COLEBROOKE, HENRY THOMAS, en eminent Oriental scholar, was the third son of Sir George Colobrooke, Bart., and was bore in 1765. His mother was Mary, only daughter and heiress of Patrick Gaynor, Esq. of Antigua. He was never at any public school, but was educated at home by a private tutor. In his twelfth year he was sent to France, and he remained in that country till he was sixteen. His own inclination at this time was to enter the church ; hut the position of his father, who was one of the directors of the East India Company, naturally led to the selection of smother career for him, and in 1789 he was appointed to a writership in India. For the first three years after he wont out he resided at Calcutta, and was attached to the Board of Accounts; he was then transferred to the revenue depart ment at Tirhoot. During his residence at this station, ho acquired a fondness for field sports, which he retained while he lived. lu 17S9 he was removed to Purneah ; and having been soon after appointed a member of a commission deputed by the government to investigate the resources of Bengal, he drew up, in conjunction with Mr. Lambert, a merchant of Calcutta, and printed for private circulation, in 1794, a very able tract, entitled 'Remarks on the Agriculture and Commerce of Bengal, by a Civil Servant of the Company,' which, besides a mass of new and valuable information, announced some propositions much beyond the current ideas of the time; among others, that of a free trade between India and England. Colebrooke's portion of this treatise was reprinted and published in London, in 1806, under the title of 'Remarks on the Husbandry and Internal Commerce of Bengal ;' and an account of it may be read in the ' Edinburgh Review,' No. 19 (for April 1807), pp. 27-40. Some time before this Mr. Colcbrooke had begun to study the Sanscrit ; and, having now undertaken the trans lation of the collection or digest of libidos) law formed under the superintendence of Sir William Jones, he had finished his task before the close of the year 1796; and the work was published, under the title of 'A Digest of Hindu Law on Contracts and Successions, from the Original Sanscrit; in 8 vols. 8vo, at Calcutta, in 1797. Soon after the foundation of the College of Fort William he was appointed to the Professorship of the Sanscrit Language; which he appears to have held till he was removed to a judicial situation at alirzapore. lie was subsequently promoted to be Chief Judge of the courts of Sudder Dewannee Adawlut and Niznmut Adawlut; and be was for a time President of the Board of Revenue, and a member of the Supreme Council of Bengal. He was also for some years a Director of tire
Asiatic Society of Bengal ; and many of the most valuable papers in their traneactious (The Asiatic Researches) were contributed by him; particularly, 'On the Duties of n Faithful Hindu Widow,' in vol. iv.; 'Examination of Iudinn Classes,' in vol. v.; three Essays on the Religious Ceremonies of the Hindus, and of the Brahmans especially,' in vole. v. and vii.; 'On the Senscrit and Pracrit Languages,' and others, in vol. vii.; a highly curious discourse 'On the Vedas, or Sacred Writings of the Hindus,' in vol. viii.; ' Observations on the Sect of Jaime" On the Indian and Arabian Divisions of the Zodisc,' ' On Ancient Monuments containing Sanscrit Inscription",' and others, in vol. ix.; a very elaborate disquisition On Sanscrit and Pracrit Poetry' (or rather prosody), in vol. x.; and 'On the Notiou of the Hindu Astronomers concerning the Precession of the Equinoxes and Motions of the Planets,' in vol. xii. To the Trsnsisetious of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain,' after his return to his native country, he contributed a 'Discourse,' read at the institution of the Society (15th March 1823), and other papers, in vol. i.; and five papers On the Philoeophy of the Hindus,' in vols. i. and ii.; and he was also an occasional writer in the 'Asiatic Journal.' Ile likewise published at various times the following separate works :—' A Collec tion of Compositions in Sanscrit, for the use of the Students of the College of Fort William, including Cho Ilitopadese, with Introductory Remarks? 4to, Calcutta, 1804; ' Grammar of the Snuecrit Language,' folio, Calcutta, 1805 ; 'Amera Coelia, or Dictionary of the Sanscrit Language, by Amera Sinha, with an English Interpretation and Anno tations,' 4to, Calcutta, 1808; 'Two Treatises on the Hindu Law of Inheritance, translated front the Sanscrit; 4to, Calcutta, 1S10; ' Algebra, with Arithmetic) and Mensuration, from the Sanecrit of Brabmegupta and Bhascara,' 4to, Lond., 1817; a tract 'On the Import of Colonial Corn,' 8vo, Lond., 1818; and Miscellaneous Essays' (or reprints of previously published papers and prefaces), 2 vols. 8vo, Loud., 1837. He also, in conjunction with Professor Wilson, trans lated from the Sansciit, for the Oriental Translation Fund, ' Sankhya Karika, or Memorial Verses on the Sankhya Philosophy, also the Bhashya,' &c., 4to, Oxford, 1837. Mr. Colebrooke held, along with his two brothers, the patent place of Chirographer in the Court of Common Pleas. He died on the 18th of March 1837.