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{{Short description|English orientalist and mathematician (1765-1837)}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date= February 2018}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Henry Thomas Colebrooke
|honorific_suffix = [[Royal Society of London|FRS]] [[FRSE]]
|image = HTColebrooke.jpg
|caption = A bust of Henry Thomas Colebrooke currently owned by the [[Royal Asiatic Society]]
|birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1765|6|15}}|
|birth_place = London, England
|death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1837|3|10|1765|6|15}}|
|death_place = London, England
|other_names =
|known_for = Sanskrit scholar, one of the founders of the [[Royal Asiatic Society]], one of the founders and second president of the [[Royal Astronomical Society]]
|occupation = [[oriental studies|Orientalist]]
|nationality = British
}}

'''Henry Thomas Colebrooke''' [[Royal Society of London|FRS]] [[FRSE]] (15 June 1765 – 10 March 1837) was an English [[oriental studies|orientalist]] and mathematician. He has been described as "the first great [[Sanskrit]] scholar in Europe".<ref name=RSE>{{cite book|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf|publisher=[[Royal Society of Edinburgh]]|page=194|title=Former Fellows of The Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783 – 2002}}</ref>

==Biography==
Henry Thomas Colebrooke was born on 15 June 1765. His parents were [[Sir George Colebrooke, 2nd Baronet]], [[Member of Parliament|MP]] for [[Arundel (UK Parliament constituency)|Arundel]] and Chairman of the [[East India Company]] from 1769, and Mary Gaynor, daughter and heir of Patrick Gaynor of [[Antigua]]. He was educated at home.<ref name=DNB>{{cite DNB|wstitle=Colebrooke, Henry Thomas (DNB00)|last= Lane-Poole|first=Stanley|volume=11}}</ref>

In 1782 Colebrooke was appointed through his father's influence to a [[East India Company#Writers|writership]] with the East India Company in [[Calcutta]]. In 1786 and three years later he was appointed assistant collector in the revenue department at [[Tirhut]]. He wrote ''Remarks on the Husbandry and Commerce of Bengal'', which was privately published in 1795, by which time he had transferred to [[Purnia]]. This opposed the East India Company's monopoly on Indian trade, advocating instead for free trade between Britain and India, which caused offence to the East India Company's governors.<ref name=DNB/>

He was appointed to the magistracy of [[Mirzapur]] in 1795 and was sent to [[Nagpur]] in 1799 to negotiate an allowance with the Raja of Berar. He was unsuccessful in this, due to events elsewhere, and returned in 1801.
On his return was made a judge of the new court of appeal in Calcutta, of which he became president of the bench in 1805. Also in 1805, [[Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley|Lord Wellesley]] appointed him honorary professor of [[Hindu law]] and Sanskrit at the [[East India Company College|college]] of [[Fort William, India|Fort William]]. In 1807 he became a member of council, serving for five years, and was elected President of the [[Asiatic Society of Calcutta]]. Colebrooke married Elizabeth Wilkinson in 1810. The marriage was short-lived and she died in 1814.<ref name=RSE/> He returned to England in 1815.<ref name=DNB/>

In 1816 he was elected to the fellowship of both the [[Royal Society]] and the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]]<ref name=RSE/> In 1820 he was a founder of the [[Royal Astronomical Society]]. He often chaired the society's meetings in the absence of the first president, [[William Herschel]], and was elected as its second president on Herschel's death, serving 1823–1825. In 1823 he was also a founder of the [[Royal Asiatic Society]], chairing its first meeting although he declined to become its president.<ref name=DNB/><ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/historyofroyalas00dreyuoft#page/18|title=History of the Royal Astronomical Society 1820–1920|pages=11, 18–19|chapter=The Decade 1820–1830|author=Herbert Hall Turner|author-link=Herbert Hall Turner}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ras.org.uk/about-the-ras/79-general/766-past-ras-presidents|title=Past RAS Presidents|publisher=Royal Astronomical Society|access-date=18 August 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|journal=Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland|title=Report of the Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, at Its First General Meeting, on the 15th of March, 1823|author=G. H. Noehden|volume=1|date=1824|issue=1|pages=vii–x|jstor=25581688}}</ref>

