Sir William Jones

William Jones (London, 1746 – Calcutta, 1794) was an English jurist, orientalist and scholar of Sanskrit whose work opened a field of study that for more than a century shaped the relationship between Europe and the Indian subcontinent. The son of a distinguished mathematician, he came from a peasant family of Anglesey and showed a remarkable aptitude for languages from an early age.

He was educated at Harrow and at University College, Oxford. In 1766 he became tutor to Lord Althorp, only son of the first Earl Spencer, and for five years he had access to an exceptional library. He moved in the literary circles of his day, knew Johnson, Burke and Gibbon, and came into contact with Enlightenment figures such as Rousseau. Before he turned twenty-three, he translated the history of Nadir Shah into French for King Christian VII of Denmark. He was admitted to the Bar in 1774 and, in 1783, was knighted and appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Calcutta, where he remained until his death.

In India he undertook the study of Eastern languages. In 1784 he founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal, which for more than a hundred years was the principal centre for the study of the languages, literatures, history and customs of the subcontinent. In the field of music, his only published essay on Hindu music reveals a profound knowledge of Sanskrit and an attentive, sympathetic outlook. His interest is also reflected in his correspondence with Margaret Fowke, an amateur who gathered Indian melodies; Jones translated lyrics for her and received copies of the melodies. However, attempts to transcribe those pieces into European notation proved unsuccessful, and they bore only a distant resemblance to authentic Indian music.

His legacy is above all intellectual: his observations on India laid the foundations for generations of scholars, and his talents were recognised by first-rank contemporaries such as Goethe.