Edward Johnston

Edward Hamilton Johnston (26 March 1885 – 24 October 1942) was a British oriental scholar who was Boden Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Oxford from 1937 until his death.

Life Edward Hamilton Johnston was born on 26 March 1885; his father was Reginald Johnston, Governor of the Bank of England from 1909 to 1911. He was educated at Eton College before studying at New College, Oxford, switching to history after a year of mathematics and obtaining a first-class degree in 1907. He joined the Indian Civil Service, winning the Boden Sanskrit Scholarship during his probation, and worked in India from 1909 onwards in various capacities. He took the opportunity to retire in 1924 after working in India for 15 years, and returned to England. Writing in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, his predecessor as Boden Professor, F. W. Thomas, said that "friends and orientalists" will have "widely deplored" his death, since he was "favourably situated for a long continuation of the highly congenial work to which he had brought a vigorous competence." Thomas added that Johnston was "accessible and helpful" to his war-time students.