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 167 Collections and/or Records:
فقه السراجیه في المساقاة Fiqh al-Sirājiyyah fī al-Musāqāh, undated
The well-known treatise on the Islamic Inheritance law by Muhammad b. Muḥammad Sirāj al-Dīn al-Sajāwandī (about 600 A.H., 1203 C.E.), whose name, however, does not appear in the present copy. This is the second volume of this work. Or Ms 16 is the first.
فقه اللغات Fiqh al-lughāt, undated copy (original text composed 11th cent. C.E.)
This is an Arabic glossary arranged according to subjects, by Abū Mansūr 'Abd al-Malik b. Muḥammad b. Ismā'īl al-Tha'ālibī (d. 429 A.H., 1037 C.E.).
فقه في الحدود والقصاص والتعزیرات Fiqh fī al-ḥudūd wa al-qiṣāṣ wa al-ta'zīrāt, undated
فوائد صفویه Fawā'id-i Ṣafaviyyah, 1223 A.H., 1808 C.E.
قاموس المحیط Qāmūs al-muḥīṭ, 1030 A.H., 1620 C.E.
A very famous dictionary of the Arabic language, by Shaykh al-Islām Majd al-Dīn Abū Ṭahir Muḥammad b. Ya'qūb al-Fīrūzābādī (d. 817 A.H., 1414 C.E.), who extracted material for it chiefly from his earlier work entitled as al-'Ubāb w-al-Muḥkam, which was in 65 vols. The manuscript is in good preservation and complete.
قاموس المحیط Qāmūs al-muḥīṭ, undated copy (original text composed 15th cent. C.E.)
A very famous dictionary of the Arabic language, by Shaykh al-Islām Majd al-Dīn Abū Ṭahir Muḥammad b. Ya'qūb al-Fīrūzābādī (d. 817 A.H., 1414 C.E.), who extracted material for it chiefly from his earlier work entitled as al-'Ubāb w-al-Muḥkam, which was in 65 vols. This copy is missing a few pages at the end.
قصائد خاقانی Qaṣā'id-i Khāqānī, undated copy (original text composed 12th cent. C.E.)
A collection of eighty-eight qaṣīdahs by the celebrated Imām Afẓal al-Dīn Badil Ibrāhīm b. 'Alī Najjār "Khāqānī" of Shirvan, who originally wrote poetry under the name of Haqā'iqī d. 582 A.H.(1186 C.E.).
قصّهٔ چهار درویش Qiṣṣah-i chahār darvīsh, undated copy (original text composed 14th cent. C.E.)
قصیدة البردة مترجمة Qaṣīdat al-Burdah mutarjamah, 962 A.H., 1564 C.E,
This qaṣīdah, written in praise of the Prophet Muḥammad after the battle fought at Badr, consists of 176 couplets. The Persian translation under each line, inscribed in red ink, is also in verse and rhymes with the Arabic verse. The author of the Arabic original was Muḥammad b. Sa'īd al Būṣīrī (d. 694, 696, or 697 A.H., 1294, 1296, or 1297 C.E.).
قصیدة دعبل خزاعي Qaṣīdat Di'bil Khuzā'ī, undated copy (original text featured in a composition from the 10th cent. C.E.)
This qaṣīdah, which consists of 133 lines in praise of the descendants of the Prophet, was copied from the history of al-Ṭabarī. It is stated that Abū al-Salṭ al-Harawī was probably the author of the qaṣīdah, who had dictated it to al-Ṭabarī.