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 the 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 12 Collections and/or Records:
احوال اولادو جائداد سید احمد ساندوی Aḥwāl-i Aulād-u Ja'idād-i Sayyid Aḥmad Sāndwī, 1230 A.H., 1814 C.E.
This work was compiled by 'Alī Naqī Khān, under instructions from the Governor-General of India, to clear up certain complications which had arisen in regard to the disposal of the estate in Oudh in the possession of the descendants of Sayyid Aḥmad Sāndwī.
اقبال نامهٔ جهانگیری Iqbāl-nāmah-i Jahāngīrī, 1189 A.H., 1775 C.E.
A history of the life and reign of Mughal Emperor Jahāngīr (1569-1627).
اکبرنامه Akbar-nāmah, undated copy (original text composed 16th cent. C.E.)
The well-known history of the Emperor Akbar the Great, by his favourite Prime Minister and Secretary, Shaykh Abū al-Faz̤l " 'Allāmī " b. Shaykh Mubārak Nāgūrī. The author was in his time the most learned and elegant writer in the East.
المنهل الصافي والمستوفي بعد الوافي al-Manhal al-ṣāfī-wa al-mustawfī ba'd al-wāfī, undated copy (original text composed 15th cent. C.E.)
This is vol. i of the biographical dictionary of famous persons by Yusuf b. Taghrībirdī al-Mālikī al-Naṣīrī (d. 874 A.H., 1469 C.E.). In all other descriptions he is called al-Ẓahīrī. It begins with an account of the life and reign of al-Malik Mu'izz al-Dīn Aibak al-Turkmānī (fol. 2). The volume ends with the notes on Ṭalhah al-Maghribī. This work is a continuation of the al-Wāfī of al-Ṣafadī up to the time of the author.
تذکرهٔ طاهر نصیر آبادی Taẕkirah-i Ṭāhir-i Naṣīrābādī, 1118 A.H., 1706 C.E.
Notices on the Persian poets, who flourished in the eleventh century A.H.. It was compiled in 1083 A.H. (1672 C.E.), and enlarged six years to nine years later by Muḥammad Ṭāhir Naṣīrābādī, who dedicated it to Shāh Sulaymān Ṣafavī of Persia.
حالات آصف خانان Ḥālāt-i Āṣaf-Khānān, undated
عالم آرای عبّاسی 'Alam-ārā-yi 'Abbāsī, undated
A complete copy of the history of the life and reign of the Safavid Shāh 'Abbās I, "'Abbās the Great" (1571-1629 C.E.).
عمل صالح ʻAmal-i Ṣāliḥ, 1224 A.H., 1809 C.E.
A history of the Mughal Emperor Shāhjahān's life and reign, and containing a short history of his predecessors, beginning with Tīmūr. On the flyleaf the work is entitled "lkhtiṣar-i Shāh Jahān-nāmah."
کشف الظنون عن أسامي الکتب والفنون Kashf al-ẓunūn 'an 'asāmī al-kutub wa-al-funūn, undated copy (original text composed 17th cent. C.E.)
An excellent MS. of an abridgement of the encyclopaedic and biographical dictionary of the famous Muṣṭafá b. 'Abd-allāh Kātib Chalabī, known as Ḥājjī Khalfah, who died (circ.) 1067 A.H. (1657 C.E.).