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{{Distinguish|Henry Youll}}
{{Infobox person
|honorific_prefix = Sir
|name = Henry Yule
|honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCSI|CB|FRSGS}}
|image = Henry Yule (cropped).jpg
|image_upright = 1.1
|birth_date = {{birth date|1820|05|01|df=y}}
|birth_place = {{nowr|[[Inveresk|Inveresk, East Lothian]], Scotland}}
|death_date = {{death date and age|1889|12|30|1820|05|01|df=y}}
|death_place = [[London]], Middlesex, England
|education = [[Addiscombe Military Seminary]]
|occupation = [[Oriental studies|Orientalist]], geographer
|notable_works = ''[[Hobson-Jobson]]'' (1886)
|awards = {{indented plainlist|
* [[Companion of the Order of the Bath|Companion of the Order of the Bath]] (1863)
* [[Royal Geographical Society's Founder's Medal]] (1872)
* [[Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India]] (1889)}}
}}

'''Sir Henry Yule''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCSI|CB|FRSGS}} (1 May 1820 – 30 December 1889) was a Scottish [[Oriental studies|Orientalist]] and geographer. He published many travel books, including translations of the work of [[Marco Polo]] and ''Mirabilia'' by the 14th-century [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] Friar [[Jordanus]]. He was also the compiler of a dictionary of [[Anglo-Indian]] terms, the ''[[Hobson-Jobson]]'', with [[Arthur Coke Burnell]].

==Early life==
Henry Yule was born at [[Inveresk]] near [[Edinburgh]] in Scotland on 1 May 1820. He was the youngest son of Major William Yule (1764–1839) and his wife Elizabeth Paterson (died circa 1827). William Yule had served as an officer in [[Bengal Army#Under East India Company|the Bengal army of the East India Company]] and had retired in 1806. William's uncle was the botanist [[John Yule (botanist)|John Yule]] [[FRSE]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Yates|first=Frank|year=1952|title=George Udny Yule 1871–1951|journal=[[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society|Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society]]|volume=8|issue=21|pages=308–323|doi=10.1098/rsbm.1952.0020|jstor=768815|s2cid=178300526}}</ref>

Elizabeth died before Henry was eight and William moved to Edinburgh with his sons, where Henry attended the [[Royal High School, Edinburgh|Royal High School]]. In 1833 he was sent to be coached by the Reverend [[Henry Hamilton (priest)|Henry Hamilton]] at his rectory in the village of [[Wath (near Ripon)|Wath]] near [[Ripon]] in [[North Yorkshire]]. When Hamilton moved to Cambridge in the following year Yule was transferred to the care of the Reverend [[James Challis]], at [[Papworth Everard]] near Cambridge. The other resident pupils were [[John Mason Neale|John Neale]] and [[Harvey Goodwin]]. (Neale co-founded the [[Society of Saint Margaret]], an order of women in the [[Church of England]] dedicated to nursing the sick, while Goodwin became [[Bishop of Carlisle]].) Yule's stay at Papworth Everard ended in 1826 when Challis was appointed [[Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy|Plumian Professor of Astronomy]] and moved to the [[Cambridge Observatory|Observatory]] in Cambridge.{{sfn|Yule|1903}}

After a brief period at [[University College London]], Yule entered the [[Addiscombe Military Seminary|East India Military College]] at [[Addiscombe]] near [[Croydon]] (1837–8),{{sfn|Vibart|1894|p=[https://archive.org/stream/addiscombeitsher00viba#page/680/mode/1up 680]}} followed by the [[Royal School of Military Engineering|Royal Engineers Establishment at Chatham, Kent]]. He obtained his [[Commission (document)|commission]] in December 1838,{{sfn|Vibart|1894|p=[https://archive.org/stream/addiscombeitsher00viba#page/487/mode/1up 487]}} and joined the [[Bengal Engineers]] in 1840.{{sfn|Driver|2004}}{{sfn|Yule|1903}}

Both of Henry's brothers worked in India. The eldest, George Udny Yule (1813–1886), worked in the [[Indian Civil Service (British India)|Bengal civil service]]. The other brother, Robert (1817–1857), died near Delhi during the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857|Indian Rebellion]].{{sfn|Yule|1903}} The statistician [[Udny Yule]] was the son of George and thus the nephew of Henry.<ref>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1952.0020|title = George Udny Yule 1871-1951|journal = Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society|volume = 8|issue = 21|pages = 308–323|year = 1952|s2cid = 178300526}}</ref>