==Works==
After eleven years' residence in India, Colebrooke began the study of the [[Sanskrit]] [[language]]; and to him was entrusted the translation of the major ''Digest of Hindu Laws'', a monumental study of [[Hindu law]] which had been left unfinished by [[William Jones (philologist)|Sir William Jones]]. He translated the two treatises, the ''[[Mitacshara]]'' of [[Vijnaneshwara]] and the ''[[Dayabhaga]]'' of [[Jimutavahana]], under the title ''Law of Inheritance''. During his residence at Calcutta he wrote his ''Sanskrit Grammar'' (1805), some papers on the religious ceremonies of the Hindus, and his ''Essay on the [[Vedas]]'' (1805), for a long time the standard work in English on the subject. A posthumous essay on his father's life was published by Sir T. E. Colebrooke in 1873 as part of a reprinting of ''Miscellaneous Essays''.

===Indological===
* {{Cite book|display-authors=0 |last=Colebrooke |first=Henry Thomas |author-link=Henry Thomas Colebrooke |title=Remarks on the Husbandry and Internal Commerce of Bengal |location=Calcutta |year=1804 |orig-year=1795 |edition=Revised |url=https://archive.org/details/remarksonhusband00cole |oclc=81391410}}
* {{Cite book|display-authors=0 |last=Colebrooke |first=Henry Thomas |author-link=Henry Thomas Colebrooke |title=A Grammar of the Sanscrit Language |publisher=Honorable Company's Press |location=Calcutta |year=1804 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Grammar_of_the_Sanscrit_Language/5j9pAAAAcAAJ |oclc=1086520079}}
* {{Cite book|display-authors=0 |last=Colebrooke |first=Henry Thomas |author-link=Henry Thomas Colebrooke |title=Cosha or Dictionary of the Sanscrit Language |location=Serampoor |year=1808 |oclc=1040332244}} (by Amara Singh; with an English interpretation and annotations by H.T. Colebrooke)
* {{Cite book|display-translators=0 |translator-last=Colebrooke |translator-first=Henry Thomas |translator-link=Henry Thomas Colebrooke |title=Two Treatises on the Hindu Law of Inheritance |publisher=Hindoostanee Press |location=Calcutta |year=1810 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Two_Treatises_on_the_Hindu_Law_of_Inheri/aK43AQAAMAAJ |oclc=246404698}}
* {{Cite book|display-translators=0 |translator-last=Colebrooke |translator-first=Henry Thomas |translator-link=Henry Thomas Colebrooke |title=Algebra, with Arithmetic and Mensuration, from the Sanscrit of Brahmegupta and Bháscara |publisher=John Murray |location=London |year=1817 |url=https://archive.org/details/algebrawitharith00brahuoft |oclc=54570166}}
* {{Cite book|display-authors=0 |last=Colebrooke |first=Henry Thomas |author-link=Henry Thomas Colebrooke |title=Treatise on Obligations and Contracts |publisher=Black, Kingsbury, Parbury, and Allen |location=London |year=1818 |url=https://archive.org/details/treatiseonoblig00colegoog |oclc=900298882}}
* {{Cite book|display-authors=0 |last=Colebrooke |first=Henry Thomas |author-link=Henry Thomas Colebrooke |title=Miscellaneous Essays |publisher=Wm. H. Allen |location=London |year=1837 |volume=1 |url=https://archive.org/details/miscellaneouses02colegoog |oclc=}}
* {{Cite book|display-authors=0 |last=Colebrooke |first=Henry Thomas |author-link=Henry Thomas Colebrooke |title=Miscellaneous Essays |publisher=Wm. H. Allen |location=London |year=1837 |volume=2 |url=https://archive.org/details/miscellaneouses03colegoog |oclc=}}
* {{Cite book|display-translators=0 |translator-last=Colebrooke |translator-first=Henry Thomas |translator-link=Henry Thomas Colebrooke |title=The Sánkhya Káriká, or Memorial Verses on the Sánkhya Philosophy by Iswara Krishna (also, The Bhashya or Commentary of Gaurapada, translated... by Horace Hayman Wilson) |publisher=Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland |location=Oxford |year=1837 |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_NNLyzf70cl8C |oclc=222040333}}

