Augustus Hoernle

Dr. Augustus Rudolf Hoernle (1841-1918) was an English Orientalist. He was born in India, the son of an Anglican priest. He attended school in Switzerland, later moving to London and studying Sanskrit under Goldstucker. He returned to India in 1865, teaching first at a University in Benares and later in Calcutta.

Dr. Hoernle spent nearly his entire working life engaged in the study of Indo-Aryan languages and is perhaps best known for his decipherment of the Bower Manuscript.

Eventually, Hoernle was to lead the Asiatic Society of Bengal and retire to Oxford. It was during his time there that he obtained, was fooled by, and published a book on, forgeries obtained by George Macartney and created by Islam Akhun. The truth about these manuscripts was revealed to him by the explorer Sir Aurel Stein. Hoernle's reputation survived this revelation, however, and his obituaries tactfully omitted the incident.

References

* Hopkirk, Peter (1980). "Foreign Devils on the Silk Road: The Search for the Lost Cities and Treasures of Chinese Central Asia." Amherst: The University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 0-87023-435-8.