List of Inscriptions from Northern India

"List of Inscriptions from Northern India sent to Dr. Jas. Burgess, C.I.G., Edinburgh Scotland". An alphabetical list of inscriptions dated to November 1886. A different hand notes that these were sent through "Messrs. Grindlay [Gr ] & Co" and shipped aboard the SS Thames on 13th Feb 1892. Several of the pages bear the stamp of James Burgess. L.L.D., Archaeological Survey.

James Burgess was an architectural historian. He was born on 14 August 1832 in Kirkmahoe, Dumfriesshire and subsequently educated at Dumfries, the University of Glasgow and the University of Edinburgh. He undertook educational work in Calcutta, 1856, and Bombay, 1861, and was Secretary of the Bombay Geographical Society 1868-73. He was Head of the Archaeological Survey, Western India, 1873, and of South India, 1881. From 1886-89 he was Director General, Archaeological Survey of India. In 1881 the University of Edinburgh awarded him an honorary Doctor of Letters (LLD). He died on 3 October 1916, in Edinburgh.

It is unknown who compiled the list.

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It is unknown how the list came to be part of the Society's collections. It is possible that it came with the Papers of Arthur Anderson, Clement, Edward William, Henry, and Walter West which were given to the Society by Burgess' widow in 1917.

The material was catalogued by Nancy Charley, RAS Archivist, in 2022.

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The originator of the list is unknown. Presumably it was sent to James Burgess with the copies of the inscriptions.

The Society's collections hold many books authored by James Burgess. Details can be found here.