Henry was interested in Arabic and [[Persian literature]] and collected early manuscripts. These were later donated by his sons to the British Museum.{{sfn|Yule|1903}} He translated the ''Apothegms of Ali the son of Abu Talib'' (referring to [[Ali]], the successor to [[Mohammed]], the prophet of [[Islam]]; the obscure English word "[[wikt:en:apothegm|apothegm]]" refers to short pithy sayings, see ''[[hadith]]''.)

==India==
[[File:AdenHenryYule.jpg|thumb|''The main pass, Aden'' by Yule, drawn in January 1844 during his return journey to India.]]
Yule arrived in [[Calcutta]] at the end of 1840. His first posting was in the [[Khasi Hills]], a remote area to the northeast of [[Bengal]] in the modern state of [[Meghalaya]]. His mission was to establish a practical method of transporting coal to the plains. In this he was unsuccessful but he became fascinated by the region and wrote an account of its people,{{sfn|Yule|1844}} including the first written description of their [[living root bridges]]. In 1842 he was transferred to a team of engineers led by Captain (later General) [[William Erskine Baker|William Baker]] charged with the construction of irrigation canals. Their headquarters were at [[Karnal]], {{convert|130|km|mi|abbr=on}} to the north of [[Delhi]].

He returned to England in 1843 and [[cousin marriage|married his cousin]] Anna Maria<ref>{{cite journal | year=1843 | title=The United Service Magazine | page=319 | volume=Part 3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wv4StFOzfYsC&pg=PA319 }}</ref> (died 1875), daughter of Major-General Martin White of the Bengal Infantry (died 1856).<ref>{{cite journal | year=1856 | title=The United Service Magazine | page=172 | volume=Part 3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U9sRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA172 | last1=Pollock | first1=Arthur William Alsager }}</ref> In November 1843 she accompanied him back to India but returned owing to ill health. He was appointed to a committee charged with investigating the relationship between irrigation by the proposed [[Ganges Canal]] and its impact on [[public health]] in the area.{{sfn|Baker|Dempster|Yule|1868}}{{sfn|Yule|1903|pp=[https://archive.org/stream/bookofsermarcopo001polo#page/n46/mode/1up xxxvii-xxxviii]}} He served in both the [[Sikh wars]] (1845–1846 and 1848–1849). In 1849 he took three years of extended leave and returned to live in Edinburgh with his wife. He lectured at the [[Scottish Naval and Military Academy]] and wrote a volume on fortifications (1851).{{sfn|Driver|2004}}

A daughter, Amy, was born in 1852 and shortly after her birth, Yule returned to Bengal. He worked in [[Rakhine State|Arakan]] and [[Burma]] and was put in charge of a new railway system. This was interrupted by a posting as a secretary to Colonel [[Arthur Phayre]]'s mission to [[Inwa|Ava]], Burma, in 1855. In 1858 he published his account of this journey, ''Narrative of the Mission to the Court of Ava'' with illustrations.{{sfn|Yule|1858}} The [[Indian Rebellion of 1857|1857 rebellion]] made his life difficult, and although Yule was close to the governor generals [[James Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie|Lord Dalhousie]] and [[Charles Canning, 1st Earl Canning|Lord Canning]], he lost interest in his work.{{sfn|Driver|2004}}