===Botanical===
{{botanist|Colebr.|Colebrooke, Henry Thomas}}
* {{cite journal |display-authors=0 |last=Colebrooke |first=Henry Thomas |author-link=Henry Thomas Colebrooke |date=1819 |title=Description of Select Indian Plants |url=https://archive.org/details/biostor-6080 |journal=Transactions of the Linnean Society of London |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=351–361|doi=10.1111/j.1095-8339.1817.tb00234.x }}
* {{cite journal |display-authors=0 |last=Colebrooke |first=Henry Thomas |author-link=Henry Thomas Colebrooke |date=1821 |title=On the Indian Species of Menispermum |url=https://archive.org/details/biostor-5969 |journal=Transactions of the Linnean Society of London |volume=13 |pages=44–68|doi=10.1111/j.1095-8339.1821.tb00054.x }}
* {{cite journal |display-authors=0 |last1=Colebrooke |first1=Henry Thomas |author1-link=Henry Thomas Colebrooke |last2=Jack |first2=William |author2-link=William Jack (botanist) |date=1823 |title=Account of the Lansium and some other Genera of Malayan Plants |url=https://archive.org/details/biostor-5663 |journal=Transactions of the Linnean Society of London |volume=14 |pages=114–130}} (with [[William Jack (botanist)|William Jack]])
* {{cite journal |display-authors=0 |last=Colebrooke |first=Henry Thomas |author-link=Henry Thomas Colebrooke |date=1826 |title=On Boswellia and certain Indian Terebinthaceœ |url=https://archive.org/details/biostor-5861 |journal=Transactions of the Linnean Society of London |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=355–370|doi=10.1111/j.1095-8339.1826.tb00119.x }}

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

==Further reading==
* Buckland, C. E., ed. (1906). "Colebrooke, Henry Thomas" in ''Dictionary of Indian Biography.'' London: Swan Sonnenschein & Company. Pp. 87–88. Also available online at: [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.501620 "Colebrooke, Henry Thomas"], archive.org.
* Colebrooke, Thomas E. (1873). "Life of Colebrooke" in Frederick Max Müller's ''Chips from a German Workshop,'' (1875). Vol. IV, pp. 377–317. London: Longmans, Green & Company. Also available here in reprint edition (1881): [https://archive.org/stream/germanwork04mulluoft#page/n371/mode/2up "Life of Colebrooke"], archive.org.
* Higgenbothom, J. J. (1874). "Colebrooke, Henry Thomas" in ''Men Whom India Has Known: Biographies of Eminent Indian Characters.'' Madras: Higgenbothom & Company. Pp. 75–79. Also available online: [https://archive.org/stream/menwhomindiahas00higggoog#page/n92/mode/2up "Colebrooke, Henry Thomas"], archive.org.
* Rocher, Rosane and Ludo (2011). ''The Making of Western Indology: Henry Thomas Colebrooke and the East India Company''. London: Routledge for the Royal Asiatic Society. {{ISBN|978-0415336017}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colebrooke, Henry Thomas}}
[[Category:1765 births]]
[[Category:1837 deaths]]
[[Category:British Indologists]]
[[Category:Hindu law]]
[[Category:Historians of mathematics]]
[[Category:Sanskrit–English translators]]
[[Category:Younger sons of baronets]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Honorary members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Translators of the Bible into Persian]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Royal Astronomical Society]]
[[Category:Presidents of The Asiatic Society]]
[[Category:Colebrooke family|Henry]]

Henry Thomas Colebrooke - Revision history

UpdateBot at 22:24, 30 January 2022