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{{Short description|Anglo-Indian official, naturalist, and writer (1832–1917)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
[[File:George Christopher Molesworth Birdwood.jpg|thumb|George Christopher Molesworth Birdwood]]
'''Sir George Christopher Molesworth Birdwood''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|KCIE|CSI}} (8 December 1832{{snd}}28 June 1917) was an [[Anglo-Indian]] official, [[naturalist]], and writer.

==Life==
The son of General Christopher Birdwood, he was born at [[Belgaum]], then in the [[Bombay Presidency]], on 8 December 1832. He was educated at [[Plymouth]] Grammar School and [[Edinburgh University]], where he took his MD degree presenting the thesis ''"The origin of ideas"''.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Birdwood|first=George Christopher Molesworth|date=1854|title=The origin of ideas|url=https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/32836|language=en}}</ref> Entering the Bombay Medical Service in 1854, he served in the [[Persian War of 1856-57]], and subsequently became professor at the [[Grant Medical College and Sir Jamshedjee Jeejebhoy Group of Hospitals|Grant Medical College]], registrar of the university, curator of the museum, and sheriff at Bombay, besides acting as secretary of the Asiatic and Horticultural societies.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

Birdwood interested himself also in the municipal life of Bombay, where he acquired influence and popularity. He was obliged by ill-health in 1868 to return to England, where he entered the revenue and statistics department of the India Office (1871–1902).{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

In the dedication to his English translation of [[Garcia de Orta]]'s book, Clements Markham calls Birdwood the "Garcia da Orta of British India".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/colloquiesonsimp00orta#page/n9/mode/2up|year=1913|author=Clements R. Markham|title=Colloquies on the simples and drugs of India by Garcia da Orta|publisher=Henry Sotheran and Co.|place=London}}</ref> He kept up his connection to India with contributions to the Indian press; and established longterm friendships with Indian princes and educated Indians. In 1846 he was selected [[Sheriff of Bombay]]<ref>{{cite book|title=Dictionary of Indian Biography|page=43}}</ref> In 1887 he was created a [[Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire]]; and, besides being given his [[Doctor of Laws]] degree by the [[University of Cambridge]], he was also made an officer of the [[Légion d'Honneur]] and a laureate of the [[Académie française|French Academy]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

While chairing the Indian Section of the annual meeting of the [[Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce|Royal Society of Arts]] in 1910, Birdwood declared that there was no "fine art" in India. When a particular [[Buddharupa|statue of the Buddha]] was adduced as counter-example, Birdwood is said to have responded: "This senseless similitude, in its immemorial fixed pose, is nothing more than an uninspired brazen image. . . . A boiled suet pudding would serve equally well as a symbol of passionless purity and serenity of soul."<ref>Mark Sedgwick, ''Against the Modern World: Traditionalism and the Secret Intellectual History of the Twentieth Century'', Oxford University Press, 2004, page 52. {{ISBN|978-0-19-515297-5}}.</ref>

Birdwood died in Ealing on 28 June 1917.<ref>{{Cite EB1922|title=Birdwood, Sir George Christopher Molesworth|pages=456–457|volume=30|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabri30chisrich/page/456/mode/2up?view=theater}}</ref>

{{botanist|Birdw.|Birdwood}}

===Works===
* ''The Economic Vegetable Products of the Bombay Presidency'' (12th edition, 1868){{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}
* ''On the Genus Boswellia'' [Frankincense Trees] (1870)
* ''The Industrial Arts of India'' (1888)
* ''Reports on the Old Records of the India Office'' (1891)
* ''The Register of Letters and of the Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies 1600-1619'' (1893) with [[William Foster (historiographer)|Sir William Foster]]
* ''First Letter Book of the East India Company'' (1895)

Birdwood published on the industrial arts of India, the ancient [[India Office Records|records of the India Office]], and the first letter-book of the [[British East India Company|East India Company]]. He encouraged Indian arts, on various aspects of which he wrote monographs, and his name was identified with the representation of India at the major [[International Exhibition]]s from 1857 to 1901.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}<ref>''Journal of Indian Art'', vol. viii. ''The Life and Work of Sir George Birdwood''</ref> His researches on the subject of [[incense]],<ref>Trans. Liun. Soc. xxvii., 1871; Ency. Brit. 9th ed., ''Incense'', 1881; revised</ref> became a classic.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

When still young, Birdwood contributed to magazines and newspapers; in India he helped to convert the ''Standard'' into ''[[The Times of India]]'', and edited the Bombay ''Saturday Review''; and after his return to London he wrote for the ''[[Pall Mall Gazette|Pall Mall]]'', ''[[Athenaeum (British magazine)|Athenaeum]]'', ''[[The Academy (periodical)|Academy]]'', and ''[[The Times]]''; and with [[Thomas Chenery]], the editor of ''The Times'', and others he took the initiative (1882) in celebrating the anniversary of [[Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield|Lord Beaconsfield]]'s death as [[Primrose Day]] (19 April).{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

=== References ===
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Birdwood, Sir George Christopher Molesworth|volume=3|page=979}}

==Further reading==
{{wikisource author}}
*{{Cite journal|editor-first= C. Hayavadana |editor-last= Rao|date=1915|title=Birdwood, Sir George Christopher Molesworth|journal= The Indian Biographical Dictionary}}
*{{Cite journal|editor-first=Thompson |editor-last=Cooper|title=Birdwood, George Christopher Molesworth|journal=Men of the Time|edition=eleventh|date=1884}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Birdwood, George Christopher Molesworth}}
[[Category:1832 births]]
[[Category:1917 deaths]]
[[Category:People educated at Dollar Academy]]
[[Category:Indian Medical Service officers]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Anglo-Persian War]]
[[Category:Officiers of the Légion d'honneur]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:19th-century English medical doctors]]
[[Category:Sheriffs of Mumbai]]
[[Category:University of Edinburgh Medical School alumni]]
[[Category:People associated with the University of Edinburgh]]

George Christopher Molesworth Birdwood - Revision history

Bot at 09:33, 22 December 2022