Page:Dictionary of Indian Biography.djvu/126

 DANVERS, FREDERICK CHARLES ( ? - )

Educated at Merchant Taylors' School and King's College, London : joined the East India House as a writer, 1853 : and the India Office, 1858 : Registrar and Superintendent of Records, 1884 : deputed to Lisbon, 1891–2, to examine the Portuguese records relating to India, and to the Hague, 1893–4 : wrote extensively on Indian questions, including public works, famines, coal, statistics, agriculture, on Chiefs, Agents, and Governors of Bengal, 1888 : The India Office Records, 1889 : on the Portuguese records and A History of the Portuguese in India, 1894.

DANVERS, SIR JULAND (1826–1902)

Born March 19, 1826 : son of Frederick Dawes Danvers : educated at King's College, London : entered the E.I. Co.'s home service, 1842 : Private Secretary to two Chairmen of the Court, 1848–53 : on the transfer of India to the Crown, Danvers became, at the India Office, Secretary in the Railway and Telegraph Department, and Deputy Director of Indian Railways, 1858–61 : Government Director of Indian Railways, 1861–92 : Secretary in the Public Works, Railway and Telegraph Departments, 1880–92 : visited India, 1875–6 : wrote the annual official reports on Indian railways presented to Parlia-ment, 1859–82 : was constantly examined before Parliamentary Committees on Railway and Finance questions : K.C.S.I., 1886: retired 1892 : died Oct. 18, 1902.

DARBHANGA, MAHARAJA BAHADUR SIR LACHMESWAR SINGH, OF (1856–1898)

Elder son of Maharaja Maheswar Singh of Darbhanga : born 1856 : educated by an English tutor, Chester Macnaghten (q.v.) : occupied, as head of the Maithili Brahmins, a Hindu of Hindus, and the possessor of very large estates in Bihar, a very important position in Bihar and Bengal : sincerely devoted to religion : largely directed the management of his property and effected great improvements : made Maharaja Bahadur and K.C.I.E. : a Member of both the Legislative Councils of Bengal and the Governor-General : con-tributed handsomely to all objects of charity, medical aid, educational endowments and objects of general public utility : as President of the British Indian and other Landowners' Associations, his influence was chiefly felt in questions affecting landed property : died Dec. 17, 1898.

DARBHANGA, MAHARAJA BAHADUR SIR RAMESWAR SINGH OF (1860–)

Born Jan. 16, 1860 : younger son of Maharaja Maheswar Singh : educated at the Queen's College, Benares, and at home by Chester Macnaghten (q.v.) : in 1878 was appointed by Lord Lytton to the Statutory Civil Service : served as Assistant Magistrate of Darbhanga, Chapra and Bhagalpur : resigned in 1885 : was created Raja Bahadur, of Bachaur : in 1888 was appointed a Member of the Bengal Legislative Council, as representative of the landowners of Bengal and Bihar : succeeded to the Darbhanga Raj on the death of his elder brother, Maharaja Sir Lachmeswar Singh, on Dec. 17, 1898 : made Maharaja Bahadur : in 1899 and 1904 was elected by the non-official members of the Bengal Legislative Council as their representative in the Governor-General's Legislative Council : President of several Landowners' Associations : Kaisar-i-Hind Gold Medal, 1900 : in 1902 made K.C.I.E., and appointed a member of the Police Commission.

DARMESTETER, JAMES (1849–1894)

Born March 28, 1849, in Alsace, of a poor Jewish family : son of Cerf, and brother of Arsene, Darmesteter : delicate, puny, and almost deformed : educated at the Lycee Condorcet, Paris : Doctor in Letters, 1877 : devoted himself to Oriental scholarship and literature : became the greatest authority of his time on Zoroastrian literatiure : appointed assistant- Professor of Zend at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes, 1877 : and in 1892, Director : was appointed Professor of Persian at the College de France, 1885, and Secretary of the Societe Asiatique : wrote Etudes Iraniennes, 1883, and on the language and literature of ancient Persia : travelled in India, to study his subjects locally : residing there, Feb. 1886— Feb. 1887, chiefly at Bombay, Peshawar and Hazara : wrote Letters sur l'Inde, 1888, The Popular Songs of the Afghans, with an introduction on their language, history and literature, 1890; a complete translation, 1892–3, of the Zendavesta, published in the Sacred Books of the East : and Selected