and '' Udant Martand'', the first Hindi newspaper, was published in 1826 in Calcutta. Scholars debate Gilchrist's role in the distillation of Hindustani into the modern languages of Hindi and Urdu, but according to Gilchrist, the rise of the new prose tradition was also the "bifurcation of Khariboli into two forms – the Hindustani language with Khariboli as the root resulted in two languages (Hindi and Urdu), each with its own character and script." He not only discovered/invented the Hindustani language, but he was credited as a great patron of Urdu and indirectly the reinvigoration of Hindi. During his time at Fort William College, he encouraged the use of the purer form of Khariboli from which contemporary Hindi evolved. In the words of K.B. Jindal, author of ''A History of Hindi Literature'': "Hindi as we know it today is the product of the nineteenth century." Another view was that of George Abraham Grierson, an Irish

and civil servant, who said that the standard or pure Hindi which contemporary Indians use is "an artificial dialect the mother tongue of no native-born Indian, a newly invented speech, that wonderful hybrid known to Europeans as Hindi and invented by them."

Land in Australia

In 1801, while still in India, Gilchrist acquired a substantial holding of land near Sydney, Australia, from

William Balmain William Balmain (2 February 1762 – 17 November 1803) was a Scottish-born naval surgeon and civil administrator who sailed as an assistant surgeon with the First Fleet to establish the first European settlement in Australia, and later to take up ...

. He bought this for a nominal sum in settlement of a debt. Gilchrist never went to Australia, but as Sydney subsequently developed, the value of this holding (now part of the suburb named Balmain) rose substantially.

Return to Britain

In 1804, Gilchrist was granted leave of absence from his position at Fort William and travelled back to Britain. However, due to ill health, he never returned to India. He retired from the service of the East India Company in 1805 and was awarded a pension for the remainder of his life. He took an interest in the Borthwick title and, through a series of grants of arms, he eventually styled himself, "John Borthwick Gilchrist, of Camberwell, in the county of Surrey, LL.D., late Professor of the Hindoostanee Language in the College of Fort William, at Calcutta." In 1806, when the

East India College The East India Company College, or East India College, was an educational establishment situated at Hailey, Hertfordshire, nineteen miles north of London, founded in 1806 to train "writers" (administrators) for the Honourable East India Company ( ...

was established at Haileybury, Hertfordshire, its original plan called only for the teaching of Arabic and Persian. However, the first appointed Oriental Professor, Jonathan Scott, a scholar of these languages, resigned even before the College opened its doors. Gilchrist succeeded him but held the post only a few months. Later the same year, Gilchrist moved to Edinburgh where, in partnership with James Inglis, he founded a banking firm, Inglis, Borthwick Gilchrist & Co, which operated from a flat in Hunter Square. He also became in 1807 a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (proposed by

William Moodie William Moodie or Mudie FRSE (1759–1812) was a Scottish Minister who served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1799. He was also a philologist, and Professor of Hebrew (and Oriental Languages) at Edinburgh Unive ...

John Playfair John Playfair FRSE, FRS (10 March 1748 – 20 July 1819) was a Church of Scotland minister, remembered as a scientist and mathematician, and a professor of natural philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. He is best known for his book ''Illu ...

and James Bonar), the Horticultural Society, the East India Club, and the Scottish Military and Naval Academy. He gained a reputation for being somewhat eccentric, with a fiery temper and violent politics and language. One of his eccentricities was to erect an aviary containing exotic birds on the side of his house on Nicolson Square. In 1815 his banking business ran into difficulties and was dissolved. He moved for a brief period to Perthshire, resolving never to return to Edinburgh. He then moved to London in 1817 and the following year was appointed as lecturer in oriental languages for the East India Company, a position he held until 1825. However, after this employment ceased, he controversially continued to give lectures without payment, as a vehicle to promote the sale of his works as textbooks. With a similar view, he assisted in the foundation of the London Oriental Institution and became a founding shareholder of

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

, serving as its first Professor of Hindustani. He also worked with

George Birkbeck George Birkbeck FRS (; 10 January 1776 – 1 December 1841) was a British physician, academic, philanthropist, pioneer in adult education and a professor of natural philosophy at the Andersonian Institute. He is the founder of Birkbeck, Univers ...

to establish the London Mechanics Institution (later Birkbeck College).

Marriage and children

Gilchrist fathered a number of children during his time in India between 1782 and 1804. However, their legitimacy and the identity of the mother are unclear, and it appears that several died young. One surviving daughter, Mary Anne (b. 1786), may have remained in India after Gilchrist departed and it is known that, in 1810, she married Major Charles William Burton in Calcutta. He was the son of

James Burton James Edward Burton (born August 21, 1939, in Dubberly, Louisiana) is an American guitarist. A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 2001 (his induction speech was given by longtime fan Keith Richards), Burton has also been recognized ...

