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Baillie, John, of Leys, 1772-1833 (Member of Parliament, and East India Company Official)

 Person

Staff Only

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 9 Collections and/or Records:

تأریخ الامم والملوک Tā'rīkh al-umam wa-al-mulūk, 876 A.H., 1471 C.E.

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 19
Scope and Contents

An abridgement of a work of world history (from the earliest times) by Abū Ja' far Muḥammad b. Jarīr b. Yazīd al-Ṭabarī (839 -923 C.E), a famous imam of Baghdad, great author, and one of the most eminent Iranian scholars of the early Abbasid era.

Dates: 876 A.H.; 1471 C.E.
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia

تیمورنامه Tīmūr-nāmah, 1191 A.H., 1776 C.E.

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 75
Scope and Contents

A Persian version of the autobiographical institutes, political and military, of Tīmūr. It is to be noted that these memoirs are usually named Malfūẓāt-i Tīmūrī and were first translated and presented to the Mughal Emperor Shāh-Jahān about 1047 A.H. (1637 C.E.) by Abū Ṭalib al-Ḥusaynī Khurāsānī, from a copy in Turkī in the library of the Pasha, of Yemen.

Dates: 1191 A.H.; 1776 C.E.
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia
Detail of page from the Compendium of Chronicles by Rashid al-Din. Shows text with central miniature depicting the Sultan Luhrasp seated on a throne, surrounded by attendants. [Please click twice to see the full manuscript]
Detail of page from the Compendium of Chro...

جامع التواریخ Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh (Compendium of Chronicles), 714 A.H. (1314 C.E.)

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 20
Scope and Contents This manuscript, among the most iconic items held by Edinburgh University Library, is one of the supreme masterpieces of Persian book painting and one of the most important medieval manuscripts from either West or East. Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh was written by the historian and vizier to the Ilkhanid court, Rashīd al-Dīn Faḍl-allāh Ṭabīb Hamadānī (ca. 1247-1318 C.E.), and copied in Tabriz by the author's own scribes and illustrators. This fragment of the manuscript...
Dates: 714 A.H. (1314 C.E.)
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia

حبیب السیر في اخبار افراد البشر Ḥabīb al-siyar fī akhbār afrād al-bashar, undated copy (original text composed 16th cent. C.E.)

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 72
Scope and Contents

This MS comprises the first two juz', or parts, of the third volume of the well-known general history, which was originally written in 927-930 A.H. (1521-1524 C.E.), by the grandson of Mīrkhānd who had completed Rawz̤at al-ṣafāʼ (see Or Ms 71), Ghiyās al-Dīn, known as Khānd-Amīr.

Dates: undated copy (original text composed 16th cent. C.E.)
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia

روضة الصفاء Rawz̤at al-ṣafāʼ, 1057 A.H., 1647 C.E.

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 71
Scope and Contents

An excellent copy (seven volumes bound in one) in good preservation of the famous work on general history, composed around the turn of the 16th century C.E., by Muḥammad b. Khāvandshāh b. Maḥmūd, “Mīrkhānd”.

Dates: 1057 A.H.; 1647 C.E.
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia

طبقات اکبرشاهی Ṭabaqāt-i Akbar-Shāhī, undated copy (original text composed 16th cent. C.E.)

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 77
Scope and Contents A most celebrated general history of India from the time of the Muslim conquest (367 A.H., 977 C.E.) to the 38th year of Mughal Emperor Akbar's reign (1002 A.H., 1593 A.D.). The work, which is the earliest pertaining exclusively to India, is also known under the titles of Ṭabaqāt-i Akbarī, Ta'rīkh-i Niẓamī, and Ta' rīkh-i Sulṭān-i Niẓamī. It was compiled by Niẓam al-Dīn Aḥmad b. Muḥammad Muqīm...
Dates: undated copy (original text composed 16th cent. C.E.)
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia

ظفرنامه Ẓafar-nāmah, undated copy (original text composed 15th cent. C.E.)

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 73
Scope and Contents An authentic history of the great conqueror Tīmūr (Tamerlane) from his birth, 736 A.H. (1336 C.E.), to his death, 807 A.H. (1405 C.E.), collected from official records, by Mawlānā Sharaf al-Dīn 'Alī Yazdī (d. 858 A.H., 1454 C.E.), who was attached to the court of Sulṭān Shāhrukh Mīrzā, and subsequently of his son, Sulṭān Ibrāhīm Mīrzā, at whose desire the present work was compiled at Shiraz in four years and dedicated to Shāhrukh in 828 A.H. (1425 C.E.). The ...
Dates: undated copy (original text composed 15th cent. C.E.)
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia

ظفرنامه Ẓafar-nāmah, 1090 A.H., 1679 C.E.

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 74
Scope and Contents An authentic history of the great conqueror Tīmūr (Tamerlane) from his birth, 736 A.H. (1336 C.E.), to his death, 807 A.H. (1405 C.E.), collected from official records, by Mawlānā Sharaf al-Dīn 'Alī Yazdī (d. 858 A.H., 1454 C.E.), who was attached to the court of Sulṭān Shāhrukh Mīrzā, and subsequently of his son, Sulṭān Ibrahim Mīrzā, at whose desire the present work was compiled at Shiraz in four years and dedicated to Shāhrukh in 828 A.H. (1425 C.E.). The ...
Dates: 1090 A.H.; 1679 C.E.
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia

واقعات بابری Vāqiʻāt-i Bāburī, 1215 A.H., 1798 C.E.

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 76
Scope and Contents

A complete copy of the Persian version of the memoirs of the Mughal Emperor Bābur (1483-1530 C.E.).

Dates: 1215 A.H.; 1798 C.E.
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia