Page:Dictionary of Indian Biography.djvu/121

 CUST, ROBERT NEEDHAM (1821– )

I.C.S. : son of Hon. and Rev. H. C. Cust, brother of Earl Brownlow : born Feb. 24, 1821 : educated at Eton and Haileybury : entered the Bengal Civil Service, 1843, and retired in 1867 : served in the N.W.P. and Panjab : present at the battles of Mudki and Firozshahr, 1845, and Sobraon, 1846 : called to the bar from Lincoln's Inn, 1855 : took part in the settlement of the Panjab after the mutiny, 1858 : Home Secretary to the Government of India, 1864–5 : is now Hon. Secretary of the Royal Asiatic Society, and has published many books on the religions and languages of the world, the two last being Five Essays on Religious Conceptions, 1897, and Life Memoir, 1899: LL.D. of ' Edinburgh, 1885.

D'ACHE, COMTE (1700? or 1716?–1775)

Vice- Admiral : served with distinction, but without important command, up to 1757. when he was made Commander of the French Naval forces in Indian seas : reached the Coromandel coast, April, 1758, commanding the squadron which took Lally's expedition to India : beaten, off Negapatam., by the English Fleet under Admiral Pocock : declined to co-operate with Lally against Madras : again defeated off Tranquebar, Aug. 1, 1758 : sailed for the Isle of France : took for his fleet a million francs, intended for Pondicherry : returned after a year from Isle of France : defeated off Fort St. David, Sep. 10, 1759, by Pocock : went to Pondicherry, but abandoned it Sep. 17, and never returned, staying at the Isle of France : thus, inefficient and constantly defeated, he lost in a few months the French cause in South India : the commerce of the Compagnie des Indes was irretrievably destroyed : on his return to France, he received promotion in the Navy and honours, without restoring his reputation by any distinguished action : became an accuser of Lally : died, 1775.

DA CUNHA, J. GERSON (1842–1900)

Doctor : born in Arpora, Goa : claimed to belong to a family of Brahman converts to Christianity: educated at Goa, Bombay, and in Europe : returned to Bombay as a medical practitioner : a man of letters and antiquarian research : Vice-President of the R.A.S., Bombay, 1892 : Knight of several foreign orders : read many valuable papers on history, archaeology, languages, numismatics before the R.A.S. : also wrote largely : a history of Chaul and Bassein, and the Origin of Bombay, 1900 : on the subject of Buddha's Tooth : a man of great culture and a keen numismatist : his collection of Indian coins, said to number 15,000, was considered one of the finest in the world, and was valued at several lakhs of rupees : he died July 3, 1900.

D'AGUILAR, SIR CHARLES LAWRENCE (1821–)

Born 1821 : son of Lt-General Sir George D'Aguilar, K.C.B. : educated at R.M.A., Woolwich : entered the Royal Artillery, 1838 : Military Secretary to the Commander of the China Forces, 1843–8 : served in the Crimea and in the Indian mutiny : General commanding Woolwich District, 1874–9 : Lt-General, 1877 : Col. Commandant R.H.A. : G.C.B., 1887.

D'AGUILAR, SIR GEORGE CHARLES (1784–1855)

Son of Capt. Joseph D'Aguilar : born Jan. 1784 : joined the 86th regt. in India, 1799 : served in the Mahratta war of 1803–5 : at Bhartpur in 1806 under Lord Lake : to England in 1809 : in the Walcheren expedition : in Sicily : on a special mission to Constantinople : in Spain : in Flanders : C.B. in 1834 : commanded in China, and in 1847 Canton submitted to him : K.C.B. in 1851 : Lt-General : died May 21, 1855 : wrote military manuals and treatises.

DALGLEISH, ANDREW ( ? –1888)

An energetic pioneer of trade : for years he journeyed for commercial pur- poses between Kashmir and Yarkand : joined a Central Asian Trading Company : went with a party to Yarkand, and afterwards made frequent journeys to Kashgar : in 1883 he had a free passport from the Chinese to enter Chinese Turkistan : went as Turkish interpreter with A. D. Carey (q.v.) in 1885 from Kashmir round Chinese Turkistan and along the frontier of Tibet : was killed near the Karakoram, en route to Yarkand, by a Kakar Pathan in 1888 : his map specially acknowledged by the Geographical Society.