Jones, Sir William
Jones, Sir William (1746–94). Oriental scholar. Educated at Harrow and University College, Oxford, Jones was a gifted linguist, eventually mastering 13 languages and knowing 28 others. His opposition to the American War and the slave trade probably cost him the chair of Arabic at Oxford in 1781. Called to the bar in 1774, he was knighted and appointed a judge in the High Court of Calcutta in 1783. He remained in India until his premature death, founding the Bengal Asiatic Society (1784) and developing an appreciation of Indian law and culture unusual in a European. Having mastered Sanskrit, he translated parts of Indian classics including the scriptures (the Veda) and laid the foundations for comparative philology. His writings were a useful counter in Britain to the developing forces of Christian cultural imperialism. He was elected fellow of the Royal Society in 1772.
Edward Royle
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