>Dr. Grampinator at 22:44, 15 May 2021

2021-05-15T22:44:55Z

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{{Infobox person
| name = Henry Miers Elliot
| image = Memorial to Henry Miers Elliot in Winchester Cathedral.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Memorial in [[Winchester Cathedral]]
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1808|03|01}}
| birth_place = [[Westminster]], UK
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1853|12|20|1808|03|01}}
| death_place = [[Cape of Good Hope]]
| nationality = English
| other_names =
| occupation = East India Company civil servant
| known_for =
}}
'''Sir Henry Miers Elliot''' {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|KCB}} (1 March 1808 – 20 December 1853) was an English civil servant and historian who worked with the [[East India Company]] in India for 26 years. He is most known for ''[[The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians]]'' based on his works, published posthumously in eight volumes, between 1867–1877 in London.<ref>Huart, Cl., "[https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-1/wassaf-SIM_5970?s.num=54&s.start=40 Waṣṣāf]", in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, First Edition (1913-1936), Edited by M. Th. Houtsma, T.W. Arnold, R. Basset, R. Hartmann.</ref>

==Early life and background==
Elliot was born on 1 March 1808.<ref name="paul">{{Cite book|last=Wilson|first=Charles Robert|url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:List_of_inscriptions_on_tombs_or_monuments_in_Bengal.pdf/9|title=List of Inscriptions on Tombs or Monuments in Bengal|year=1896|location=Calcutta|pages=3|author-link=Charles Robert Wilson}}</ref> He was the third son, one of fifteen children, of John Elliot, of [[Pimlico]] Lodge, [[Westminster]],<ref name=paul/> colonel commandant of the Westminster volunteers, and a daughter of [[John Coakley Lettsom]], M.D. Born in 1808, he was educated from the age of ten at [[Winchester College]], and destined for [[New College, Oxford]]; but the demand of the [[East India Company]] for civilians beyond the numbers regularly trained at [[East India Company College|Haileybury]] tempted him to try for an appointment in their service, and he was the first of the '[[wiktionary:competition_wallah|competition wallahs]]' to pass an open examination for an immediate post in India. His [[oriental language]]s as well as his classics and mathematics proved so good that he was even placed by himself in an honorary class (1826).

==Career & family==
Elliot was assistant successively to the [[District collector|collector]] of [[Bareilly]], the political agent at [[Delhi]], and the collector of the southern division of [[Muradabad]]; secretary to the Sudder board of Revenue for the [[North-Western Provinces]]; and (1847) secretary to the governor-general in council for the foreign department. In this capacity he accompanied [[Henry Hardinge, 1st Viscount Hardinge|Lord Hardinge]] to the [[Punjab Province (British India)|Panjab]] and drew up an admirable memoir on its resources. As foreign secretary he also visited the western frontier with Lord [[James Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie|Dalhousie]], on the occasion of the [[Second Anglo-Sikh War|Sikh War]], and negotiated the treaty with the Sikh chiefs relative to the settlement of the Panjab and [[Gujarat]], and received the [[Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath|KCB]] for his services (1849). Throughout his official career he had devoted his leisure to study.

Early on, he conducted a magazine at [[Mirat]] which contained many valuable articles on Indian subjects. With a view to assisting the projected official 'Glossary of Indian Judicial and Revenue Terms,' he published in 1845 at [[Agra]] his 'Supplement to the Glossary,' described by Professor [[H. H. Wilson]] as 'replete with curious and valuable information, especially as regards the tribes and clans of [[Brahman]]s and [[Rajputs]].' A second edition appeared in 1860. His chief work, however, was the 'Bibliographical Index to the Historians of [[Mohammadan]] India,' in which he proposed to give an analysis of the contents and a criticism of the value of 231 [[Arabic]] and [[Persia]]n historians of India, but of which he only lived to publish the first volume ([[Calcutta]] and London, 1849).

Elliot was married to the daughter of William Cowell a judge at the Provincial Court of Appeal, at Bareilly, Bengal, India. Failing health compelled him to seek a change of climate, and he died on 20 December 1853<ref name=paul/> on his way home at [[Simon's Town]], [[Cape of Good Hope]], aged 45.

'''Children of Sir Henry Miers Elliot KCB & Eliza Rebecca Cowell'''
# Eliza Amelia Elliot b. 19 Jan 1830
# Henry Lettsom Elliott b. 4 Jul 1831
# Fredrick Elrington Elliot b. 12 Apr 1836
# Richard James Elliot b. 17 Dec 1840

==Legacy==
His memorial exists at [[St. Paul's Cathedral, Kolkata]].<ref name=paul/> There is a still-functioning ''Elliot club'', now owned by the [[Government of Haryana]] at [[Hisar (city)|Hisar]], founded by him for then East India Company officials, and ''O.P. Jindal Gyan Kendra knowledge'' currently stands on its land.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

Elliot left behind him manuscript collections which were placed in the hands of competent scholars for publication. His historical researches bore fruit in ''[[The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians. The Muhammadan Period]]'', edited by [[John Dowson]], 8 vols. 1866–1877, with a 'Sequel,' edited by Sir [[Edward Clive Bayley]], 1886. His ''Memoirs of the History, Folklore, and Distribution of the Races of the North-West Provinces'' also found an editor in [[John Beames]], 2 vols. 1869.

