Gordon Hannington Luce (20 January 1889 – 3 May 1979) was a colonial scholar in Burma. His outstanding library containing books, manuscripts, maps and photographs – The Luce Collection – was acquired by the

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

in 1980, as part of its major research collections on Asia.

Biography

Luce was the twelfth of thirteen children of the Rev. John James Luce,

Vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

of St Nicholas's,

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

. He was educated at

Dean Close School Dean Close School is a co-educational private boarding and day school (for pupils aged 3–18) in the public school tradition, located in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The school opened in 1886 and is divided into pre-prep, prepa ...

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

, from where he gained a classical scholarship to

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mo ...

, and in 1911, obtained a first-class degree in

Classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

. During his Cambridge years, he was a member of the

Cambridge Apostles The Cambridge Apostles (also known as the Conversazione Society) is an intellectual society at the University of Cambridge founded in 1820 by George Tomlinson, a Cambridge student who became the first Bishop of Gibraltar. History Student ...

and his circle of friends included

Arthur Waley Arthur David Waley (born Arthur David Schloss, 19 August 188927 June 1966) was an English orientalist and sinologist who achieved both popular and scholarly acclaim for his translations of Chinese and Japanese poetry. Among his honours were ...

, giving him admission to the friendship of such contemporaries as

Rupert Brooke Rupert Chawner Brooke (3 August 1887 – 23 April 1915The date of Brooke's death and burial under the Julian calendar that applied in Greece at the time was 10 April. The Julian calendar was 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar.) was an En ...

Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley ( ; 26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. His bibliography spans nearly 50 books, including non-fiction novel, non-fiction works, as well as essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the ...

, and

John Maynard Keynes John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes ( ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an English economist and philosopher whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originall ...

and other members of the

Bloomsbury Group The Bloomsbury Group was a group of associated British writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists in the early 20th century. Among the people involved in the group were Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster, Vanessa Bell, a ...

. In 1912 Luce was appointed Lecturer in English Literature at Government College,

Rangoon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...

, later a constituent college of the

University of Rangoon The University of Yangon (also Yangon University; , ; formerly Rangoon College, University of Rangoon and Rangoon Arts and Sciences University), located in Kamayut, Yangon, is the oldest university in Myanmar's modern education system and the b ...

. There he developed a lasting friendship with the young Pali scholar

Pe Maung Tin Pe Maung Tin ( ; 24 April 1888 – 22 March 1973) was a scholar of Pali and Buddhism and educator in Myanmar, formerly Burma. Born to an Anglican family at Pauktaw, Insein Township, Rangoon, he was the fifth child of U Pe and Daw Myaing. His g ...

. In 1915, he married Pe Maung Tin's sister Ma Tee Tee. Luce's studies of Burmese culture resulted in articles contributed to the ''Journal'' of the

Burma Research Society The Burma Research Society () was an academic society devoted to historical research of Burma (Myanmar). Its aims were "the investigation and encouragement of Art, Science and Literature in relation to Burma and the neighbouring countries". The s ...

. He was a prolific author throughout his life and wrote books and articles on a wide variety of subjects relating particularly to Burma's history and languages such as ''Chinese Invasions of Burma in the 18th Century'', ''Inscriptions of Burma'', ''The Economic Life of the Early Burman'', and ''An Introduction to the

Comparative The degrees of comparison of adjectives and adverbs are the various forms taken by adjectives and adverbs when used to compare two entities (comparative degree), three or more entities (superlative degree), or when not comparing entities (positi ...

Study of

Karen Karen may refer to: * Karen (name), a given name and surname * Karen (slang), a term and meme for a demanding white woman displaying certain behaviors People * Karen people, an ethnic group in Myanmar and Thailand * House of Karen, a historic ...

Languages Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing. Human language is ch ...

''. His three-volume ''Old Burma: early Pagan'', covers the history, art and architecture of Burma and its capital city Pagan in the 11th and 12th centuries. ''Phases of Pre-Pagan Burma'', on the earlier history of Burma, appeared posthumously. His writings remain authoritative today and are widely cited. During the Japanese invasion in 1942 Luce and his wife escaped into

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. He returned to Rangoon after the war and remained there until 1964, when, like other foreigners, he was forced to leave the country. His final fifteen years were spent on

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

. The high esteem in which he was held by Burmese and Western scholars is reflected in the publication of the two-volume work, ''Essays to G. H. Luce'' by his colleagues and friends in honour of his seventy-fifth birthday, which appeared in 1966.

The Luce Collection

The Luce manuscripts cover a wide variety of materials. They are stored at the

in 32 boxes and 22 folios. A broad listing is available. Ten boxes contain general correspondence. There are over two thousand books in the Luce Collection. While the main focus is on Burma, the collection contains materials on the history, languages and cultures of Southeast Asia. All titles have been catalogued onto the NLA's

Australian National Bibliographic Database The Australian National Bibliographic Database (ANBD), formerly part of the Australian Bibliographic Network (ABN) and for some years renamed Kinetica, is a national shared library cataloguing network, hosted by the National Library of Australia ...

. The

Buddhist Digital Resource Center The Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC), formerly Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center (TBRC), is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to seeking out, preserving, organizing, and disseminating Buddhist literature. Joining digital technology ...

hosts online an additional set of unpublished notebooks and portfolio's of Luce, which include his transcriptions of Burmese inscriptions. The originals are held at

SOAS University of London The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury area ...

Siam Society collection

The

Siam Society The Siam Society Under Royal Patronage () was established in 1904 with a mission to promote knowledge of the culture, history, arts, and natural sciences of Thailand as well as those of neighbouring countries. The premises of the Society in Bangko ...

under Royal Protection in conjunction with the Siamese Heritage Protection Program has made the ''

Journal of the Siam Society The ''Journal of the Siam Society'' (JSS) is a scholarly journal published by the Siam Society in Bangkok since 1904. History The ''Journal of the Siam Society'' is published by Siam Society, The Siam Society Under Royal Patronage in Bangkok, Th ...

'' (JSS) in

PDF Portable document format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe Inc., Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, computer hardware, ...

format available to all; the collection includes these by Luce, Gordon H. * JSS Vol. 46.2b (1958) The Early Syam in Burma's History * JSS Vol. 47.1c (1959) The Early Syam in Burma's History Supplement * JSS Vol. 53.1c (1965
Dvaravati and Old Burma
* JSS Vol. 53.2c (1965
Rice and Religion

References

External links

Gordon Luce Mon-Khmer & Sino-Tibetan Papers
at the SEAlang Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Luce, Gordon H. English orientalists Historiography of Myanmar 1889 births 1979 deaths People educated at Dean Close School Burmese studies scholars Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Academic staff of the University of Yangon Linguists of Burmese

Biography

The Luce Collection

Siam Society collection

References

Further reading

External links