Page:Dictionary of Indian Biography.djvu/486

 SCHROTER, REV. FREDERIC CHRISTIAN GOTTHELF ( ? –1820)

A native of Saxony : prepared for missionary labours under the Rev. John Jaenicke of Berlin : ordained there Aug. 28, 1813 : went to England : chosen by the Church Missionary Society to go to India : left England, May 1815, for Ceylon : went via Colombo to Calcutta, 1816 : sent to Titalya, in the plains near Darjeeling, to learn Tibetan, with a view to Missionary work in Tibet, but he died in July, 1820 : he left MSS. of (I) a Tibetan-English dictionary (based on an Italian-Tibetan one, composed by Roman-Catholic Missionaries at Lhasa), (2) a Supplement to the above, (3) the commencement of an English-Tibetan dictionary, (4) a Treatise on the Tibet alphabet, (5) heads of a Tibetan grammar, (6) a Tibet MS. and a part translation.

SHEPHERD, JAMES ( ? - ? )

Colonel : served under Ambaji Inglia, 1799, and assisted very materially in the overthrow of Lakwa Dada at Sounda in 1801. On the breaking out of war with the English, Shepherd and his party passed over to the Company's service, and he distinguished himself in Bundelkund in 1804, when he gave the celebrated freebooter Amir Khan, a sound beating at Maltaon Ghat, and on June 24 completed his discomfiture by entirely defeating and dispersing his force near Koonch. Shepherd's Corps at this time consisted of 3,180 men and was highly praised for its efficiency when Gen. Lake reviewed it in 1805.

SHEPHERD, W. J. ( ? –1891)

Son of Colonel James Shepherd (q.v.) : on the outbreak of the Mutiny in 1857 he took a conspicuous part in the defence of Wheeler's entrenchment at Cawnpur, eventually leaving the entrenchment to glean information of the enemy's movements, by whom he was captured and sentenced by the Nana Sahib to hard labour. He was one of the few survivors of Wheeler's entrenchment, and was congratulated by the late Lord Dufferin : died at Lucknow, 1891.

STRANGE, JAMES CHARLES STUART (1753–1840)

Born 1753 : eldest son of the Scotch engraver. Sir Robert Strange : educated at the college of Navarre, Paris : obtained a writership in the E. I. Co.'s service : reached Madras, July, 1773 : held lucrative posts until invalided home, 1780 : returned to India, 1785 : compiled a scheme (based on Capt. Cook's 'voyage of 1778) for the establishment of a trade in furs by the E. I. Co. between the N.W. coast of America and the ports of China. The Bombay Government placed at his disposal two experienced officers from their Marine and a small party of picked soldiers : a Bombay merchant, David Scott, provided funds for the purchase and equipment of the two small vessels. Strange had entire control of the expedition, embarking the whole of his private fortune in it, and sailed from Bombay, Dec. 1785 : financially the voyage proved a failure : Strange found himself forestalled by other adventurers, one from Calcutta reaching Nootka Sound just before him in 1786 : but his journals and chart forwarded to the Court of Directors contained valuable additions to the geographical knowledge of N.W. America : he forwarded to the Court on his return to India, 1788, a detailed scheme for a permanent trading station at Nootka Sound, where he had left his surgeon, Mackay, (who was kidnapped and carried off to Macao by a rival trader). Strange was Collector and Paymaster of Tanjore, until he retired in 1795 : he was M.P. for East Grinstead, 1797–1802 : he lost his considerable fortune as partner in a bank which failed, and was allowed by the Court of Directors, in consideration of the special circumstances, to return to the Madras service, 1803–4 : there he was Magte.-Collr. at Pondicherry, 1806, Judge of Court of Appeal, Southern Division, 1807 : Postmaster-General and Senior Member of the Board of Trade, 1813–5 : retiring Jan. I, 1816 : he died in 1840.

SUBBYAR, S. SHUNGRA (1836–1904)

Born April, 1836, of respectable parent age : educated in a Travancore State Seminary : served as a schoolmaster : Assistant to the Diwan in the Police, Educational and other Departments : as Diwan Peshkar and District Officer in several districts : was Special Commissioner in boundary disputes with the Cochin State : in the Revenue Settlement for nine years : Diwan in 1892 : retired, 1898 : effected administrative improvements, his services being highly appreciated : C.I.E., 1897 : Member of the Madras Legislative Council, 1898 : died Sept. 1904.