, canon of Christ Church, Oxford and chaplain to

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

and

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

. Charles William Burton died at Mirzapur in 1816 and decades later, his and Mary Anne's son, Major Charles Aeneas Burton, was murdered together with his two sons at Kotah in 1857, during the Indian mutiny. It is also known that three other Indian-born daughters returned with Gilchrist to Britain: *Henrietta (1797–1864) married James Wilson, a merchant, in Edinburgh in 1815. *Elizabeth (b. 1801) married John Mann, a jeweller, in Edinburgh in 1818. *Violet (1802–1872) married the writer and composer,

George Linley George Linley (27 December 1797 – 10 September 1865), was an English verse-writer and musical composer, who was born in Leeds. He contributed verses to the local newspapers and published some pamphlets, before leaving his native city in early li ...

, in Edinburgh in 1824. After his return to Edinburgh, Gilchrist married Mary Ann Coventry on 15 May 1808, a woman nearly 30 years his junior, with whom he had no children. After he died, she married General

Guglielmo Pepe Guglielmo Pepe (13 February 1783 – 8 August 1855) was an Italian general and patriot. He was brother to Florestano Pepe and cousin to Gabriele Pepe. He was married to Mary Ann Coventry, a Scottish woman who was the widow of John Borth ...

, Prince of the Kingdom of Naples.

Final years, death and legacy

Père-Lachaise - Division 42 - Gilchrist 01

Gilchrist travelled to the Continent several times between 1825 and 1831, for reasons of ill health. He settled in

almost permanently from 1831 onwards, obtaining a French passport for himself, his wife and two servants, and resided in the Rue Matignon. He died there on 9 January 1841, aged 81, and was buried in the Père-Lachaise Cemetery.

Will

Gilchrist left a considerable fortune, which included property and investments in London and Edinburgh, as well as the Balmain estate in Australia. In his will, he appointed the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

Joseph Hume Joseph Hume FRS (22 January 1777 – 20 February 1855) was a Scottish surgeon and Radical MP.Ronald K. Huch, Paul R. Ziegler 1985 Joseph Hume, the People's M.P.: DIANE Publishing. Early life He was born the son of a shipmaster James Hume ...

, to be his principal executor, and instructed that his assets be sold and the proceeds held in a charitable trust. From the Trust's income, he granted annuities to his widow and surviving daughters. The residual income he instructed to be used "for the benefit and advancement and propagation of education and learning in every part of the world as far as circumstances will permit."

Legal battle

The will was contested by some members of Gilchrist's family. The principal

appellant In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...

was his nephew, Walter Gilchrist Whicker (son of his sister, Helen), who considered himself to be Gilchrist's legitimate heir-at-law. The case, known as '' Whicker v Hume'', was complex and considered several issues: * Gilchrist's legal

domicile Domicile may refer to: * Home, a place where someone lives * Domicile (astrology) In astrology, a planet's domicile (or less commonly house, not to be confused with the astrological house system) is the zodiac sign over which it has rulership ...

at the time of his death. It was argued that this should be

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

(his countries of birth and death, respectively), rather than

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, where the will had been drawn up. * The legitimacy of Gilchrist's Indian-born daughters. * The

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. J ...

which applied to the land in the colony of New South Wales, and whether the legal doctrine of '' mortmain'' applied to it. * Whether Gilchrist's words "education and learning" constituted a valid charitable objective. The case dragged on for many years and eventually went as far as the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

, which handed down its final judgement upholding the validity of the will in July 1858, over 17 years after Gilchrist's death and after which time several of the parties, including both Whicker and Hume, had themselves died. It has become a significant legal

precedent A precedent is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. Common-law legal systems place great valu ...

, regarding the definition of domicile and the jurisdiction under which a will must be executed.

Gilchrist Educational Trust

An unexpected side-effect of the lengthy legal battle was that the value of the land in Australia had in the meantime increased to an estimated £70,000, and the total value of Gilchrist's estate when probate was finally granted was in excess of £100,000 (over £10,000,000 in current values). With this large endowment, the Gilchrist Educational Trust was finally able in 1865 to start its work, and continues to the present day to provide financial grants to individuals and organizations for educational purposes.

Character and political views

Gilchrist had a fiery temperament and frequently became involved in arguments. He had a lifelong habit of expressing his views and frustrations in letters and printed pamphlets, blaming everyone except himself for the woes that afflicted him from time to time. He has been described as "alternately rambling and forthright, self-pitying and aggressive – indeed, at times downright abusive." Despite this, he was usually treated exceptionally well by those in a position of authority and patronage, and by various means he became a very wealthy man – even if his business methods were sometimes rather unethical. During his time in Edinburgh, he became notorious for his radical political views and became an outspoken advocate of

republicanism Republicanism is a political ideology centered on citizenship in a state organized as a republic. Historically, it emphasises the idea of self-rule and ranges from the rule of a representative minority or oligarchy to popular sovereignty. It ...

. Inevitably, these views made him enemies, and together with the collapse of his banking business, it led him to forsake his native city for the rest of his life – returning only occasionally for brief visits to his mother. There are no likenesses of him in his younger days, but as an old man ''Chambers' Biographical Dictionary'' describes him as "his bushy head and whiskers were as white as the Himalayan snow, and in such contrast to the active expressive face which beamed from the centre of the mass, that he was likened to a royal Bengal tiger – a resemblance of which he was even proud."

