Page:Dictionary of Indian Biography.djvu/182

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no great monument of his industry behind him. Among his works on Indian subjects are : Die falsche Sanskrit-philologie, 1840; Bihliothecac Sanskritae specimen, 1847; a new edition of Lassen's Anthologia Sanskritica, 1865; one of the founders of the Deutsche Morgenlandische Gesellschaft.

GILL, ROBERT ( ? –1876)

Major : antiquary, artist and sportsman : entered the Indian Army in 1842 : his regimental service was apparently uneventful : he is remembered for his work, as follows. In 1844, the Court of Directors of the E.I. Co. ordered that copies should be made of the frescoes in the Buddhist excavations at Ajanta : Gill was appointed about 1844–6 to the work, and spent the remainder of his life, about thirty years, at Ajanta, doing it : living in the sarai in which Colonel (Sir) Arthur Wellesley (q.v.) had quarters after Assaye. With great labour, Gill, working in feverish jungle, and in dark recesses (haunted by wild animals), copied in full size and oils the principal frescoes, about thirty in number, and sent them to England, about 1855. Of these paintings, twenty-five, exhibited at the Crystal Palace, were burnt in 1866 : five at the India office escaped : some of those burnt had been copied by George Scharf to illustrate the works of Mrs. Manning. The Ajanta frescoes were again copied, under Government orders, in 1872–85 by Mr. John Griffiths, Principal of the Bombay School of Art : and the results were published, 1896. Other drawings by Gill, i.e., of ground plans of the caves, and architectural details, are still preserved : he was also an expert photographer, as shown in his two books, viz. The Rock-cut Temples of India, illustrated by his 74 photographs, 1864 : and One Hundred Stereoscopic Illustrations of Architecture and Natural History in W. India, 1864, both books with descriptions by J. Fergusson (q.v.). Gill, as a sportsman, killed above 150 tigers, mostly on foot, his name being well known for his prowess for nearly half a century : he died while being conveyed, very ill, from Ajanta to Bhosawal, where he was buried.

GILLESPIE, SIR ROBERT ROLLO (1766–1814)

Of an old Scottish family : born Jan. 21, 1766 : educated at Kensington and near Newmarket : joined the 3rd Irish Horse in 1783 : was acquitted on a verdict of "justifiable homicide," after shooting a man in a duel: went to Jamaica, 1792 : recovered from yellow fever : to St. Domingo : fired on while swimming with a flag of truce : Adjutant-General at St. Domingo, 1796 : personally killed six out of eight men attacking him : received a sword of honoiu: from the Jamaica House of Assembly : tried by court martial at Colchester, 1804 : honourably acquitted : stationed at Arcot in Madras : from there, 14 miles off, rescued the survivors of the 69th foot from the mutineers at Vellore, July 10, 1806 : commanded the cavalry against Ranjit Singh in 1809 : commandant at Bangalore : commanded the Mysore Division : was Brig-General in 1811 : commanded the advance of Sir S. Auchmuty's expedition to Java : led the attack at Cornells : left in command at Java : deposed the Sultan of Palimbang in Sumatra : defeated Javanese chiefs at Yodhyakarta : Maj-General, 1812 : left Java : commanded at Meerut : and a Division in the Nipal war : killed, leading an attack on Fort Kalanga, near Deyra Doon, Oct. 31, 1814 : but named as K.C.B. on Jan. 1, 1815 : a monument to him by Chantrey in St. Paul's Cathedral. His military actions were all distinguished by his reckless courage : he was also a keen sportsman.

GIRAUD, HERBERT JOHN (1817–1888)

Son of John Thomas Giraud : born April 14, 1817 : took his M.D. degree at Edinburgh University, 1840 : entered the E.I. Co.'s Bombay Medical Service, 1842 : Professor of Chemistry and Botany, and afterwards Principal of the Grant Medical College, Bombay : Principal of Sir Jamsetji Jijibhai's Hospital : Chemical Analyst to the Bombay Government : Deputy Inspr-General of the Army Medical Service : Fellow of the Bombay University : Surgeon on the Staff of several Governors of Bombay : stated to have been the first to introduce the study of chemistry and botany into W. India : wrote papers on chemical and botanical subjects, including toxicology, for scientific journals : retired, 1867 : died Jan. 12, 1888.

GLADWIN, FRANCIS ( ? –1813?)

Was in the Bengal Army : encouraged by Warren Hastings in his studies in