James George Roche Forlong Fund

James Forlong bequeathed money to the Royal Asiatic Society to come to the Society upon the death of his wife. The money was to be used towards the establishment of an 'Imperial Oriental College or School' and in particular for the promotion of lectures. This fund was to be administered by the Royal Asiatic Society. With the opening of the School of Oriental Studies, London, it was necessary to negotiate with the School about the use of the Fund. These papers consist of administrative documents and correspondence concerned with both the inauguration of the Forlong Fund and its continuing application for lectures and scholarships. The administrative documents and correspondence concerning the publications undertaken can be found in the Society's publication records.

James George Roche Forlong was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland. He joined the Indian Army in 1843, being appointed to the Engineering Staff, Madras Presidency, in 1847. In 1852 he was appointed as an Engineer in the army based in Myanmar (Burma) and was responsible for creating a road across the mountains from Rahkine State (Arakan) to the Irrawaddy. Through 1858-9 he travelled extensively in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Turkey, Greece, Italy and Spain. In late 1859 he was appointed a Special Commissioner and Inspector-General of Prisons for the Andaman Islands and Myanmar. His engineering skills took him to Kolkata (1861-20), Darjeeling (1863), the North West Provinces (1864-7), Rajput (1868-71), and Oudh (1872-6). He retired in 1877 and then concentrated on writing on comparative religions. His major works were "Rivers of Life" (1883) and "Faiths of Man: A Cyclopaedia of Religions" which was published posthumously in 1906. He died at home in 1904.

The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland was founded by the eminent Sanskrit scholar Sir Henry Thomas Colebrooke on the 15th March 1823. It received its Royal Charter from King George IV on the 11th August 1824 'for the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encouragement of science, literature and the arts in relation to Asia'. It continues as a forum for those who are interested in the languages, cultures and history of Asia to meet and exchange ideas.

The papers were arranged as follows:
* RAS JGF/1 - Inauguration of the Forlong Fund
* RAS JGF/2 - 1930-1940
* RAS JGF/3 - 1941-1950
* RAS JGF/4 - 1951-1960
* RAS JGF/5 - 1961-1970
* RAS JGF/6 - 1971-1980
* RAS JGF/7 - 1981-1990
* RAS JGF/8 - 1991-2000
* RAS JGF/9 - 2001- present

Mostly open. Recent material may be closed for confidentiality reasons. Please contact the archivist for further information Details can be found here : https://royalasiaticarchives.org/index.php/. The archive is open on Tuesdays and Fridays 10-5, and Thursdays 2-5. Access is to any researcher without appointment but it will help if an appointment is made via phone or email. Please bring photo ID.

These records are part of the Royal Asiatic Society's Institutional Records and therefore part of the historical records of the Society.

James George Roche Forlong was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland. He joined the Indian Army in 1843, being appointed to the Engineering Staff, Madras Presidency, in 1847. In 1852 he was appointed as an Engineer in the army based in Myanmar (Burma) and was responsible for creating a road across the mountains from Rahkine State (Arakan) to the Irrawaddy. Through 1858-9 he travelled extensively in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Turkey, Greece, Italy and Spain. In late 1859 he was appointed a Special Commissioner and Inspector-General of Prisons for the Andaman Islands and Myanmar. His engineering skills took him to Kolkata (1861-20), Darjeeling (1863), the North West Provinces (1864-7), Rajput (1868-71), and Oudh (1872-6). He retired in 1877 and then concentrated on writing on comparative religions. His major works were "Rivers of Life" (1883) and "Faiths of Man: A Cyclopaedia of Religions" which was published posthumously in 1906. He died at home in 1904.

The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland was founded by the eminent Sanskrit scholar Sir Henry Thomas Colebrooke on the 15th March 1823. It received its Royal Charter from King George IV on the 11th August 1824 'for the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encouragement of science, literature and the arts in relation to Asia'. It continues as a forum for those who are interested in the languages, cultures and history of Asia to meet and exchange ideas.

This material was catalogued by Nancy Charley, RAS Archivist, in 2024.

Digital photography (without flash) for research purposes may be permitted upon completion of a copyright declaration form, and with respect to current UK copyright law.

These are part of the institutional records of the Royal Asiatic Society which have been accumulated throughout its history.

The Minute Books of the Council Meetings (RAS GOV1) provide further information about Forlong Fund Committee Meetings and discussions about the fund within the Council Meetings. There may also be some allied material within the institutional records concerning the Society's publications.
Several publications were undertaken using monies from the Forlong Bequest. These are:
* HODSON, T.C., The primitive culture of India, 1922.
* GIBB, Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen, The Arab conquests in Central Asia,1923.
* RICHMOND, Ernest Tatham, Moslem architecture 623 to 1516; some causes and consequences, 1926.
* KHRU'D-DIN MUBARAKSHAH MARVAR-RUDI, Tarikh-i Fakhru'd-Din Mubarakshsh, .Ed. by E. Dennison Ross, 1927.
* THE MILINDAPANHO, Being dialogues between King Milinda and the Buddhist sage Nagasena. Pali text [Roman script] ed. by V. Trenckner with a General Index by C.J. Rylands and an Index of Gathas by Mrs C. Rhys Davids, 1928.
* HASAN HADI, Falaki-i-Shirwani; his times, life and works, 1929.
* VARMA, Siddheshwar, Critical studies in the phonetic observations of Indian grammarians, 1929.
* ISEMONGER, N.E., The elements of Japanese writing, 1929.
* HADI HASAN ed., Falaki-i-Shirwani Diwan, 1929.
* ALA UD-DIN ATA MALIK JUWAYNI, Ta'rikh-i-Jahan-Gushay, Vol.III., 1931.
* ROSS, Sir E. Denison and WINGATE, Rachel O. eds., Dialogues in the Eastern Turki dialect on subjects of interest to travellers, 1934.
* YOSHITAKE, S. The phonetic system of ancient Japanese, , 1934.
* PAGE, W. Sutton, An introduction to colloquial Bengali, 1934.
* DAVE, Trimbaklal N., A study of the Gujarati language in the 16th century VS, 1935.
* READ, A.F.C., Balti grammar: 1934.
* BAILEY, T. Grahame, The pronunciation of Kashmiri. Kashmiri sounds, how to make them, how to transcribe them, 1937.
* LAMBTON, Ann K.S., Three Persian dialects, 1938.
* STERN, Gertrude H., Marriage in early Islam 1939.
* IVENS, Walter G., A dictionary of the language of Bugotu, Santa Isabel Island, Solomon Islands, 1940.
* BURROW, T., A translation of the Kharosthi documents from Chinese Turkestan, 1940.
* HENNING, Walter B., Sogdica, 1940.
* SHARAF AL-ZAMAN TAHIR MARVAZI, China, the Turks and India. Arabic text with an English tr. by V. Minorsky, 1942.
* TRITTON, Arthur Stanley, Muslim theology, 1947.
* MATTHEWS, Gordon tr., Siva-Nana-Bodham. A manual of Saiva religious doctrine. Tr. from the Tamil with synopsis, exposition etc., 1948.
* CRESWELL, Sir Keppel Archibald Cameron, A bibliography of arms and armour in Islam, 1956.
* WILLIAMS, R. ed., Two Prakrit versions of the Manipati-carita, 1959.
* OKELL, John, A guide to the Romanization of Burmese, 1971.
* FARIDA ABU-HAIDAR, A study of the spoken Arabic of Baskinta, 1979.
* RICHARDSON, Hugh Edward, A corpus of Early Tibetan inscriptions,1985.
The archives concerning these publications can be found in the Society's publications records.

Published

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