==Retirement in Europe==
Yule retired in 1862, and Canning's death in that year made it difficult for him to find any official appointment in London. In 1863 he was created a [[Companion of The Most Honourable Order of the Bath|Companion of the Order of the Bath]] through the influence of [[Roderick Murchison|Sir Roderick Murchison]]. He devoted his leisure to the [[medieval]] history and geography of [[Central Asia]]. His wife became unwell, and they crossed Europe to settle in [[Palermo|Palermo, Sicily]]. He made use of the richly stocked public libraries there during this period. He published ''Cathay and the Way Thither'' (1866), and the ''Book of [[Marco Polo]]'' (1871), for which he received the [[Founder's Medal]] of the [[Royal Geographical Society]] the following year.<ref>{{ cite web|title=Medals and Awards: Gold Medal recipients |publisher=Royal Geographical Society |url=http://www.rgs.org/NR/rdonlyres/C5962519-882A-4C67-803D-0037308C756D/0/GoldMedallists18322011.pdf |access-date=26 February 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927221002/http://www.rgs.org/NR/rdonlyres/C5962519-882A-4C67-803D-0037308C756D/0/GoldMedallists18322011.pdf |archive-date=27 September 2011 }}</ref> After his wife's death in 1875, Yule returned to England, where he was appointed to the [[Council of India]]. Yule remarried in 1877, his new wife Mary Wilhelmina (died 26 April 1881) the daughter of a Bengal civil servant, [[Skipwith baronets|Fulwar Skipwith]].{{sfn|Driver|2004}}

Yule was a member, and from 1877 to 1889 President, of the [[Hakluyt Society]]. He was also vice-president of the [[Royal Geographical Society]] (1887–9), and would have become a president but for a protest that he led along with [[Henry Hyndman]] against [[Henry Morton Stanley]]. The Society wanted to welcome Stanley but Yule stood against the violent methods used in Africa. One of his heroes, on the other hand, was [[Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Teltscher|first1=Kate|title=Introduction to new edition of Hobson-Jobson|date=2013|publisher=OUP|isbn=978-0191645846|page=xxvii}}</ref>

For the Hakluyt Society, Yule edited the ''Mirabilia Descripta'' (1863), a translation of the travels of the 14th century Friar [[Jordanus]],{{sfn|Yule|1863}} and ''The Diary of [[William Hedges (colonial administrator)|William Hedges]]'' (3 vols, 1887–89). The latter contains a biography of [[Thomas Pitt|Governor Pitt]], grandfather of [[William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham]]. He contributed introductions to [[Nikolay Przhevalsky]]'s ''Mongolia'' (1876) and [[William Gill (explorer)|Captain William Gill]]'s ''The River of Golden Sand'' (1880). He wrote biographical notes for the Royal Engineers' ''Journal'', and many geographical entries in the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''.

Yule's most popular work, compiled with [[Arthur C. Burnell]], was the ''[[Hobson-Jobson]]'' (1886), a historical dictionary of [[Anglo-Indian]] words and phrases which continues to provide an insight into the language used in [[British India]].

Yule died at his home at 3 Penywern Road, [[Earls Court]], London, on 30 December 1889 aged 69, and is buried at [[Tunbridge Wells]].{{sfn|Driver|2004}}

