John T. (John Thompson) Platts

Born in Calcutta on August 1, 1830, he grew up in difficult family circumstances after his father died young. He was educated locally and began his working life in India, first teaching mathematics and then moving into educational posts that brought him into close contact with Hindustani, Urdu, and Persian.

After serving at schools and colleges in places including Saugor and Benares, he returned to England and continued teaching and writing. In 1880 he was elected teacher of Persian at the University of Oxford, and his work there helped establish his reputation as a careful and practical language scholar.

He is best remembered for reference works that stayed useful long after his lifetime, especially his grammars of Hindustani and Persian and his dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English. He died in London on September 21, 1904.