Who was SOAS’s first graduate?

By Angel Lambo|February 21, 2017|1910s|2 comments

K A Subranamia Iyer was one of the SOAS’s first students, enrolling on the Sanskrit and Pali programme in 1917 at the then School of Oriental Studies. Born in 1896, he matriculated in 1912 and by the time he came to the School had already studied in Paris and London. He was the School’s first graduate, receiving in 1920 the Diploma in Sanskrit for ‘research in Indology.’ He returned to

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The role of SOAS in 178 Years of Chinese Studies in the UK

By |February 13, 2015|1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1970s, SOAS in the world, The World at SOAS, Uncategorized, Women at SOAS|0 comments

Exactly 178 years ago, in 1837, the University of London established the UK’s first-ever professorship for Chinese, heralding the founding of Chinese Studies in this country. The Chair of Chinese is linked to a collection of Chinese books donated to the University in 1834 by the missionary Robert Morrison. The “Morrison collection” lay at the basis of what is now one of Europe’s largest collections of Chinese books, held at the

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