{{Short description|British historian, epigraphist and linguist (1847–1917)}} {{Primary sources|date=July 2010}} [[File:John-faithful fleet cropped low res.tif|thumb|John Faithfull Fleet 1912]] [[File:Allahabad inscription of Samudragupta.jpg|thumb|280px|English translation of the [[Allahabad pillar|Allahabad inscription of Samudragupta]], by John Faithfull Fleet, circa 1888.]] '''John Faithfull Fleet''' [[Order of the Indian Empire|C.I.E]] (1847 – 21 February 1917) was an English civil servant with the [[Indian Civil Service]] and became known as a historian, [[Epigraphy|epigraphist]] and linguist. His research in [[Indian epigraphy]] and [[Indian history|history]], conducted in [[India]] over a thirty-year period, is published in books including ''Pali, Sanskrit and Old Canarese Inscriptions'', ''The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of The Bombay Presidency from the earliest historical times to the Musalman Conquest'', and ''The Inscriptions of The Early Gupta Kings and their Successors''. He was a regular contributor to works journals covering Indian history. His published well-regarded works on inscriptions in the [[Sanskrit]], [[Pali]] and [[Kannada]] languages and on the history of dynasties such as the [[Guptas]], [[Kadambas]], [[Aulikaras]], [[Chalukyas]], [[Rashtrakutas]] and [[Seunas]].<ref name=Barnett>Barnett, L. D. [https://www.jstor.org/pss/25189556 "Obituary Notice: John Faithfull Fleet, C.I.E."] ''[[The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland]]'', April 1917, pp. 415–18, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, reprinted at JSTOR, accessed 15 July 2010 (subscription required).</ref>
==Early life== Fleet was born to John George Fleet, a London wholesale sugar dealer,<ref>''The Times'', June 2, 1922, p. 16</ref> and Esther Faithfull of [[Headley, Surrey]], England, in 1847. He was educated at the [[Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood|Merchant Taylors' School]] in London.<ref name=Barnett/> His five brothers included [[Vice-Admiral]] Henry Louis Fleet (born 1851-1923), [[Rutland Barrington]] (1853–1922), a star in [[Gilbert and Sullivan]] operas, and actor Duncan Fleet (born 1860, date of death unknown). He also had two sisters.<ref>The Times, June 7, 1922, p. 9</ref> His aunt, [[Emily Faithfull]], was an activist and dramatic reader.
===Early career and interests=== Fleet was appointed to the [[Indian Civil Service]] (ICS) in the year 1865, and to prepare himself for this, he studied [[Sanskrit]] at [[University College London]]. In 1867, he moved to the [[Bombay Presidency]] (then a British province in western India) and soon held the posts of Assistant Collector and then Magistrate, Educational Inspector, in the Southern Division (1872), Assistant Political Agent in [[Kolhapur]] and the Southern Maratha Country (1875), and Collector and Magistrate (1882).<ref name=Barnett/>
Meanwhile, he continued with his interest in Sanskrit and the inscriptions that were abundant on stone and copper plate in the Bombay Presidency. He began publishing articles about the inscriptions in the mid-1860s. His studies soon led him to study another language, [[Kannada]], both in its ancient and modern forms.<ref name=Barnett/><ref>Fleet (1894), pp. i-ii</ref>
===Eminence=== Fleet was soon establishing a reputation through his papers on the epigraphy and history of Southern India in fora such as the [[Asiatic Society of Mumbai|Bombay Asiatic Society]] and ''[[The Indian Antiquary]]'', founded in 1872 (he later edited it from the 14th to 20th editions (1885–92)). He also published his works on the ''Pali, Sanskrit and old Canarese Inscriptions'' for the [[India Office]] in 1878. Fleet became the first epigraphist of the Government of India when such a post was created in 1883. After three years as the epigraphist, he was appointed as the Collector and Magistrate of Sholapur in 1886.<ref name=Barnett/>
One of his greatest works was on the hitherto uncharted [[Gupta]] period. ''The Inscriptions of The Early Gupta Kings and their Successors'' (1889), forming the third volume of the ''Corpus Inscriptionarum Indicum'', was a well-regarded example of his scholarship. Meanwhile, his civil service career progressed. He was appointed the Senior Collector in 1889, Commissioner of the Southern Divisions in 1891, and also Central Divisions in 1892. He was made the Commissioner of Customs in 1893.<ref name=Barnett/>
In 1895, the best of his works, ''The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of The Bombay Presidency from the earliest historical times to the Musalman Conquest'', was published in the ''[[Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency]]''. It was a synthesis of all the data that he had collected over the years through epigraphic and historical sources in his areas of interest. The work deals with a number of dynasties, from the [[Kadamba Dynasty|Kadamba]]s, Gangas of [[Eastern Ganga Dynasty|Orissa]] and [[Western Ganga Dynasty|Karnataka]], and [[Lata (region)|Latas]], to the [[Chalukya]]s, [[Rashtrakuta]]s, and [[Seuna]]s. The work formed a basis for further studies of the periods covered by these dynasties.<ref name=Barnett/><ref>Fleet (1894), p. 6 and pp. 511–32</ref>
===Retirement and death=== Fleet retired from the ICS in 1897 and returned to England to settle in [[Ealing]]. He was now able to devote his full time to his epigraphical studies and continued with his valuable contributions to the [[Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland]] and ''[[Epigraphia Indica]]''. In 1906, he became the Honorary Secretary of the Society and was awarded its "gold medal" in 1912.
Before his death in 1917 at age 69, he published the ''Ballads of the Peasantry'' with its music in the ''[[Indian Antiquary]]''.<ref name=Barnett/>
==Fellowships== * Hon' Secretary, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. * Member, Bombay Branch of The Royal Asiatic Society. * Member of the [[Asiatic Society of Bengal]]. * Corresponding Member of [[The Royal Society of Science, Göttingen]]. * Fellow of [[The University of Bombay]].<ref>Fleet (1894), pp. 4–5</ref>
==See also== * [[Tosham rock inscription]] * [[Sondani inscription]]
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==References== *Fleet, J. F. "'The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency" (1894), ''Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency'' (Vol-1, Part-II, Book-III) {{ISBN|81-206-0277-3}}
==External links== *[https://books.google.com/books?id=7yQv_AkyG_wC&dq=%22John+Faithfull+Fleet%22&pg=PA205 Biographical sketch of Fleet] in ''Eminent orientalists, Indian, European, American'' (1922, reprinted 1991) *Fleet, J. F. [https://books.google.com/books?id=3Q4PAAAAYAAJ&q=%22John+Faithfull+Fleet%22 "Sanskrit and Old Canarese Inscriptions"] in ''Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society'' (1876) *Fleet, J. F. [https://books.google.com/books?id=coFCAAAAIAAJ&q=%22John+Faithfull+Fleet%22 ''The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of The Bombay Presidency from the earliest historical times to the Musalman Conquest'' (1882)] *Fleet, J. F. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uVEXAAAAYAAJ&q=%22John+Faithfull+Fleet%22 ''Indian Epigraphy'' (1907)]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fleet, John Faithfull}} [[Category:Indian Civil Service (British India) officers]] [[Category:1847 births]] [[Category:1917 deaths]] [[Category:Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire]] [[Category:Alumni of University College London]]