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{{Short description|British civil servant and ethnographer (1873–1915)}} | |||
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}} | {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}} | ||
{{Infobox person | |||
|name = | |||
|image=Robert Vane Russell (1873-1915).png | |||
|caption =Robert Vane Russell at school | |||
|birth_date={{Birth date|1873|8|8}} | |||
|death_date={{Death date and age|1915|12|30|1873|8|8}} | |||
|father=Charles Robert Tilden Russell | |||
|mother= | |||
| education = | |||
| alma_mater = {{plainlist| | |||
*[[Trinity College, Cambridge]] | |||
*[[Winchester College]]}} | |||
| occupation = | |||
| known_for = Ethnography and Census Operations of British India | |||
}} | |||
'''Robert Vane Russell''' (8 August 1873 – 30 December 1915) was a British civil servant, known for his role as Superintendent of Ethnography for what was then the [[Central Provinces]] of [[British India]], coordinating the production of publications detailing the peoples of the region. Russell served as Superintendent of Census Operations for the [[1901 Census of India]].<ref name="Scholberg1970">{{cite book|author=Henry Scholberg|author-link=Henry Scholberg|title=The district gazetteers of British India: A bibliography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BYsZAAAAMAAJ|access-date=15 September 2011|year=1970|publisher=[Poststr. 4,] Inter Documentation|isbn=9780800212650}}</ref> | '''Robert Vane Russell''' (8 August 1873 – 30 December 1915) was a British civil servant, known for his role as Superintendent of Ethnography for what was then the [[Central Provinces]] of [[British India]], coordinating the production of publications detailing the peoples of the region. Russell served as Superintendent of Census Operations for the [[1901 Census of India]].<ref name="Scholberg1970">{{cite book|author=Henry Scholberg|author-link=Henry Scholberg|title=The district gazetteers of British India: A bibliography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BYsZAAAAMAAJ|access-date=15 September 2011|year=1970|publisher=[Poststr. 4,] Inter Documentation|isbn=9780800212650}}</ref> | ||
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Russell's father, Charles Robert Tilden Russell, was an officer in the [[Royal Navy]]. He was educated at [[Winchester College]] before attending [[Trinity College, Cambridge]] and then, in 1893, joining the [[Indian Civil Service]].<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Winchester College |title=Russell, Robert Vane |url=https://www.winchestercollegeatwar.com/archive/robert-vane-russell/ |access-date=2019-09-13}}</ref> | Russell's father, Charles Robert Tilden Russell, was an officer in the [[Royal Navy]]. He was educated at [[Winchester College]] before attending [[Trinity College, Cambridge]] and then, in 1893, joining the [[Indian Civil Service]].<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Winchester College |title=Russell, Robert Vane |url=https://www.winchestercollegeatwar.com/archive/robert-vane-russell/ |access-date=2019-09-13}}</ref> | ||
Together with an amateur archaeologist, | Together with an amateur archaeologist, Rai Bahadur Hira Lal, Russell compiled ''The Castes and Tribes of the Central Provinces'', published in 1916.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Hartland|first=E. Sidney|title=The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India by R. V. Russell, Rai Bahadur Hira Lāl|journal=Folklore|date=30 September 1916|volume=27|issue=3|pages=317–322|doi=10.1080/0015587X.1916.9718937|jstor=1255146}}</ref> This work was a product of the Ethnographic Survey of India that had been established in 1901, although it differed somewhat from earlier publications of similar origin because it relied more on [[Vedic]] literature than on the [[anthropometry|anthropometric]] methods and theories of [[Herbert Hope Risley]] and his sympathisers as a mechanism for investigation of the racial origins of caste.<ref name=Bates1995pp240-242>{{cite book |title=The Concept of Race in South Asia |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Delhi |year=1995 |editor-first=Peter |editor-last=Robb |first=Crispin |last=Bates |chapter=Race, Caste and Tribe in Central India: the early origins of Indian anthropometry |isbn=978-0-19-563767-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PwNkQgAACAAJ |pages=240–242 |access-date=9 December 2011}}</ref> According to Crispin Bates, this "highly anecdotal book" was influenced by [[Émile Senart]]'s ''Les Castes dans L'Inde'' and {{blockquote|From this source Russell and Hira Lal reasoned that the tribals could probably be identified as the Rakshasas (or devils) described in the Mahabharata, and were therefore an entirely distinct community, the Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas were Aryan invaders, and the Sudras were the original inhabitants of South Asia, reduced by them to a subordinate role. Thus although occupational descriptions were used, particularly in distinguishing the different ranks of Aryans, the hierarchy remained extreme (and definitively racial) in a form that was still probably unrecognisable to most participants in the social system itself at this time. In this way, although Risley's anthropometry had become unfashionable his views persisted.<ref name=Bates1995pp240-242 />}} | ||
