Theobald William 1829-1908

Theobald arrived in Calcutta on the ship Hindostan in March 1847 and worked as a volunteer in the coal exploration of the upper Damodar and Son valleys under David Williams. During this time Joseph Hooker visited him and they spent time together. Later Theobald became an assistant to John McClelland who took over the exploration from David Williams. He went to Burma in 1855 as a staff of the Geological Survey of India and took over the Pegu survey. He returned to Bengal on completion of the survey in 1873 to be appointed Deputy Superintendent of Bengal in 1876. From 1868 to 1876 he described a dozen new species of reptiles. Theobald is known chiefly as a malacologist and naturalist but also seems to have an interest in the coinage of Hindustan, perhaps after his retirement from service in 1881.