>Tom.Reding at 13:41, 17 February 2021

2021-02-17T13:41:39Z

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[[File:Colonel_Gentil.jpg|thumb]]
'''Jean Baptiste Joseph Gentil''' (1726-1799) was a French army colonel, Knight of the Royal and Military Order of Saint-Louis, who worked in India. He is known for the collections he made of historic manuscripts and artifacts from India and for his cartography and documentation of [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] history.<ref name=bio>{{cite book| author=Michaud |chapter= Preface |editor= Gentil, J. |year=1822|title= Memoires sur L'Indoustan, ou Empire Mogol |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/mmoiressurlindo00gentgoog#page/n13/mode/2up|pages=1–12| place=Paris| language=French}}</ref>

Gentil was born in Bagnols in a noble family on 25 June 1726. He joined the army in 1752 in India and served under [[Joseph François Dupleix|Dupleix]], [[Marquis de Bussy-Castelnau|Bussy]], [[Jean Law de Lauriston|Law de Lauriston]], Comte de Conflans and [[Thomas Arthur, comte de Lally|Lally]]. After the English took over [[Siege of Pondicherry (1760)|Pondicherry in 1761]], he served with General Lauriston to block the English advance in [[Chandannagar|Chandernagore]] in Bengal. The French joined hands with Nawab [[Mir Qasim]] and declared war on the English East India Company forces. He became a friend of [[Khwaja Gregory]] (Gorgin Khan, Armenian minister and commander-in-chief of the Nawab of Bengal from 1760-1763) and was a witness to his assassination following internal conspiracies.<ref>{{cite book| chapter-url= https://archive.org/stream/ArmeniansInIndia_201402/Armenians_in_India#page/n425/mode/2up | chapter=Khojah Gregory, alias Gorgin Khan| pages=383–418| title= Armenians in India| publisher=Self published| place=Calcutta| year=1937| author=Seth, Mesrovb Jacob|authorlink=Mesrovb Jacob Seth}}</ref> Gentil later joined the court of [[Shuja-ud-Daula|Shuja-ud-Doulah]] at [[Oudh State|Oudh]], becoming the French Resident there.<ref name=bio /> He also helped set up a battalion of French mercenaries who served Shuja-ud-Doulah. The battalion was disbanded after his death.<ref name=juliana>{{cite journal| title =Visions of Juliana: A Portuguese Woman at the Courts of the Mughals| author=Zaman, Taymiya R.| journal=Journal of World History | volume=23| issue=4| year=2013| pages=761–791| doi=10.1353/jwh.2012.0136| s2cid=145722574| url=https://repository.usfca.edu/hist/7}}</ref>

While serving at Oudh, he purchased a large collection of objects of natural history, weapons, medals and manuscripts in many languages. When he returned to France he donated these collections to the royal library and museum. He also produced maps of the region and wrote on the history of the Moghul Empire. He was present at the [[battle of Buxar]].<ref name=bio />

Gentil married Theresa Velho at Faizabad in 1772. Theresa was a grand-niece of [[Juliana Dias da Costa]].<ref name=juliana /> He retired to France in 1778 and died in Bagnols in 1799.<ref name=bio />

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links ==
* [https://collections.vam.ac.uk/search/?listing_type=&offset=0&limit=15&narrow=&extrasearch=&q=Gentil+Album&commit=Search&quality=0&objectnamesearch=&placesearch=&after=&after-adbc=AD&before=&before-adbc=AD&namesearch=&materialsearch=&mnsearch=&locationsearch= Gentil Album at the Victoria and Albert Museum]
* [http://data.bnf.fr/12461300/jean-baptiste-joseph_gentil/ Documents and pictures in the French digital library]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gentil, Jean Baptiste Joseph}}
[[Category:French India]]
[[Category:Order of Saint Louis recipients]]
[[Category:1726 births]]
[[Category:1799 deaths]]

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Jean Baptiste Joseph Gentil - Revision history

>Tom.Reding at 13:41, 17 February 2021