Edward William West was born in 1824 and was educated at Kings College, London. He was a scholar of Zoroastrianism and translator of Pahlavi texts. He worked in India from 1844 for twenty years, as a civil engineer. In this time he became interested in the study of the Zoroastrian religion and undertook study to be able to understand its languages. He prepared five volumes of Pahlavi texts (the Marvels of Zoroastrianism) for Professor Max Müller's Sacred Books of the East series, published from the years 1880 to 1897. He was made an Honorary Doctor of Philosophy by the University of Munchen.
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.