author
1863–1942
A British officer and colonial administrator in Assam, he wrote from close experience of the region and became known for detailed studies of Khasi society and language. His work remains a window into how one early twentieth-century observer tried to record the customs, beliefs, and everyday life of northeast India.
by P. R. T. (Philip Richard Thornhagh) Gurdon
Born in 1863, Philip Richard Thornhagh Gurdon served in the British Army and later in the administration of colonial India. Reliable records identify him as a lieutenant-colonel, a colonial administrator in Assam, and at times Commissioner of the Assam Valley Districts and acting Chief Commissioner of Assam.
He is best remembered as the author of The Khasis and other writings on the peoples of the region, including work on Assamese proverbs and on the Morans. Reference works on Indian studies describe him as an ethnographer as well as an administrator, reflecting the way his official career and his writing were closely connected.
Gurdon died in 1942. Today, his books are often read both as historical documents and as examples of how British officials tried to describe the communities they governed.