Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, 1st Baronet (1810-1895) was born at Chadlington, Oxfordshire. In 1827 he went to India as a cadet under the British East India Company. After six years with his regiment as subaltern, during which time he had become proficient in the Persian language, he was sent to Persia in company with other British officers to drill and reorganize the Shah's troops. It was at this time that he was first attracted to the study of...
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Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, 1st Baronet (1810-1895) was born at Chadlington, Oxfordshire. In 1827 he went to India as a cadet under the British East India Company. After six years with his regiment as subaltern, during which time he had become proficient in the Persian language, he was sent to Persia in company with other British officers to drill and reorganize the Shah's troops. It was at this time that he was first attracted to the study of inscriptions, more particularly those in the hitherto undeciphered cuneiform character. In the course of the two years during which he was in its immediate neighbourhood he transcribed as much as he was able of the great cuneiform inscription at Behistun. This trilingual inscription dated to the 5th century B.C. and the Medes and Persian ruler Darius the Great. Friction between the Persian court and the British government ended in the departure of the British officers.
Rawlinson was appointed political agent at Kandahar in 1840. In that...
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