Dictionary of Indian Biography/Blochmann, Henry Ferdinand
BLOCHMANN, HENRY FERDINAND (1838–1878)
Linguistic scholar: born at Dresden Jan. 8, 1838, the son of a printer: educated there, at Leipzig, and Paris: entered the English Army in 1858 to get out to India, left the Army, and joined the P. and O. Co.'s service as interpreter: in 1860 was made Assistant Professor of Urdu and Persian at the Calcutta Madrasa: graduated at the Calcutta University, 1861: after 3 years at the Doveton College, removed to the Madrasa, 1865, and became its President until his death: he was philological Secretary to the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and contributed many learned papers: translated Abul-Fazl's Ain-i-Akbari, the first volume, and wrote The Prosody of the Persians: he had a profound knowledge of Persian and Arabic: died July 13, 1878.