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 Dictionary of Indian Biography (Buckland) |
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 Dictionary of Indian Biography M to R
| Date transcribed | 2011-08-00 | | Transcribed by | Peter Bailey | | Comment | Note that notables of Indian, Afghan, etc. origin do not always follow the alphabetical name patterns established by Buckland in his original work. |
| | Surname | Prinsep | | | First Name(s) | James | | | Birth Year | 1799 | | | Death Year | 1840 | | | Entry | Seventh son of John Prinsep and brother of Charles Robert and Henry Thoby Prinsep (q.v.) : born Aug. 20, 1799 : went to India in 1819 as Assistant Assay-master to the Calcutta Mint : Assay-master at the Benares Mint, 1820-30 : Deputy in 1830, and Assay-master, 1832-8, at the Calcutta Mint : died April 22, 1840, from softening of the brain caused by overwork. At Benares, he constructed a new Mint, and Church : built a bridge over the Karamnassa : was Member and Secretary of the Benares Committee for public improvements : established a Literary Institution : published Views and Illustrations of Benares, 1825: at Calcutta: contributed to and edited the Gleamings of Science, which was developed into the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, of which he was Secretary, 1832-8 : also, at Calcutta, finished the canal, linking the river Hughli with the Sundarbans, which had been commenced by his brother, Captain Thomas Prinsep, Bengal Engineers, who had died suddenly through an accident. He devoted himself to literary and scientific pursuits of many kinds�chemistry, mineralogy, meteorology, Indian inscriptions, numismatics and antiquities ; deciphered the Asoka edicts on pillars and rocks, initiated projects, which were accepted, for reforming weights and measures, and for introducing a uniform coinage of the Company's rupees of 1835. His essays on Indian subjects were collected and published in two volumes. He was F.R.S., and corresponding Member of foreign learned institutions. Prinsep's Ghat, south of Fort William, at Calcutta, was erected by the citizens of Calcutta in his memory. |
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A List of eminent persons who served in British India, together with short biographical notes of each
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