Dr Roger B Parsons worked at the British Library and as Librarian at the Buddhist Society. Upon retirement in 2005, he started volunteering at the Royal Asiatic Society, undertaking cataloguing of the Society's collections, most notably the Rawlinson papers. He volunteered with the Society until mid-2024. In 2023, Roger received Life Membership of the Society in recognition of his work with the collections.
Edward Rehatsek was born in 1819 in Ilok (then in Hungary, now in Croatia). He graduated from the university in Budapest with a masters degree in civil engineering. He left Hungary in 1842, visiting Paris before spending four years in the United States of America. In 1847 he sailed to India, where he remained for the rest of his life. He studied Asian languages and literature and accompanied Dr Bhau Daji on his research travels. As a competent mathematician and good Latin scholar, he became employed as Professor of Mathematics and of Latin at Wilson College, Bombay, remaining in post until 1871, besides giving private lessons in Latin, Persian, Arabic and French.
Rehatsek became an Examiner at Bombay University from 1869-1881, being made a Felwow in 1873 and twice being the Wilson Philological Lecturer in Hebrew and Semitic languages. In 1874 he was elected an honorary member of the Bombay Asiatic Society in recognition of his oriental learning. Rehatsek translated a number of Persian and Arabic works including "Biography of Our Lord Muhammad, the Apostle of Allah" according to Ibn Hisham, the first two parts of "Mirkhond's General History" and the first part of "The Rauzat-us-safa" for the Oriental Translation Fund.
Rehatsek remained unmarried and lived something of the life of a recluse. he had no servants and cooked his food using a spirit lamp. He owned a small house with little furniture but many books on which he worked continuously. He died on 11 December 1891 and was given a Hindu cremation at his request. His savings were left for the education of poor boys in Bombay.
Paulus Edward Pieris Deraniyagala was a Sri Lankan paleontologist, zoologist, and artist. He specialised in fauna and human fossils of the Indian subcontinent. From 1939 to 1963, he was the director of the National Museum of Ceylon, and from 1961 to 1964, he was also the dean of the Faculty of Arts at the Vidyodaya University.
Henry Faulds was a Scottish doctor, missionary and scientist who is noted for the development of fingerprinting. He was a missionary in Japan developing a hospital and a teaching facility for Japanese medical students.