==Awards==
Yule was awarded an honorary doctorate ([[Legum Doctor|LL.D.]]) from [[Edinburgh University]] in 1884 and served as royal commissioner for the [[Colonial and Indian Exhibition]] of 1886. He was created [[Order of the Star of India|Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India]] in 1889.{{sfn|Yule|1903}} In 1889 he was made a Fellow of the [[Royal Scottish Geographical Society]] (FRSGS).<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://rsgs.org/inspiring-people/medals-awards/honorary-fellowship/ |title=Honorary Fellowship (FRSGS) | RSGS |access-date=15 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401105303/https://rsgs.org/inspiring-people/medals-awards/honorary-fellowship/ |archive-date=1 April 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Selected publications==
For a full list see Cordier & Yule (1903).{{sfn|Cordier|Yule|1903}}
*{{ cite journal | last=Yule | first=Henry | year=1842 | title=Notes on the iron of the Khasia Hills, for the Museum of Economic Geography | journal=Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal | volume=11 Part 2, Jul–Dec| issue=129 | pages=853–857 | url=https://archive.org/stream/journalofasiatic112asia#page/852/mode/2up }}
*{{ cite journal | last=Yule | first=Henry | year=1844 | title=Notes on the Khasia Hills, and people | journal=Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal | volume=14 Part 2, Jul–Dec| issue=152 | pages=612–631 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40125685 }}
*{{cite book | last=Yule | first=Henry | year=1851 | title=Fortification for officers of the army and students of military history | publisher=William Blackwood & Sons | place=Edinburgh | url=https://archive.org/stream/fortificationfo00yulegoog }}
*{{ cite book | last=Yule | first=Henry | year=1858 | title=A narrative of the mission sent by the governor-general of India to the court of Ava in 1855, with notices of the country, government, and people | publisher=Smith, Elder & Co. | place=London | url=https://archive.org/details/narrativeofmissi00yulerich }}
*{{cite book | last=Yule | first=Henry, ed. and trans. | year=1863 |title=Mirabilia descripta: the wonders of the East | publisher=Hakluyt Society | place=London | url=https://archive.org/stream/mirabiliadescrip00jord#page/n19/mode/2up }}
*{{cite book | editor-last=Yule | editor-first=Henry | year=1866 | title=Cathay and the way thither: being a collection of medieval notices of China (2 Volumes) | publisher=Hakluyt Society | place=London }} Scans from Google: [https://books.google.com/books?id=SgcVAAAAQAAJ Volume 1], [https://books.google.com/books?id=IF9KAAAAYAAJ Volume 2]. Scans from the Digital Silk Road Project: [http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/toyobunko/III-2-F-b-2/V-1/ Volume 1], [http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/toyobunko/III-2-F-b-2/V-2/ Volume 2]
*{{cite book | editor-last=Yule | editor-first=Henry | year=1871 | title=The Book of Ser Marco Polo | publisher=John Murray | place=London }} [https://archive.org/details/bookofsermarcopo01polo Volume 1], [https://archive.org/details/bookofsermarcopo02polo Volume 2].
* {{ cite book | editor-last=Yule | editor-first=Henry| year=1887–1889 | title=The diary of William Hedges, esq. (afterwards Sir William Hedges), during his agency in Bengal: as well as on his voyage out and return overland (1681–1697) | publisher=Hakluyt Society | place=London }} [https://archive.org/stream/diarywilliamhed02hedggoog#page/n10/mode/2up Volume 1]; [https://archive.org/stream/diarywilliamhed02barlgoog#page/n13/mode/2up Volume 2]; [https://archive.org/stream/diaryofwilliamhe783hedg#page/n7/mode/2up Volume 3] [[William Hedges (colonial administrator)|William Hedges]] was an administrator of the [[East India Company]]
*{{ cite book | last1=Yule | first1=Henry | last2=Burnell | first2=A.C. | author2-link=Arthur Coke Burnell |year= 1903 | orig-year=1886 | title=Hobson-Jobson: A glossary of colloquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases, and of kindred terms, etymological, historical, geographical and discursive | publisher=J. Murray | place=London | others=William Crooke ed. | url=https://archive.org/details/hobsonjobsonglos00yulerich }} ([https://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/hobsonjobson/ Searchable database])

Editions revised by [[Henri Cordier]]

*{{cite book | editor1-last=Yule | editor1-first=Henry | editor2-last=Cordier | editor2-first=Henri | year=1903 | title=The Book of Ser Marco Polo (2 Volumes) | edition=3rd | publisher=John Murray | place=London }} [https://archive.org/details/bookofsermarcopo001polo Volume 1]; [https://archive.org/details/bookofsermarcopo002polo Volume 2]. Scans from the Digital Silk Road Project: [http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/toyobunko/III-2-F-c-30/V-1/ Volume 1] [http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/toyobunko/III-2-F-c-30/V-2/ Volume 2].
*{{cite book | editor1-last=Yule | editor1-first=Henry | editor2-last=Cordier | editor2-first=Henri | year=1915 | title=Cathay and the way thither: being a collection of medieval notices of China (4 Volumes) | edition=2nd | publisher=Hakluyt Society | place=London }} [https://archive.org/details/cathaywaythither01yule Volume 1]; [https://archive.org/details/cathaywaythither02yule Volume 2]; [https://archive.org/details/cathaywaythither03yule Volume 3]; [https://archive.org/details/cathaywaythither04yule Volume 4].

Contributions

*{{ cite book | last=Yule | first=Henry | chapter=The geography and history of the upper waters of the Oxus | editor-last=Wood | editor-first=John | editor-link=John Wood (explorer) | year=1872 | title=A Journey to the Source of the River Oxus | edition=2nd | place=London | publisher=Murray | pages=xxi-xci | chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/ajourneytosourc00woodgoog#page/n22/mode/2up }}
*{{cite book | last=Przhevalskii | first=Nikolai Mikhailovich | year= 1876 | title=Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet, being a narrative of three years' travel in eastern high Asia (2 Volumes) | place=London | publisher=S. Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington | others= Morgan, E. Delmar (translator), Yule, Henry (Introduction and Notes ) }} [https://archive.org/details/mongoliatangutco01przh Volume 1], [https://archive.org/details/mongoliatangutco02przh Volume 2]. The travels of [[Nikolay Przhevalsky]].

