Baillie, John, of Leys, 1772-1833 (Member of Parliament, and East India Company Official)
Dates
- Existence: 1772 - 1833
Biography
Hailing from Inverness, John Baillie of Leys entered the Bengal army of the East India Company in 1790 C.E., reaching the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in 1814. His competence as a linguist led to his appointment as Professor of Arabic and Persian and of “Mohammedan Law” at Fort William College, Calcutta, from 1801-1807, during which time he published a Course of Lectures on Arabic Grammar (1801), and An Entire and Correct Edition of the Five Books upon Arabic Grammar (1802-1805). He also fought during the second Anglo-Maratha War 1803-1805, and held teh position of Political Officer at Bundelkhand 1804-1806. In 1807 he was appointed British Resident (Political Agent) at the court of the Sa‘adat ‘Alī Khān, Nawwāb of Awadh (reigned 1798 – 1814), at Lucknow. He held this position for eight years.
On his retirement and return to Britain in 1816 he became a Member of Parliament, first for Heddon in England 1820-1830, and then for Inverness, Scotland, 1830-1833. He was also a Director of the East India Company at various times between 1823 and 1833. When Baillie died in London in 1833 his substantial manuscript collecion was overlooked. It was rediscovered there six years later by Duncan Forbes, Professor of Oriental Languages at King's College London, and subsequently returned to Baillie’s family in Scotland.
His grandson John B. Baillie of Leys bequeathed his grandfather's collection of 166 mainly Arabic and Persian manuscripts to the University Library in 1876. They are also listed in M. Hukk’s A descriptive catalogue of the Arabic and Persian manuscripts in Edinburgh University Library (1925).
Found in 167 Collections and/or Records:
Or Ms 46: دیوان المتنبي Dīwān al-Mutanabbī, 1261 A.H., 1843 C.E.
A complete collection of the poems in alphabetical order of the celebrated Abū al-Ṭayyib Aḥmad b. Ḥusayn al-Mutanabbī (d. 354 A.H., 965 C.E.).
Or Ms 47: دیوان شهاب الدین الموسی Dīwān Shihāb al-Dīn al-Mūsá, 1139 A.H., 1726 C.E.
The collected poetry of Shihāb al-Dīn al-Mūsá (d.1087 A.H, 1676 C.E.), arranged by his son after his death.
Or Ms 384: التّخبیر في علوم التّفسیر al-Takhbīr fī 'ulūm al-tafsīr, undated copy (original text composed 15th cent. C.E.)
A fragment of Abū al-Faḍl Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭi al-Shāf'ī's (d. 911 A.H., 1505-06 C.E.) work on the sciences of Qur'ānic exegesis, composed 872 A.H. (1467-1468 C.E.) and afterwards included in his most famous work al-Itiqān fī 'ulūm al-Qur'ān. It is divided into eighty sections. The present copy (54 folios in total) breaks abruptly off already in the eighteenth.
Or Ms 386: فقه الامامیّة Fiqh al-Imāmiyyat, undated copy
A digest of Twelver Shi'ite Islamic Law by Sirāj al-Ḥaqq. There appear to be substantial lacunae in the present copy.
Or Ms 387: فقه الامامیّة (القسم الثانی) Fiqh al-Imāmiyyat (second part), undated
A digest of Twelver Shi'ite Islamic Law. This labelled as al-qism al-thānī (the second section) of the work, and is itself divided into ten kitābs (books).
Or Ms 391: مرآة الجنان و عبرة اليقظان في معرفة حوادث الزمان Mirʼāt al-janān wa-ʻibrat al-yaqẓān fī maʻrifat ḥawādith al-zamān, undated copy (original text composed 14th cent. C.E.)
Or Ms 392: تحریر اقلیدس Taḥrīr Uqlīdus, 902 A.H., 1496 C.E.
Or Ms 393: شرح الاشارات والتّنبیهات Sharḥ al-Ishārāt wa-al-tanbīhāt, undated copy (original text composed 13th cent. C.E.)
The second and third part of an Arabic commentary on al-Ishārāt wa-al-Tanbīhāt, a work on logic, physics, and metaphysics by Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna) d. 428 A.H. (1037 C.E.), by the famous philosopher and astronomer Khwājah Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī (d. 672 A.H., 1274 C.E.) completed 644 A.H. (1246-1247 C.E.).
Or Ms 394: احیاء علوم الدیّن Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn, 781 A.H., 1379 C.E.
Or Ms 395: کتاب مجمع الامثال Kitāb Majma' al-amthāl, undated copy (original text composed 12th cent. C.E.)
The large collection of more than 6,000 Arabic proverbs, arranged alphabetically, by Shaykh (Abū al-Faḍl) Aḥmad bin Muḥammad al-Maydānī al-Nīshāpūrī (died 518 A.H., 1124 C.E.), in two parts, the first beginning on fol.1a, the second beginning on fol.161b.
It bears seals with the date 1131 A.H. (1719 C.E.) on fols. 1a and 334a.