Sir Thomas Walker Arnold (19 April 1864 – 9 June 1930) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

orientalist and historian of

Islamic art Islamic art is a part of Islamic culture and encompasses the visual arts produced since the 7th century CE by people who lived within territories inhabited or ruled by Muslims, Muslim populations. Referring to characteristic traditions across ...

. He taught at

Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College (, lit. "Science School for the Muslims of India") was founded in 1875 by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, initially as a primary school, with the intention of turning it to a college level institution. It was inspired by t ...

(MAO College), later

Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Muslim University is a Collegiate university, collegiate, Central university (India), central, and Research university, research university located in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Kh ...

, and

Government College University, Lahore The Government College University (colloquially known as GCU; Punjabi, Urdu: ) is a public research university in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Founded as Government College, Lahore, in 1864 under British administration, it became a university i ...

. Arnold was a friend of

Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (17 October 1817 – 27 March 1898), also spelled Sayyid Ahmad Khan, was an Indian Muslim Islamic modernist, reformer, philosopher, and educationist in nineteenth-century British Raj, British India. Though initially esp ...

, who influenced him to write the famous book '' The Preaching of Islam'', and of

Shibli Nomani Shibli Nomani (4 June 1857 – 18 November 1914) was an Indian Islamic scholar, poet, philosopher, historian, educational thinker, author, orator, reformer and critic of orientalists during the British Raj. He is regarded as the father of Urdu ...

, with whom he taught at Aligarh. He taught

Syed Sulaiman Nadvi Sulaiman Nadvi (22 November 1884 – 22 November 1953) was a British Indian, and then Pakistani, Islamic scholar, historian and a writer, who co-authored '' Sirat-un-Nabi'' and wrote ''Khutbat-e-Madras''. He was a member of the founding commi ...

and the poet-philosopher

Muhammad Iqbal Muhammad Iqbal (9 November 187721 April 1938) was a South Asian Islamic philosopher, poet and politician. Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philoso ...

. He was the first English editor for the first edition of ''

The Encyclopaedia of Islam The ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'' (''EI'') is a reference work that facilitates the Islamic studies, academic study of Islam. It is published by Brill Publishers, Brill and provides information on various aspects of Islam and the Muslim world, Isl ...

''.

Life

Thomas Walker Arnold was born in

Devonport, Plymouth Devonport ( ), formerly named Plymouth Dock or just Dock, is a district of Plymouth in the English county of Devon, although it was, at one time, the more important settlement. It became a county borough in 1889. Devonport was originally one o ...

on 19 April 1864, and educated at the

City of London School The City of London School, also known as CLS and City, is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school for Single-sex education, boys in the City of London, England, on the banks of the River Thames next to the Millennium Bridge, ...

. From 1888 he worked as a teacher at the MAO College,

Aligarh Aligarh (; formerly known as Koil) is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Aligarh district and lies northwest of state capital Lucknow and approximately southeast of the capital, New Delhi. ...

. In 1892 he married Celia Mary Hickson, a niece of Theodore Beck. In 1898, he accepted a post as Professor of Philosophy at the

Government College, Lahore The Government College University (colloquially known as GCU; Punjabi, Urdu: ) is a public research university in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Founded as Government College, Lahore, in 1864 under British administration, it became a university i ...

and later became Dean of the Oriental Faculty at

Punjab University Punjab University may refer to: India * Punjab Agricultural University, a state agricultural university in Ludhiana, Punjab * I. K. Gujral Punjab Technical University, a state university in Kapurthala, Punjab * Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Techn ...

. From 1904 to 1909, he was on the staff of the India Office as Assistant Librarian. In 1909 he was appointed Educational Adviser to Indian students in Britain. From 1917 to 1920 he acted as Adviser 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 ...

. He was Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the

School of Oriental Studies 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 ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

, from 1921 to 1930. Arnold was invested as a Companion of the

Order of the Indian Empire The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria on 1 January 1878. The Order includes members of three classes: #Knight Grand Commander (:Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire, ...

in 1912, and in 1921 was invested as a

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

. He died on 9 June 1930.

Works

* * (trans. and ed.) '' The little flowers of Saint Francis'' by

Francis of Assisi Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone ( 1181 – 3 October 1226), known as Francis of Assisi, was an Italians, Italian Mysticism, mystic, poet and Friar, Catholic friar who founded the religious order of the Franciscans. Inspired to lead a Chris ...

. London: J.M. Dent, 1898. * ''The Court Painters of the Grand Moghuls''. Oxford:

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 1921. * ''The Caliphate''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924. Reissued with an additional chapter by Sylvia G. Haim:

Routledge and Kegan Paul Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

, London 1965. * ''Painting in Islam, A Study of the Place of Pictorial Art in Muslim Culture''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1928. Reprint ed. 1965. * ''Bihzad and his Paintings in the Zafar-namah ms''. London: B. Quaritch, 1930. * (with Alfred Guillaume) ''The Legacy of Islam''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1931. * ''The Old and New Testaments in Muslim Religious Art''. London: Pub. for the British Academy by H. Milford, Oxford University Press.

Schweich Lectures The ''Schweich Lectures on Biblical Archaeology'' are a series of lectures delivered and published under the auspices of the British Academy. The Leopold Schweich Trust Fund, set up in 1907, was a gift from Miss Constance Schweich in memory of her ...

for 1928.

References

External links

Arnold, Sir Thomas Walker
, School of Oriental and African Studies: home page
Sir Thomas Walker
entry in

Encyclopaedia Iranica An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles or entries that are arranged alphabetically by artic ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arnold, Thomas Walker 1864 births 1930 deaths Academic staff of Aligarh Muslim University Academic staff of the Government College University, Lahore Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge British art critics British historians of Islam Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire English orientalists Historians of Indian art Knights Bachelor People educated at the City of London School People from Devonport, Plymouth Victorian writers 19th-century English writers 20th-century English writers 20th-century English male writers