author
1863–1942
Best known for The Khasis, he wrote from long firsthand experience in colonial Assam, combining administration, military service, and ethnographic observation. His work remains a notable early account of Khasi life, customs, and oral tradition.
by P. R. T. (Philip Richard Thornhagh) Gurdon
Born in 1863 and died in 1942, he was a British army officer, colonial administrator, and writer whose career was closely tied to Assam in northeastern India. Reference sources identify him as Sir Philip Richard Thornhagh Gurdon and note that he served in the Indian Army and later in senior administrative posts in Assam.
He is most closely associated with The Khasis (1914), a detailed study of Khasi society covering customs, law, religion, folklore, and language. He also wrote on related subjects including Assam and its peoples, and his books are still read today mainly for their historical and ethnographic value.
Because his writing grew out of the colonial world in which he worked, modern readers may approach it both as a rich record and as a document shaped by its time. Even so, his careful attention to local traditions helped preserve material that might otherwise have been lost.