== References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last1=Baker | first1=W.E. | author1-link=William Erskine Baker | last2=Dempster | first2=T.E. | last3=Yule | first3=H. | year=1868 | title=The prevalence of organic disease of the spleen as a test for detecting malarious localities in hot climates : being the report of a committee assembled by general orders Commander-in-Chief, dated the 16th September 1854 | place=Calcutta | publisher=Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing | url = https://archive.org/stream/b20389115#page/n3/mode/2up }}
* {{cite book |last1=Cordier | first1=H. | last2=Yule | first2=A. F. |chapter = A bibliography of Sir Henry Yule's writings | year=1903 | title=The book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian concerning the kingdoms and marvels of the East | publisher=John Murray |location = London | pages=lxxv-lxxxii | editor-last=Yule | editor-first=Henry | edition=3rd | chapter-url = https://archive.org/stream/bookofsermarcopo001polo#page/n84/mode/1up }}
* {{cite ODNB |last=Driver | first=Felix |chapter=Yule, Sir Henry (1820–1889) | title = Oxford Dictionary of National Biography| year=2004| doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/30291 }}
*{{cite book |first=H.M. |last=Vibart |title = Addiscombe: its heroes and men of note |place=London|publisher=Archibald Constable |year=1894 |pages=487–490 |ol=23336661M }}
* {{cite book |last=Yule | first=Amy Frances | chapter=Memoir of Sir Henry Yule | year=1903 | title=The book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian concerning the kingdoms and marvels of the East | publisher=John Murray | place=London | pages=xxvii-lxxi | editor1-last=Yule | editor1-first=Henry | editor2-last=Cordier | editor2-first=Henri | edition=3rd | chapter-url = https://archive.org/stream/bookofsermarcopo001polo#page/n36/mode/1up }}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
*{{ cite journal | last=Maclagan | first=Robert | year=1890 | title=Obituary: Colonel Sir Henry Yule, K.C.S.I., C.B., LL.D., R.E.| journal= Proceedings Royal Geographical Society | series=new ser. | volume=12 | issue=2 | pages=108–113 | jstor=1801184 }}
*{{cite journal | last=Morgan | first=E.D. | year=1890 | title=Colonel Sir Henry Yule, K.C.S.I., C.B., LL.D., R.E. | journal=Scottish Geographical Magazine | volume=6 | issue=2 | pages=93–98 | doi=10.1080/14702549008554694 }}
*{{cite journal | last=Trotter | first=Coutts | year=1891 | title=Obituary notices: Memoir of Colonel Sir Henry Yule R.E., C.B., K.C.S.I., LL.D | journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh | volume=17 | pages=xliii–lvi | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48613296 | doi=10.1017/s0370164600007197| doi-access=free }}
*{{cite DNB|wstitle=Yule, Henry | last=Trotter | first=Coutts | volume=63 | no-icon=1}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Wikisource author}}
* {{BHL author}}
* {{Librivox author|id=6852}}
* {{OL author}}
* {{Gutenberg author|id=Yule,+Henry,+Sir|name=Henry Yule}}
* {{Internet Archive author|sname=Sir Henry Yule}}
* {{Worldcat id|lccn-n50014621}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yule, Henry}}
[[Category:1820 births]]
[[Category:1889 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of Addiscombe Military Seminary]]
[[Category:Alumni of University College London]]
[[Category:Bengal Engineers officers]]
[[Category:British lexicographers]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the First Anglo-Sikh War]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Second Anglo-Sikh War]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society]]
[[Category:Indologists]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Star of India]]
[[Category:Members of the Council of India]]
[[Category:People from Musselburgh]]
[[Category:Scottish orientalists]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Royal Geographical Society Founder's Medal]]
[[Category:19th-century lexicographers]]

Henry Yule - Revision history

Bot at 12:33, 27 November 2022