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James Prinsep

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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JAMES PRINSEP (1799-1840), Anglo-Indian scholar and antiquary, was born on the 10th of August 1799. In 1819 he was given an appointment in the Calcutta mint, where he ultimately became assay-master, succeeding H. H. Wilson, whom he likewise succeeded as secretary of the Asiatic Society. Apart from architectural work (chiefly at Benares), his leisure was devoted to Indian inscriptions and numismatics, and he is remembered as the first to decipher and translate the rock edicts of Asoka. Returning to England in 18 3 8 in broken health, he died in London on the 22nd of April 1840. Prinsep's Ghat, an archway on the bank of the Hugli, was erected to his memory by the citizens of Calcutta.