>Ser Amantio di Nicolao at 06:53, 4 January 2021

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'''Heinrich Blochmann''', known as '''Henry Ferdinand Blochmann''' (8 January 1838 – 13 July 1878), was a German orientalist and scholar of [[Persian language]] and literature who spent most of his career in India, where he worked first as a professor, and eventually as the principal at [[Calcutta Madrasa]], now [[Aliah University]] in present Kolkata. He is also remembered for one of the first major English translations of ''[[Ain-i-Akbari]]'', the 16th-century Persian language chronicle of Mughal emperor [[Akbar]], published in 1873.<ref>{{cite web | title = Blochmann, Heinrich Ferdinand |publisher=[[Encyclopaedia Iranica]]| url = http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/blochmann-heinrich-henry | access-date = 2014-02-11 }}</ref>

==Early life and background==
Born at [[Dresden]] on 8 January 1838, he was the son of Ernest Ehrenfried Blochmann, printer, and nephew of [[Karl Justus Blochmann]]. He was educated at the [[Kreuzschule]] and the [[University of Leipzig]] (1855), where he studied oriental languages under [[Heinrich Leberecht Fleischer]], and then (1857) was in Paris.<ref name="DNB">{{cite DNBSupp|wstitle=Blochmann, Henry Ferdinand|volume=1}}</ref>

==Career==
In 1858 Blochmann came to England, intent on visiting India, and enlisted in the [[British Indian Army]] in 1858 as a private soldier. Soon after his arrival in [[Calcutta]] he was set to do office-work in [[Fort William, India|Fort William]], and gave lessons in Persian. After about a year he obtained his army discharge, and for a time entered the service of the [[Peninsular and Oriental Company]] as an interpreter. He was befriended by [[William Nassau Lees]], the principal of the [[Calcutta Madrasa]] (now [[Aliah University]]), and Blochmann obtained, at the age of 22, his first government appointment (1860) as assistant professor of Arabic and Persian there. In 1861 he graduated M.A. and [[LL.D.]] at the [[University of Calcutta]], choosing Hebrew for the subject of his examination. In the following year he left the Madrasa to become pro-rector and professor of mathematics, at [[Doveton College]]; but returning to the Madrasa in 1865, he remained there for the rest of his life, and was principal when he died.<ref name="DNB"/>

Blochmann made archæological tours in India and British Burma, but generally resided in Calcutta. In 1868 he became [[philological]] secretary to the [[Asiatic Society of Bengal]]. He died on 13 July 1878, and was buried in the Circular Road cemetery, Calcutta.<ref name="DNB"/>

==Works==
Blochmann's major work was his translation of the ''[[Ain-i-Akbari]]'' of [[Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak]]; the earlier version of [[Francis Gladwin]] was more in the way of a summary. Blochmann did not live to do more than translate the first volume (Calcutta, 1873), and the work was completed by Henry Sullivan Jarrett. Blochmann's notes dealt with the [[Emperor Akbar]] and his court, and the administration of the [[Mughal Empire]]; and prefixed to the translation was a life of Abul-Fazl.<ref name="DNB"/> This translation was revised, from 1927, by Douglas Craven Phillott and Jagunath Sarkar.<ref>{{cite book|author=J.J.L. Gommans|title=Mughal Warfare: Indian Frontiers and Highroads to Empire 1500–1700|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kNiAAgAAQBAJ&pg=PR11|date=15 August 2002|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-55276-4|page=xi}}</ref> Another significant work was ''The Prosody of the Persians'', Calcutta, 1872.<ref name="DNB"/>

For the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Blochmann wrote in the ''Journal'' and ''Proceedings''. These papers included his series of ''Contributions to the History and Geography of Bengal''.<ref name="DNB"/>

==Family==
Blochmann married an Irish woman, who survived him, and left three children.<ref name="DNB"/>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
*[http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/blochmann-heinrich-henry iranicaonline.org/, ''Blochmann, Heinrich Ferdinand''.]

;Attribution
{{DNBSupp|wstitle=Blochmann, Henry Ferdinand|volume=1}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Blochmann, Heinrich}}
[[Category:1838 births]]
[[Category:1878 deaths]]
[[Category:German orientalists]]
[[Category:People of British India]]
[[Category:Writers from Dresden]]
[[Category:People educated at the Kreuzschule]]
[[Category:Leipzig University alumni]]
[[Category:German emigrants to India]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:19th-century philologists]]
[[Category:Persian–English translators]]
[[Category:19th-century German translators]]
[[Category:19th-century German writers]]
[[Category:19th-century German male writers]]
[[Category:German male non-fiction writers]]

Heinrich Blochmann - Revision history

>Ser Amantio di Nicolao at 06:53, 4 January 2021