author
1832–1872
A Scottish doctor and missionary, he spent his short career serving in Kashmir and left behind one of the early printed vocabularies of the Kashmiri language. His life joined medicine, language study, and travel in the Himalayas, ending unexpectedly soon after his return to the field.
by William Jackson Elmslie
Born in 1832, William Jackson Elmslie was a Scottish Presbyterian doctor from Aberdeen. He joined the Church Missionary Society in 1864 and began medical work in Srinagar in 1865, at a time when foreign missionaries were only allowed to stay in Kashmir during the summer months.
Alongside his medical work, he developed a serious interest in local language study. He is remembered in print for A Vocabulary of the Kashmiri Language, published in 1872, which reflects the care he gave to understanding the people among whom he worked.
In early 1872 he married Margaret Duncan and returned with her to Kashmir, but the journey turned tragic. Delayed too late in the season and caught in snow while leaving Srinagar, Elmslie died later that year in Gujrat. Memoirs written soon afterward helped preserve the story of his brief but committed life.