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Thomas William Rhys Davids was born on 12th May 1843 in Colchester, Essex, the son of a Congregational clergyman. Before entering the Ceylon Civil Service he studied Sanskrit at Breslau under A.F. Stenzler. He went to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in 1866 and immediately began to study Pali. He returned to England in 1877 and was called to the Bar but from 1882 Rhys Davids was Professor of Pali at University College London. In 1905 he took up the Chair of Comparative Religion at the University of Manchester. He was a founder member of the Royal Academy and an active member of the Royal Asiatic Society, serving as Secretary and Librarian from 1887-1904.

Thomas William Rhys Davids was born in Colchester, Essex, 12 May 1843. He was educated at Brighton School and Breslau University, where he studied Greek and Sanskrit. He held a number of posts in the Ceylon Civil Service, including District Judge and Archaeological Commissioner, 1866-72. He returned to England and became a barrister in 1877 before being appointed Professor of Pali and Buddhist Literature at University College, London, a position he held from 1882-1904. He subsequently became Professor of Comparative Religion at Manchester University in 1905.

Rhys Davids married Caroline Foley in 1894. She was also a Pali scholar. He was a founder and President of the Pali Text Society from 1881-1922, and a founder of the British Academy, 1901. He served as Secretary and Librarian of the Royal Asiatic Society from 1887-1905, and he established the Indian Text Series.

In his retirement, Rhys Davids wrote for the Manchester Guardian and worked on the preparation of a Pali dictionary. He died in Chipstead, Surrey, on 27 December 1922.

Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781-1826) was a British colonial official, who became Lieutenant Governor of Java after its capture from the Dutch in 1811. He is accredited with founding the port of Singapore, and wrote The History of Java.

Thomas Manning was born in Broome, Norfolk on 8th November, 1772, the second son of Reverend William Manning, rector of Brome and subsequently rector of Diss, Norfolk, and his wife, Elizabeth, the only child of Reverend William Adams, rector of Rollersby Norfolk.

Thomas Manning was educated locally and was admitted to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge in 1790 to study mathematics. Here he made some lifelong friends including Charles Lamb (1775-1834). Manning was very able but did not graduate as he refused to sign the oath of allegiance to the Church of England. Manning continued in Cambridge coaching students and published his Introduction to Arithmetic and Algebra (1796-1798)

Manning became interested in China and the Chinese language and in January 1802, sailed from Dover to stay in Paris where he met and studied with Dr Hagar at the Bibliotheque Nationale. Manning intended to stay in Paris for two years but was detained further due to the Napoleonic conflict with England. He returned to England in late 1804 and studied medicine for 6 months at Westminster Hospital with the intent of gaining an useful skill for his travels.

Manning first thought of trying to reach China overland via Russia but felt that his language skills were insufficient and therefore applied to the East India Company to travel on board one of their boats. He sailed on the Thames in May 1806 arriving in Canton, China, later that year.

Manning lived within the East India Company factory and helped with medical matters and translation. He was frustrated by lack of access to interior China. He joined an expedition to Cochinchina (Vietnam) in 1808. This expedition failed and Manning returned to Canton.

Manning then decided to attempt to reach the interior of China via Tibet. For this purpose he sailed on the Pellen to Bengal. He became known in Calcutta for his flowing beard and native costume. He waited for official permission to travel through Bhutan but in the end set off with one Chinese servant entering Bhutan in September 1811 and Tibet later that year.He travelled with Chinese soldiers and treated their medical ailments. He reached Lhasa in December 1811 and was allowed an audience with the Dalai Lama. However he was not able to continue further inland and was sent back to Calcutta in 1812. From there he returned to Canton where he continued his studies until joining the unsuccessful Amherst Embassy in 1816, after which he set off for England with the Embassy on the Alceste. This was wrecked on 17 February 1817 and he continued on the Caesar. He reached St Helena in July 1817 and was given an audience with Napoleon who was imprisoned on the island.

Manning returned and settled in England. He lived in Italy, wanting to improve his spoken Italian, between 1827-1829. He returned to England and continued to live in Kent until 1838, when after a stroke which disabled his right hand, he moved to Bath to gain better medical attention. He died at Bath on 2 May, 1840 and was buried in Bath Abbey Church.

Thomas John Newbold was born in Macclesfield in 1807. He joined the Madras Light Infantry in 1828. Arriving in India in that year, he undertook further study and passed an examination in Hindustani in 1830, and in Persian in 1831. From 1830 to 1835 Newbold was Quartermaster and interpreter to his regiment. He moved to Malacca in 1832, where he actively pursued an interest in the region collecting manuscripts and artefacts. Arriving at the Presidency with a detachment of his corps in August 1835, he was approved as aide-de-camp to Brigadier-General E.W. Wilson and commanded the ceded districts, an appointment he held until 1840. He was appointed Deputy Assistant Quartermaster-General for the Division in 1838, and Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General and Postmaster to the Field Force in the ceded districts in 1839.

Newbold left India on leave of absence early in 1840, and visited Gebel Nákas in the peninsula of Mount Sinai in June of that year. He was elected a member of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1841 and a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1842. Newbold was promoted to the rank of Captain on 12 April 1842, and recalled to India in the following May. Arriving at Madras, he was appointed Assistant to the Commission at Kurnool. He was Assistant to the Agent to the Governor of Fort St. George at Kurnool and Bunganahilly from 1843 to 1848, when he was appointed Assistant to the Resident at Hyderabad. He was permitted to go to Egypt for two years in June 1845. He died at Mahabuleshwar on 29 May 1850.