The Friends of the Palestine Museums (also called the Palestine Arts-Collection Society) was established to further the understanding of art and antiquities in Palestine. It intended to find exhibition space within Palestine as well as make use of space made available at the Wellcome research institution.
Alexander Gerard was born in Aberdeen in 1792, son of Gilbert Gerard and grandson of Alexander Gerard, the Scottish minister and philosopher. He and his two brothers all served in India. Gerard graduated from Kings College, Aberdeen, in 1808 when he was appointed to a cadetship in the 13th Bengal Infantry. He was employed in the survey of the route from Dehli to Lahore in 1812. In 1814 he was promoted to lieutenant, and appointed to survey the Saharanpur district, which he completed in 1819. He was surveyor of the Narmada valley in 1825, and surveyor in Malwa and Rajputana in 1826 and 1827. During the surveys in the Himalayas he ascended heights previously believed to be inaccessible, and penetrated into Tibet as far as the frontier pickets of Chinese would allow. Some of the earliest discoveries of the geological structure and remains of the Himalayan ranges come from his work. Gerard was a Persian scholar and versed in other oriental languages. He was also an accurate topographer and observant traveller. Bad health, the result of hardships endured in the course of his survey duties and travels, led to his retirement from the service on 22 February 1836. He died in Aberdeen on 15 December 1839, aged 48.
Michael Cavanagh Gillett was born on 12 July 1907. He joined the Consular Service serving in China from 1929-1953 being stationed at Peking, Canton, Hankow, Nanking, Kashgar, Tengyueh, Chungking and Shanghai. He also served in Los Angeles 1954-1957, and Afghanistan 1957-1963. He was awarded a CMG in 1951 and KBE in 1962. He contributed articles to the Journal of Royal Asiatic Society (North China Branch). He retired in 1963 and died on 20 January 1971.
Frederic John Goldsmid was born in Milan on the 19th May 1818; during his early years living in France he was already considered a good linguist as he was proficient in Italian, French and English. He received his education from King's College School, Paris and partly at King's College School, London. In 1839 he entered the Madras Army, joining his regiment, the 37th Madras N.I. Preceding the treaty of Nankin, China, Goldsmid's regiment was ordered to proceed to China and take part in the actions at Canton after which Goldsmid was awarded the Chinese war medal. During his time in Canton, Goldsmid was also appointed as the Adjutant of his regiment which lead him to turn his attention to the study of Eastern languages, such as Persian, Arabic and Turkish in addition to Urdu, Sindhi and other Indian vernaculars. In 1845 he qualified as an interpreter in Hindustani.
Due to ill health Goldsmid returned to England. However in 1848 he travelled back to India and continued his studies in languages, passing the qualifying exams in 1849. He was appointed Interpreter for Persian and in 1851 for Arabic. It was during this year he took on the role of Assistant-Adjutant-General of the Nagpur Subsidiary. Through the influence of General John Jacob, Goldsmid entered civil employment and later went on to work as the Assistant Commissioner for Special Enquiry into 'the Settlement of Alienated Lands' in Sindh, India.
In 1855, after taking ill again, Goldsmid volunteered for active service in Crimea becoming the Assistant-Adjutant-General for the Turkish Contingent under General Vivian. During this time Goldsmid learnt Turkish, after which he was elected as the President for the Local Examining Committee at Kerch, Crimea. For his war efforts in Crimea he was honoured with the Turkish war medal, the order of the fourth class Medjidieh and the brevet rank of the Major in the Army.
In 1862 returning to India as Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel. Golsmid accompanied Colonel Patrick Stewart, as they were commissioned to establish overland telegraphic communication from Europe through Persia and Baluchistan to India. Following the death of Colonel Stewart, Goldsmid was appointed as the Director-General of the Indo-European Telegraph. After this post, Goldsmid was commissioned with the most difficult task of his career, in 1871, defining the boundary between Persia and Afghanistan for which he was honoured by Her Majesty's Government for his 'tact and good judgment under circumstances of no ordinary difficulty'.
After 35 years in service, Goldsmid retired from Government service but he was still considered indispensable and in 1880 he accepted the office of British Controller of the 'Daira Sanieh' (Crown lands) in Egypt. During his time in Egypt he was dispatched by Lord Granville on a mission to Constantinople. On his return to Alexandria, Goldsmid organised an Intelligence Department which resulted in the victory of Tel-el-Kebir. Leaving Egypt and travelling through the Congo, Goldsmid became severely ill and returned to London on the 31st December 1883.
However during the remaining years of his life he devoted his attention partly to literary work, newspapers reviews and works of reference like the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica'. His other literary achievements includes works such as, 'Telegraph and Travel' , 'Eastern Persia' , a paper on 'Preservation of National literature in the East' and the biography, 'Life of Outram' . He was an active member of the Royal Asiatic Society, serving on its Council, including acting as Vice-President from 1890-1905. On 12th January 1908, Goldsmid died and was buried at Hollingburne, Kent, where he once lived for many years.
Dora Gordine was born in Latvia, which at that time was a province within the Russian Empire, of Jewish parents. Her exact date of birth she took care to keep secret and cultivated a mystique about her past. She grew up in Estonia where she trained as a sculptor, and lived both in Paris (1924-1929) and the Far East (1930-1935) before settling in London in the 1930s. In November 1936 she married the Hon. Richard Gilbert Hare (5 September 1907 – 1966), son of Richard Granville Hare, 4th Earl of Listowel and Freda Vanden-Bempde-Johnstone. They created and lived at Dorich House, London. She also created studio houses in Paris, Singapore, and Highgate, London.
Her career as a sculptor was somewhat diminished by the outbreak of the Second World War. Richard Winstedt, then Director of the Royal Asiatic Society asked her to give a series of lectures at the Society between 1940 and 1944 on Asian Sculptures. She also contributed a series of Articles to the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society between 1943 and 1947. This patronage also opened up other lecturing opportunities.
During the 1940s/50s Gordine's work was exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy, the Society of Portrait Sculptors and elsewhere. Bronzes from this time have ironic or humorous titles, relating to the pose, such as 'Great Expectations' or 'Mischief' and, of an RAF Officer, 'Above Cloud'. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal British Society of Sculptors in 1949. In 1948 she was commissioned to produce a sculpture to stand in the new mother and baby unit at Holloway Prison in north London.
Her husband, Richard Hare died suddenly of a heart attack in 1966. Gordine continued to live and work at Dorich House until her death in December 1991.