Edward Backhouse Eastwick CB (181416 July 1883,

Ventnor Ventnor () is a seaside resort town and civil parishes in England, civil parish established in the Victorian era on the southeast coast of the Isle of Wight, England, from Newport, Isle of Wight, Newport. It is situated south of St Boniface D ...

, Isle of Wight) was an English orientalist, diplomat and

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

member of parliament. He wrote and edited a number of books on South Asian countries. These included a Sindhi vocabulary and a grammar of the

Hindustani language Hindustani is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in North India and Pakistan as the lingua franca of the region. It is also spoken by the Deccani people, Deccani-speaking community in the Deccan plateau. Hindustani is a pluricentric language w ...

Life and works

Born a member of an Anglo-Indian family, he was educated at Charterhouse and at

Merton College Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, chancellor ...

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. A brother was Captain William Joseph Eastwick. He joined the Bombay infantry in 1836, but, owing to his talent for languages, was soon given a political post. In 1843 he translated the Persian '' Kessahi Sanjan'', or ''History of the Arrival of the Parsees in India''; and he wrote a ''Life'' of

Zoroaster Zarathushtra Spitama, more commonly known as Zoroaster or Zarathustra, was an Iranian peoples, Iranian religious reformer who challenged the tenets of the contemporary Ancient Iranian religion, becoming the spiritual founder of Zoroastrianism ...

, a Sindhi vocabulary, and various papers in the transactions of the Bombay Asiatic Society. Compelled by ill-health to return to Europe, he went to

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, where he learned German and translated

Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. He was born i ...

's ''Revolt of the Netherlands'' and Bopp's ''Comparative Grammar''. In 1845 he was appointed professor of Hindustani at

Haileybury College Haileybury is a co-educational public school (fee-charging boarding and day school for 11- to 18-year-olds) located in Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire. It is a member of the Rugby Group and enrols pupils at the 11+, 13+ and 16+ stages of edu ...

. Two years later he published a Hindustani grammar, and in subsequent years a new edition of Saadi's '' Gulistán'', with a translation in prose and verse, also an edition with vocabulary of the

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

translation of Chatur Chuj Misr's ''Prem Sagar'', and translations of the '' Bagh-o-Bahar'', and of the '' Anwar-i Suhaili'' of

Bidpai The ''Panchatantra'' ( IAST: Pañcatantra, ISO: Pañcatantra, , "Five Treatises") is an ancient Indian collection of interrelated animal fables in Sanskrit verse and prose, arranged within a frame story.

. In 1851 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. In 1857–1858 he edited ''The Autobiography of Latfullah, A Mohamedan Gentleman''. He also edited for the

Bible Society A Bible society is a non-profit organization, usually nondenominational in makeup, devoted to translating, publishing, and distributing the Bible at affordable prices. In recent years they also are increasingly involved in advocating its credi ...

the ''

Book of Genesis The Book of Genesis (from Greek language, Greek ; ; ) is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its incipit, first word, (In the beginning (phrase), 'In the beginning'). Genesis purpor ...

'' in the Dakhani language. From 4 May 1860 to 1863 he was in

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

as secretary to the British Legation, publishing on his return ''The Journal of a Diplomate's Three Years' Residence in Persia''. In 1866 he became private secretary to the

secretary of state for India His (or Her) Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for India, known for short as the India secretary or the Indian secretary, was the British Cabinet minister and the political head of the India Office responsible for the governance of ...

, Lord Cranborne (afterwards

marquess of Salisbury Marquess of Salisbury is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain, held by a branch of the Cecil family. It was created in 1789 for the 7th Earl of Salisbury. Most of the holders of the title have been prominent in British political life over t ...

), and in 1867 went, as in 1864, on a government mission to

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. He had meanwhile resigned his commission as a major in the London Rifle Volunteer Brigade in June 1861. On his return Eastwick wrote, at the request of

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

, for ''All the Year Round'', "Sketches of Life in a South American Republic". From 1868 to 1874 he was member of parliament (MP) for Penryn and Falmouth. In 1875, he received the degree of MA with the franchise from the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, "as a slight recognition of distinguished services". At various times he wrote several of Murray's Indian handbooks. His last work was the ''Kaisarnamah-i-Hind'' ("The Lay of the Empress"), in two volumes (1878–1882). Eastwick died at

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

, on 16 July 1883, and was survived by his wife, Rosina Jane, daughter of James Hunter of Hapton House,

Argyll Argyll (; archaically Argyle; , ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county of western Scotland. The county ceased to be used for local government purposes in 1975 and most of the area ...

, whom he had married in 1847 and by whom he had at least two children, Robert William Egerton Eastwick and Beatrice Heron-Maxwell.Stanley Lane-Poole, "Eastwick, Edward Backhouse (1814–1883)", rev. Parvin Loloi. ODNB, Oxford University Press, 200
Retrieved 28 September 2014, pay-walled.
/ref>

References

Sources

* * *

External links

Eastwick, Edward Backhouse (''Encyclopedia Iranica'').
* * * *
Catalogue of Hindi books of the British Museum
– contains descriptions of books by Eastwick
Catalogue of Persian books of the British Museum
– contains descriptions of books by Eastwick

in the

Nordisk familjebok (, 'Nordic Family Book') is a Swedish language, Swedish encyclopedia that was published in print from between 1876 and 1993, and that is now fully available in digital form via Project Runeberg at Linköping University. The public domain edit ...

(Swedish)
Dictionary of Indian Biography
– Entry on Eastwick {{DEFAULTSORT:Eastwick, Edward Backhouse People educated at Charterhouse School British orientalists Administrators in British India Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Penryn and Falmouth Translators from German Translators from Hindi Translators to English UK MPs 1868–1874 Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Fellows of the Royal Society Companions of the Order of the Bath 1814 births 1883 deaths Alumni of Merton College, Oxford 19th-century British diplomats 19th-century English writers 19th-century English translators London Rifle Brigade officers Hindi–English translators Translators from Urdu Linguists of Indo-Aryan languages Linguists of Hindi Linguists of Urdu Linguists from British India