Russell died when the ''[[SS Persia (1900)|SS Persia]]'' was torpedoed and sank off the coast of [[Crete]] on 30 December 1915.<ref>{{cite journal |journal=Nature |issue=2435 |page=363 |date=29 June 1916 |title=The Ethnography of Central India |volume=97 |doi=10.1038/097363a0|bibcode=1916Natur..97..363. |s2cid=3987749 }}</ref> | Russell died when the ''[[SS Persia (1900)|SS Persia]]'' was torpedoed and sank off the coast of [[Crete]] on 30 December 1915.<ref>{{cite journal |journal=Nature |issue=2435 |page=363 |date=29 June 1916 |title=The Ethnography of Central India |volume=97 |doi=10.1038/097363a0|bibcode=1916Natur..97..363. |s2cid=3987749 |doi-access=free }}</ref> | ||
==Works== | ==Works== | ||
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{{Sister project links| wikt=no | commons=no | b=no | n=no | q=no | s=Author:Robert Vane Russell | v=no | voy=no | species=no | d=no}} | {{Sister project links| wikt=no | commons=no | b=no | n=no | q=no | s=Author:Robert Vane Russell | v=no | voy=no | species=no | d=no}} | ||
* {{Gutenberg author | id= | * {{Gutenberg author | id=9405| name=Robert Vane Russell}} | ||
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Robert Vane Russell |sopt=t}} | * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Robert Vane Russell |sopt=t}} | ||
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[[Category:Indian Civil Service (British India) officers]] | [[Category:Indian Civil Service (British India) officers]] | ||
[[Category:British demographers]] | [[Category:British demographers]] | ||
[[Category:Central Provinces]] | [[Category:People from the Central Provinces]] | ||
[[Category:1873 births]] | [[Category:1873 births]] | ||
[[Category:1915 deaths]] | [[Category:1915 deaths]] | ||
Latest revision as of 08:36, 10 February 2026
Robert Vane Russell | |
|---|---|
.png) Robert Vane Russell at school | |
| Born | August 8, 1873 |
| Died | December 30, 1915 (aged 42) |
| Alma mater | |
| Known for | Ethnography and Census Operations of British India |
| Parent(s) |
|
Robert Vane Russell (8 August 1873 – 30 December 1915) was a British civil servant, known for his role as Superintendent of Ethnography for what was then the Central Provinces of British India, coordinating the production of publications detailing the peoples of the region. Russell served as Superintendent of Census Operations for the 1901 Census of India.[1]
Russell's father, Charles Robert Tilden Russell, was an officer in the Royal Navy. He was educated at Winchester College before attending Trinity College, Cambridge and then, in 1893, joining the Indian Civil Service.[2]
Together with an amateur archaeologist, Rai Bahadur Hira Lal, Russell compiled The Castes and Tribes of the Central Provinces, published in 1916.[3] This work was a product of the Ethnographic Survey of India that had been established in 1901, although it differed somewhat from earlier publications of similar origin because it relied more on Vedic literature than on the anthropometric methods and theories of Herbert Hope Risley and his sympathisers as a mechanism for investigation of the racial origins of caste.[4] According to Crispin Bates, this "highly anecdotal book" was influenced by Émile Senart's Les Castes dans L'Inde and
From this source Russell and Hira Lal reasoned that the tribals could probably be identified as the Rakshasas (or devils) described in the Mahabharata, and were therefore an entirely distinct community, the Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas were Aryan invaders, and the Sudras were the original inhabitants of South Asia, reduced by them to a subordinate role. Thus although occupational descriptions were used, particularly in distinguishing the different ranks of Aryans, the hierarchy remained extreme (and definitively racial) in a form that was still probably unrecognisable to most participants in the social system itself at this time. In this way, although Risley's anthropometry had become unfashionable his views persisted.[4]
Russell died when the SS Persia was torpedoed and sank off the coast of Crete on 30 December 1915.[5]
Works[edit | edit source]
_(14577097260).jpg)
- Russell, Robert Vane (1916). Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India. Vol. 1. Lal, Rai Bahadur Hira. London: Macmillan & Co.
- Russell, Robert Vane (1916). Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India. Vol. 2. Lal, Rai Bahadur Hira. London: Macmillan & Co.
- Russell, Robert Vane (1916). Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India. Vol. 3. Lal, Rai Bahadur Hira. London: Macmillan & Co.
- Russell, Robert Vane (1916). Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India. Vol. 4. Lal, Rai Bahadur Hira. London: Macmillan & Co.
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Henry Scholberg (1970). The district gazetteers of British India: A bibliography. [Poststr. 4,] Inter Documentation. ISBN 9780800212650. Retrieved 15 September 2011.
- ↑ "Russell, Robert Vane". Winchester College. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
- ↑ Hartland, E. Sidney (30 September 1916). "The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India by R. V. Russell, Rai Bahadur Hira Lāl". Folklore. 27 (3): 317–322. doi:10.1080/0015587X.1916.9718937. JSTOR 1255146.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Bates, Crispin (1995). "Race, Caste and Tribe in Central India: the early origins of Indian anthropometry". In Robb, Peter (ed.). The Concept of Race in South Asia. Delhi: Oxford University Press. pp. 240–242. ISBN 978-0-19-563767-0. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
- ↑ "The Ethnography of Central India". Nature. 97 (2435): 363. 29 June 1916. Bibcode:1916Natur..97..363.. doi:10.1038/097363a0. S2CID 3987749.