Showing 6356 results

Soob Row was born in Ongole in 1784, of a Maratha Brahman Desatha family. After his father's death, he moved, age 10, to Masulipatam where a cousin who worked as an Accountant in the Secretariat of the district's Head Office taught him to copy out Arabic accounts and Roman letters in copperplate hand. An uncle in Vinukonda, Manager of the Postmaster's Office, then tutored Soob Row. He next worked again in the Musulipatam Collectorate Office and studied English with a fellow Brahman. He subsequently worked as a volunteer copying out documents in English script. By 1799 he was proficient enough for paid employment and worked for Henry Wilson at Guntur. He continued to improve his competency and by 1818 had become Head Translator to the Sadr Adalat (High Court).

When the Madras School Book Society was formed in 1820 Soob Row became its secretary and a powerful advocate for a modern educational system. He retired in 1828 and spent the latter part of his life in ensuring provision for his decendants.

Biography was taken from Frykenberg, Robert Eric, "Christianity in India: From Beginnings to the Present", Oxford University Press, 2008, pp. 310-313.

Petrus Voorhoeve was born in December 1899 in Vlissengen. In 1919 he became a student at the University of Leiden, first studying theology before switching to Indonesian languages continuing his studies to complete a PhD in Batak Folk Tales. In 1927 he was appointed government linguist at Balai Pushtaka, the Bureau of Popular Literature in Jakarta. He was granted leave in 1933 but on his return in 1934 he became a librarian at the Royal Batavia Society of Arts and Science. In 1937 he became linguist in the service of the Self-governing Districts of North Sumatra charged with creating a Simalungen dictionary. He was interned by the Japanese Army in 1942 and separated from his wife and children until after the War when, in 1946, they returned to the Netherlands. Voorhoeve then took up an appointment at the University Library in Leiden but returned to Indonesia in 1947 to complete his 20 years of service necessary for a full pension. He worked for the Institute of Linguistic and Cultural Research before returning to Leiden in 1949 to take up his position again of Curator. He catalogued many Malay manuscripts working at institutions around the world. He died in 1996.