British army officer in India, Orientalist and lexicographer Thomas Roebuck passed away on this day in Calcutta.

Born in Scotland, Roebuck left for India in 1801 to join the army as an infantry cadet. He learned Hindustani. He was attached to Fort William College, Madras (now Chennai). Roebuck was also a member of The Asiatic Society.

He compiled An English and Hindustani Naval Dictionary. He oversaw the publication of a Hindustani version of Persian tales and edited a Hindu-Persian dictionary. He compiled The Annals of the College of Fort William (1819) and compiled and translated the major part of A Collection of Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases in the Persian and Hindustani Languages (1824).

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