Dictionary of Indian Biography/Basevi, James Palladis
BASEVI, JAMES PALLADIS ( ? –1871)
Son of the architect, George Basevi: was educated at Rugby, Cheltenham and Addiscombe: went to India in the E.I.Co.'s Engineers, 1851: joined the P.W.D. in Bengal: was transferred in 1856 to the Great Trigonometrical Survey, and did valuable work, especially in the principal triangulation: he also did good service in reconnaissances in the Mahsud-Waziri expedition, 1860, and in the wild tracts of Jaipur and Bustar on the east coast, 1862: Captain, R.E.: in 1864, he was selected specially to conduct some highly scientific investigations proposed by the Royal Society, for the determination of gravity at certain stations of the great meridional arc of triangles extending from Cape Comorin to the Himalayas, by pendulum observations, which lasted some years, and necessitated exposure at high altitudes. He crossed Kashmir and Ladak and travelled through the Chanch-enmo valley to the Chinese frontier to make observations at above 16,000 feet: he burst a blood-vessel, and died July 17, 1871, "a martyr to his love of science," an officer "of sterling worth and excellent abilities."