==Works==
The Sudder Board of Revenue of North-Western Provinces encouraged him to publish a glossary on terms in use throughout the region. The work included terms little covered and was heavily based on [[Siraj-ud-Din Ali Khan Arzu]]'s work ''Nawādir al-Alfāz''. He completed the first volume of the work titled ''Supplement to the Glossary of Indian Terms'', covering the alphabet from A to J. However, Elliot died before completing the second volume. A second edition was published in 1869 after being significantly enlarged and revised by [[John Beames]]. The edition was titled ''Memoirs on the History, Folk-lore, and Distribution of the Races of the North Western Provinces of India: Being an Amplified Edition of the Original Supplemental Glossary of Indian Terms''.<ref>{{cite book|title=Negotiating Languages: Urdu, Hindi, and the Definition of Modern South Asia|author=Walter Hakala|publisher=[[Columbia University Press]]}}</ref>

Elliot's life-work, the Mohammedan historians of India, came out mostly in two well-known works. The first one was titled ''Bibliographical Index to the Historians of Muhammedan India'' and its first and only volume was published at Calcutta in 1849. His manuscripts were edited posthumously by [[John Dowson]] and published in ''[[The History of India as Told by Its Own Historians]]''. A much lesser-known work titled, ''Appendix to the Arabs in Sind, Vol.III, Part 1, of the Historians of India'' was written when he was on his deathbed and wrote it to apparently test the powers of his mind which he had doubted.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Thayer|first=Gordon W.|year=1921|title=A Rare Work by Sir Henry Miers Elliot|journal=[[Journal of the American Oriental Society]]|volume=41|pages=73–74|doi=10.2307/593704|jstor=593704}}</ref>

* {{cite book|title=Supplemental Glossary of Indian Terms: A-J|publisher=Printed at the Secundra Orphan Press by N.H. Longden|author=Elliot|year=1845|first=Henry Miers|url=https://archive.org/details/supplementtoglo00elligoog}}
* {{cite book|title=Bibliographical Index to the Historians of Muhammedan India|author=Elliot|publisher=Babtist Mission Press|year=1849|volume=I (General Histories)|location=Calcutta|first=Henry Miers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d9I8WTZrWjQC}}
* {{cite book|title=Appendix to the Arabs in Sind, Vol. III, Part 1, of the Historians of India|author=Elliot|year=1853|location=Cape Town|first=Henry Miers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nZ2SHSk3k6cC}}
* ''[[The History of India as Told by Its Own Historians]]: The Muhammadan Period'', The Posthumous Papers of the Late H. M. Elliot, edited by [[John Dowson]]; in 8 volumes (1867–77)<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q7r7SaTXGXEC&pg=PA528|title=A Global History of History|author=Daniel Woolf|author-link=Daniel Woolf|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=2011|page=528|isbn=9780521875752}}</ref>
* ''Memoirs on the History, Folk-lore, and Distribution of the Races of the North Western Provinces of India: Being an Amplified Edition of the Original Supplemental Glossary of Indian Terms'', edited by [[John Beames]]; in 2 volumes (1869)<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F-ufDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT491|title=Early Writings on India: A Union Catalogue of Books on India in the English Language Published up to 1900 and Available in Delhi Libraries|author=H. K. Kaul|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=9781351867177|year=2017}}</ref>
* {{cite book|title=Wakiʼat-i Jahangiri|author=Elliot|publisher=Sheikh Mubarak Ali|year=1875|location=Lahore|first=Henry Miers|url=https://archive.org/stream/wakiatijahangiri00jaha#page/n5/mode/2up}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite ODNB|title=Elliot, Sir Henry Miers|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/8663|first=Peter|last=Penner}}
* {{cite journal |title=Henry Miers Elliot: A Reappraisal |first=Tripta |last=Wahi |journal=The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=122 |issue=1|year=1990 |pages=64–90 |jstor=25212571|doi=10.1017/S0035869X00107865 }} {{subscription required}}
{{DNB|wstitle=Elliot, Henry Miers}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links| wikt=no | commons=no | b=no | n=no | q=no | s=Author:Henry Miers Elliot | v=no | voy=no | species=no | d=q347064}}
* [http://www.indian-cemeteries.org/viewimage.asp?ID=939 Memorial to Henry Miers Elliot at St Paul's Cathedral, Calcutta]
* {{cite web |title=Works by "Elliot, Henry Miers, Sir, 1808-1853 |url=https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Elliot%2C%20H.%20M.%20(Henry%20Miers)%2C%20Sir%2C%201808-1853%22}}
* {{cite web|title=Monument of Henry Miers Elliot at St Pauls Cathedral, Calcutta|url=http://www.indian-cemeteries.org/viewimage.asp?ID=939|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304032248/http://www.indian-cemeteries.org/viewimage.asp?ID=939|archive-date=4 March 2016|access-date=15 November 2013|website=[[British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia]]}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Elliot, Henry Miers}}
[[Category:1808 births]]
[[Category:1853 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century English people]]
[[Category:English knights]]
[[Category:English historians]]
[[Category:19th-century British historians]]
[[Category:British East India Company civil servants]]
[[Category:People educated at Winchester College]]
[[Category:English Indologists]]
[[Category:Alumni of New College, Oxford]]
[[Category:People from Westminster]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:English male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:19th-century British male writers]]

Henry Miers Elliot - Revision history

>Dr. Grampinator at 22:44, 15 May 2021