Published works

* ''A Dictionary: English and Hindoostanee'', Calcutta: Stuart and Cooper, 1787–90. * ''A Grammar, of the Hindoostanee Language, or Part Third of Volume First, of a System of Hindoostanee Philology'', Calcutta: Chronicle Press, 1796. * ''The Anti-Jargonist; a short and familiar introduction to the Hindoostanee Language, with an extensive Vocabulary'', Calcutta, 1800. * ''Dialogues, English and Hindoostanee, calculated to promote the colloquial intercourse of Europeans, on the most useful and familiar subjects, with the natives of India, upon their arrival in that country'', Calcutta, 1802(?). Second edition: Edinburgh, Manners and Miller et al., 1809. lxiii, 253 p. * ''The Hindee Director, or Student's Introductor to the Hindoostanee Language; comprising the Practical outlines of the improved Orthoepy and Orthography, along with first and general Principles of its Grammar'', Calcutta, 1802. * ''The Hindee-Arabic Mirror; or improved Arabic practical tables of such Arabic words which are intimately connected with a due knowledge of the Hindoostanee language'', Calcutta, 1802. * ''The Hindee-Roman Orthoepigraphical Ultimatum, or a systematic descriptive view of the Oriental and Occidental visible sounds of fixed and practical principles for the Language of the East'', Calcutta, 1804. * ''British Indian Monitor; or, the Antijargonist, Stranger's Guide, Oriental Linguist, and Various Other Works, compressed into a series of portable volumes, on the Hindoostanee Language, improperly called Moors; with considerable information respecting Eastern tongues, manners, customs, &c.'', Edinburgh: Walker & Grieg, 1806–8. * ''Parliamentary reform, on constitutional principles; or, British loyalty against continental royalty, the whole host of sacerdotal inquisitors in Europe, and every iniquitous judge, corrupt ruler, venal corporation, rotten borough, slavish editor, or Jacobitical toad-eater within the British Empire'', Glasgow: W. Lang. 1815. * ''The Orienti-Occidental Tuitionary Pioneer to Literary Pursuits, by the King's and Company's Officers of all Ranks, Capacities, and Departments, either as probationers at scholastic establishments, during the early periods of life, their outward voyage to the East, or while actually serving in British India...A Complete Regular Series of Fourteen Reports...earnestly recommending also the general Introduction, and efficient Culture immediately, of Practical Orientalism, simultaneously with Useful Occident Learning at all the Colleges, respectable Institutions, Schools, or Academies, in the United Kingdom,...a brief prospectus of the art of thinking made easy and attractive to Children, by the early and familiar union of theory with colloquial practice, on commensurate premises, in some appropriate examples, lists, &c. besides a Comprehensive Panglossal Diorama for a universal Language and Character...a perfectly new theory of Latin verbs'', London: 1816. * ''The Oriental Green Bag!! Or a Complete Sketch of Edwards Alter in the Royal Exchequer, Containing a full Account of the Battle with the Books between a Belle and a Dragon: by a radical admirer of the great Sir William Jones's civil, religious, and political creed, against whom information have recently been lodged for the Treasonable Offence and heinous crime of deep-rooted Hostility to Corruption and Despotism, in every Shape and Form; on the sacred oath of Peeping Tom at Coventry'', London: J.B. Gilchrist, 1820. * ''The Hindee-Roman Orthoepigraphical Ultimatum;or a systematic, descriminative view of Oriental and Occidental visible Sounds, on fixed and practical principles for acquiring the ... pronunciation of many Oriental languages; exemplified in one hundred popular anecdotes, ... and proverbs of the Hindoostanee story teller'', London: 1820. * ''The General East India Guide and Vade Mecum: for the public functionary, government officer, private agent, trader or foreign sojourner, in British India, and the adjacent parts of Asia immediately connected with the honourable East India Company'', London: Kingsbury, Parbury and Allen, 1825. * ''Dialogues, English and Hindoostanee; for illustrating the grammatical principles of the Strangers' East Indian Guide, and to promote the colloquial intercourse of Europeans on the most indispensable and familiar subjects with the Natives of India immediately upon their arrival in Hindoostan'', London: Kingsley, Parbury, and Allen, 1826. * ''A Practical Appeal to the Public, Through a Series of Letters, in Defence of the New System of Physic'', London: Parbury, Allen, & Co. 1833. * ''A Bold Epistolary Rhapsody Addressed to the Proprietors of East-India Stock in particular, and to every individual of the Welch, Scottish and English nations in general'', London: Ridgway, 1833.

Bibliography

* Richard Steadman-Jones, Colonialism and grammatical representation: John Gilchrist and the analysis of the Hindustani language in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries Publications of the Philological Society; 41, 2007 9781405161329 * Sadiqur-Rahman Kidwai, ''Gilchrist and the 'Language of Hindoostan','' PhD thesis, University of Delhi. Rachna Prakashan, 1972.