Emil Forchhammer was a German-born Swiss Professor of Pali at Rangoon College, Myanmar. He collected and copied Pali and Talaing manuscripts which he deposited in the Bernard Free Library in Rangoon (now the National Library of Myanmar). He also worked as an archaeologist for the Survey of Burma, including being its first Director. In 1883 and 1884 he visited the Amherst, Prome and Thayetmyo districts collecting manuscripts and copying inscriptions. In 1885 he made an extensive tour of Arakan. He created a publication about Arakan which went to the Press in 1886 but was not actually published until 1891, a year after his death. From 1886 to 1888 he catalogued the library of the late Nyaungyan Prince and other Pali manuscripts. He suffered from ill health, but wished to survey Pagan, which he undertook in 1888-9. It was requested that he be allowed to return to Europe to complete his work on Pagan. Unfortunately, Forchhammer died in 1890 before his work could be completed.
The history of the Fondazione Roma originates in 1539 from the birth of the Monte di Pietà of Rome. In 1836, on the initiative of deserving citizens, saw the rise of the Cassa di Risparmio. In 2007 the Cassa di Risparmio di Roma Foundation changed its name to Fondazione Roma, with the aim of highlighting its philanthropic aims. The Art Collection of the Rome Foundation is made up of a large and original corpus of works ranging from the fifteenth century to the present day. Based on a modest original nucleus coming from the collections of the Monte di Pietà and the Cassa di Risparmio di Roma, it has been significantly increased over the years with a purchasing campaign aimed at collecting and making the works accessible in a permanent exhibition space, specifically created at Palazzo Sciarra.
The Folio Society is an employee-owned, with a tradition for crafting exquisite, illustrated editions for book lovers of all ages.
Lt. Colonel Fleming Mackenzie was born in Tapah, Malay Straits' Settlements (Malaysia) in 1897. His father was the Chief Surveyor for the opening up of the area. He returned to England with his mother, attending first St Paul's and later Bedford schools.
At the outbreak of WWI, Mackenzie became a tank commander and was present throughout the Battle of Cambrai. Joining the Indian Army (1st Battalion, XV Punjab Regiment) after the War, he served in Calcutta, recruiting in Palampur, and moved with his battalion up to the North West Frontier (bordering Waziristan and Afghanistan) in 1936. He was part of the Escort to the Trade Agent to Tibet in 1938-39.
During the 1939-45 War, Mackenzie raised a battalion of the XV Punjab Regiment and later commanded a battalion of the Mahratta Light Infantry fighting in the Greek Islands. He retired from the Indian Army after Partition in August 1947.
Returning to the UK, Mackenzie later qualified as a Guide Lecturer and escorted many foreign visitors, including some who came for the Queen's Coronation in 1953. He died in 1980.
John Faithfull Fleet was born in London in 1847. He joined the Indian civil service in 1865 and studied Sanskrit at University College, London, before joining the Bombay Presidency in 1867. He held many roles including Assistant Collector and then Magistrate, Educational Inspector, in the Southern Division (1872), Assistant Political Agent in Kolhapur and the Southern Maratha Country (1875), and Collector and Magistrate (1882). He began publishing articles about inscriptions in the mid-1860s. whilst continuing to study Sanskrit and Kannada. Fleet became the first epigraphist of the Government of India in 1883, and was subsequently appointed as the Collector and Magistrate of Sholapur in 1886.
Fleet retired from India in 1897 and settled in Ealing where he continued his epigraphical studies. He was awarded the Gold Medal in 1912.