the natives and fitness for his position generally admitted : much trusted by Lord Elphinstone, the Governor of Bombay : was presented with purses on
retirement, and received an extra pension : regarded himself as slighted, being undecorated : died Jan. 27, 1890 : wrote Our Real Danger in India, 1877.
FORLONG, JAMES GEORGE RORKE (1824–1904)
Maj-General : born Nov. 1824 : educated as an Engineer : joined the Indian Army, 1843 : in the S. Mahratta Company, 1845–6 : in the Madras Army, 1847 : in the second Burmese war, 1852 : after the annexation, was head of the P.W.D. there : travelled widely, 1858–9 : on special public works, inquiries and construction of prisons in the Andamans : Superintending Engineer in Bengal, N.W.P., Rajputana, 1861–71 : Secretary and Chief Engineer, Oudh, 1872–7 : retired : wrote largely in periodicals on religions, archaeology, philology : wrote the Rivers of Life, or the Faiths of Mankind in all Lands, 1883; Short Studies in the Science of Comparative Religions, embracing all the Religions of Asia : a student of exploration, thought, and research in Oriental subjects : well versed in Indian religions and folklore of the East : died March 29, 1904.
FORREST, GEORGE WILLIAM (1846–)
Born Jan. 8, 1846 : son of Capt. George Forrest, V.C. : educated privately and at St. John's College, Cambridge : appointed to Bombay Educational Department, 1872 : Census Commissioner at Bombay, 1882 : on special duty in connexion with Bombay Records, 1884–8 : Professor of English History, Elphinstone College, 1887 : Director of Bombay Records, 1888 : Assistant Secretary to the Government of India : Director of Government of India Records, 1894–1900 : C.I.E., 1899 : wrote articles on "The Deforestation of India" in the Bombay Gazette : author of various Selections from State Papers : The Administration of Warren Hastings, The Administration of Lord Lansdowne, Sepoy Generals, Cities of India, History of the Indian Mutiny, etc. : F.R.G.S.
FORREST, THOMAS (1729?–1802?)
Midshipman, R.N., in 1745 : in the E.I. Co.'s service after 1748 : commanded a ship from 1762 : made fifteen voyages from India to the East, and four from England to India : he formed a settlement in 1770 at Balambangan, and in 1774–6 explored in New Guinea, the Sulu Archipelago, the Moluccas, etc., and wrote an account of his voyages : employed by Warren Hastings to obtain news of the French fleet which had escaped the English ships; he found it atAchin, and the information was very valuable. He made a voyage "from Bengal to Quedah" in 1783, and a voyage "from Calcutta to the Mergui Archipelago," 1790, discovering the Forrest Strait : besides other papers, he wrote a Treatise on the Monsoons in East India, 1782 : died about 1802.
FORSTER, GEORGE ( ? –1792)
In the E.I. Co.'s Civil Service, in 1782 : he travelled from India through Kashmir, Afghanistan, Herat, Persia, by the Caspian Sea to Russia : wrote A Journey from Bengal to England, through the Northern Part of India, Kashmir, Afghanistan, and Persia, and into Russia by the Caspian Sea, 1798 : also Sketches of the Mythology and Customs of the Hindus : in 1792, he died at Nagpur, on an embassy to the Mahrattas.
FORSTER, HENRY (1793–1862)
Son of Henry Pitts Forster (q.v.), of the E.I. Co.'s Civil Service : entered the Mahratta Army, but joined " Skinner's Horse" in 1816: was second in command in 1822 : was in the Pindari campaign, and at Mahidpur : about 1834 he raised the Shekhawati Brigade and won several engagements against insurgents in Rajputana : was in the Satlaj campaign of 1845–6 with his Brigade : made C.B. and Colonel in the Queen's Army in 1854. In the mutiny his Shekhawati battalion was deputed to reduce the rebel 34th N.I., in Chota Nagpur : died in Calcutta, Oct. 9, 1862.
FORSTER, HENRY PITTS (1766?–1816)
In the E.I. Co.'s Bengal Civil Service, joined in 1783 : Registrar of the Sadr DiwaniAdalat of the Twenty-four Parganas, 1794 : published the first English-Bengali vocabulary in 1799–1802, and, largely through his efforts, Bengali became the official as well as the literary language of