E. J. Rapson

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[[File:E.J. Rapson 1861-1937.jpg|thumbnail|right|E.J. Rapson, 1861–1937]]
'''Edward James Rapson''' [[British Academy|FBA]] (12 May 1861 – 3 October 1937)<ref name=Times>"Professor Rapson" in ''[[The Times]]'', 5 October 1937, p. 9.</ref> was a British [[numismatist]], [[philologist]] and professor of [[Sanskrit]] at the [[University of Cambridge]]. He was a fellow of [[St John's College, Cambridge|St. John's College]]. Rapson died following a sudden collapse at dinner at St. John's.

==Early life==
Rapson was born at [[Leicester]], the son of the Rev. Edward Rapson, later vicar of [[West Bradley]], Somerset, where Rapson spent much of his childhood.<ref name=Times/><ref name=ODNB>{{cite web|title=Rapson, Edward James (1861–1937)|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/35675|work=ODNB|accessdate=25 May 2014}}</ref> He attended the [[Hereford Cathedral School]] and then [[St John's College, Cambridge]], where he was elected a classical foundation scholar in 1883. He won the Brotherton Sanskrit Prize in 1884 and the La Bas Prize in 1886.<ref name=Times/>

==Academic career==
In 1887 Rapson was appointed assistant in the Department of Coins and Medals at the British Museum,<ref name="Wilson 2002">{{cite book|last1=Wilson|first1=David M.|title=The British Museum: A History|date=2002|publisher=British Museum Press|isbn=0-7141-2764-7}}</ref> and also elected a fellow of St. John's College.<ref name=Times/> From 1903 he was Professor of Sanskrit at [[University College, London]]. In 1906 he left the British Museum and was appointed Professor of Sanskrit at St. John's. His application included eighteen testimonials.<ref name=Janus/> Following his successful appointment he remained there until his retirement in 1936 when he was succeeded by [[Harold Walter Bailey|H.W. Bailey]]. His connection with the British Museum continued throughout his career and he assisted in the preparation of the [[Aurel Stein]] Collection.<ref name="Wilson 2002"/>

==''The Cambridge History of India''==
[[File:ChastanaCoin.jpg|thumb|Coin of the Western Satrap Chastana, from Rapson's "Indian coins in the British Museum", 1908]]
[[File:Coin of Bhumaka.jpg|thumb|Coin of the Western Satrap Bhumaka, 2nd century CE, from Rapson's "Indian coins in the British Museum", 1908]]
Rapson edited the first volume of ''The Cambridge History of India'', "Ancient India", where his expertise in coins was put to good use. ''[[The Times]]'' noted in their review of the volume that coin evidence provided some of the only sources for the earliest rulers mentioned, there being in many cases no surviving written sources.<ref>"Ancient India. The Cambridge History.", ''The Times'', 6 May 1922, p. 16.</ref> Rapson spent time on secondment from the College at the Department of Coins and Medals of the [[British Museum]],<ref>"Preface by the keeper of coins" by H.A. Grueber in ''Catalogue of the coins of the Andhra Dynasty, the Western Ksatrapas, the Traikutaka Dynasty and the Bodhi Dynasty]'', British Museum, London, 1908.</ref> where he was Assistant Keeper of Coins and Medals<ref name=Janus>{{cite web|title=Papers of Edward James Rapson|url=http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0275%2FRapson|work=Janus|accessdate=25 May 2014}}</ref> and was reckoned to have an uncanny ability to be able to identify ancient coins merely by feel.<ref name=Times2>"Professor Rapson" by H.H. Brindley in ''The Times'', 8 October 1937, p. 19.</ref>

He was known for his scrupulous attention to detail and for checking not only his own references carefully, but the references of every other contributor. He also invariably agreed to help fellow scholars with their work. These factors, possibly combined with increasing age, meant that Volume II of the ''History'', for which he was the editor, was incomplete at the time of his death in 1937. He had confided to colleagues that the slow pace of the work meant that large parts of it needed to be updated to include the latest scholarship.<ref name=Times/> For all these reasons, and possibly the upcoming war too, it remained unpublished.

==Other scholarly work==
Rapson also deciphered and then edited various documents that his friend the archaeologist [[Aurel Stein]] had discovered in his 1900 expedition to Chinese Turkestan.<ref name=Janus/>

==Memberships==
Rapson was honorary secretary of the [[Royal Numismatic Society]] and editor of their journal, the ''Numismatic Chronicle''.<ref name=Times/> He was a member of the Royal Asiatic Society, Bengal, and the ''[[Societe Asiatique]]'' of France.<ref name=IndBio>Hayavadana Rao, C. (Ed.) (1915) [https://archive.org/details/indianbiographic00raoc ''The Indian biographical dictionary 1915''.] Madras: Pillar & Co., p. 352. [[s:The Indian Biographical Dictionary (1915)/Rapson, Edward James|At Wikisource.]]</ref>

==Personal life==
Rapson married Ellen Daisy Allen, the daughter of William Allen, of "The House", West Bradley, Somerset, in 1902. Rapson had spent much of his childhood in the village. Ellen died in 1921.<ref name=Times/>

==Selected publications==
;Books
*''[https://archive.org/details/strugglebetweene00rapsiala The struggle between England and France for supremacy in India. The "Le Bas" prize essay for 1886]''. Trubner & Co., London, 1887.
*''[https://archive.org/details/indiancoins00rapsgoog Indian coins]''. Trubner, Strassburg, 1897.
*''[https://archive.org/details/catalogueofcoins00brit Catalogue of the coins of the Andhra Dynasty, the Western Ksatrapas, the Traikutaka Dynasty and the Bodhi Dynasty]''. British Museum, London, 1908.
*''[https://archive.org/details/ancientindiafrom00raps Ancient India: from the earliest times to the first century, A.D.]'' University Press, Cambridge, 1914.
*''[https://archive.org/details/cambridgehistory01rapsuoft The Cambridge History of India. Vol. I Ancient India]''. [[Cambridge University Press|University Press]], Cambridge, 1922. (Editor)
;Articles
*[https://archive.org/details/sourcesofindianh00rapsuoft "Sources of Indian history: Coins"] in ''Buhler's Encyclopedia of Indo-Aryan Research'', Vol. II, Part 3, B. 1897.
*"The Græco-Indian Kings Strato I Soter and Strato II Philopator" in ''[[Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland|Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society]]'', Vol. 37, 1905, No.1, pp. 164–7.
*"Coins of the Graeco-India Sovereigns. Agathocleia, Strato I Soter, and Strato II Philopater" in ''[https://archive.org/details/cu31924029768565 Corolla numismatica: Numismatic essays in honour of Barclay V. Head.]'' Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press, 1906, pp. 245–258.

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=E. J. Rapson}}
*[https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/cm/s/silver_indian_tetradrachm.aspx Silver Indian Tetradrachm issued in the names of Agathocleia and Strato]
*[http://familytreenerd.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/edward-james-rapson-1861-1937.html The Rapson Family Tree.]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rapson, E. J.}}
[[Category:1861 births]]
[[Category:1937 deaths]]
[[Category:British historians]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Cambridge]]
[[Category:British numismatists]]
[[Category:Employees of the British Museum]]
[[Category:Fellows of the British Academy]]
[[Category:Academics of University College London]]
[[Category:Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:People educated at Hereford Cathedral School]]
[[Category:Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:People from Leicester]]
[[Category:British philologists]]
[[Category:English Indologists]]

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E. J. Rapson