John Hubert Marshall was born in Chester in 1876. He graduated from Kings College Cambridge and in 1902 was appointed Director-General of Archaeology within the British Indian administration. Marshall modernised the approach to archaeology, introducing a programme of cataloguing and conservation of ancient monuments and artefacts. In 1913, he began the excavations at Taxila, which lasted for twenty years. In 1918, he laid the foundation stone for the Taxila Museum, which today hosts many artifacts and one of Marshall's few portraits. He then moved on to other sites, including the Buddhist centres of Sanchi and Sarnath. His work provided evidence of age of Indian civilisation especially Indus Valley Civilization and Mauryan age (Ashoka's Age). Marshall was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) in June 1910 and knighted in January 1915.
Sir Richard Olaf Winstedt was born in Oxford and graduated from New College, Oxford. In 1902 he became a cadet in the Federated Malay States Civil Service, and was posted to Perak where he studied Malay language and culture. In 1913 he was appointed District Officer in Kuala Pilah, and in 1916 appointed to the Education Department. In 1920 he received his DLitt degree from Oxford. He served as the first President of Raffles College, Singapore, 1928–1931. During his presidency, he also served as acting Secretary to the High Commissioner, 1923, Director of Education for Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States (FMS), as a member of Legislative Council, Straits Settlements, 1924–1931 and as a member of the FMS Federal Council, 1927–1931. He was president of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1927, 1929 and 1931. After a term as General Adviser to Johore, 1931–1935, Winstedt retired from the Malayan Civil Service. He returned to England and was appointed Lecturer, then Reader, and ultimately Honorary Fellow, in Malay, at the School of Oriental Studies in London, where he also served as a member of the Governing Body, 1939–1959. During World War II, he broadcast in Malay to Japanese-occupied Malaya. He retired from active teaching in 1946.
Winstedt was very involved with the Royal Asiatic Society towards the end of his teaching career. He serving multiple terms as the Society's Director (1940-43, 1946-49, 1952-55, 1958-61) and President (1943-46, 1949-52, 1955-58, 1961-64). In recognition of all this administrative work as well as of his scholarship he was awarded, in 1947, the Society's Gold Medal. He was elected as the Society's Honorary Vice-President in 1964.
Lionel David Barnett born in Liverpool and educated in Liverpool and Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1899, he joined the British Museum as Assistant Keeper in the Department of Oriental Printed Books and Manuscripts. In 1908 he became Keeper, remaining in the post until his retirement in 1936. He was also Professor of Sanskrit at University College, London from 1906 to 1917, founding Lecturer in Sanskrit at the School of Oriental Studies (1917–1948), Lecturer in Ancient Indian History and Epigraphy (1922–1948), and Librarian of the School (1940–1947). In 1948, at the age of 77, he rejoined the British Museum, which was desperately short of staff, as an Assistant Keeper, remaining there until his death.
Ralph Lilley Turner was born in London in 1888, and educated in London and at Christ's College, Cambridge. In 1913, he joined the Indian Educational Service as a lecturer at Queen's College, Benares. From 1915 to 1919, he served with the 2nd battalion, 3rd Queen Alexandra's Own Gurkha Rifles in the British Indian Army during World War I, winning the Military Cross in Palestine. From 1920 to 1922, he was Professor of Indian Linguistics at Benares Hindu University.
In 1922, Turner returned to England as Professor of Sanskrit at the School of Oriental Studies at the University of London. Between 1924 and 1932, he also published several papers on Romani Studies in the Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, including "On the position of Romani in Indo-Aryan" (1927). He was Director of the school from 1937 to 1957, although he continued to occupy his Chair as well until 1954. He was knighted in 1950. His magnum opus, the Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan languages was published in 1966.
Walter Perceval Yetts was born in Reading and educated in London and Lausanne. He entered the Royal Navy Medical Service in 1903 and retired with the rank of staff surgeon in 1912. He was acting medical officer at the British legation in 1913 and served in the Royal Army Medical Corps during World War I. From 1920 to 1927 he was a medical officer in the Ministry of Health. In 1930 he made a major career change when he was appointed the first lecturer in Chinese art and archaeology at the School of Oriental Studies at London University. In 1932 he became Professor of Chinese Art and Archaeology at London University and held the post until his retirement in 1946.
Sir Keppel Archibald Cameron Creswell was born and educated in London. He developed considerable skills in draughtsmanship and worked for Siemens Brothers and then, from 1914, the Deutsche Bank in London. By 1910 his interests were drawn to Islamic architecture for which he started collecting a library that was eventually to become one of the most comprehensive private collections of its kind. As well as working at his engineering day job, he spent time studying eastern architecture. In May 1914 he applied, unsuccessfully, to join the Archaeological Survey of India. The First World War broke out in August of that year, and in April 1916 he was selected on probation for appointment as Assistant Equipment Officer in the Royal Flying Corps. Some time afterwards he was posted to Egypt. He rose through the ranks, and by July 1919 had been appointed (as an Army Captain) as Inspector of Monuments under General Allenby's Occupied Enemy Territory Administration in Palestine and Syria.
In May 1920 Creswell drew up a proposal for a History of the Muslim Architecture of Egypt - this project was to continue until his death in 1974 with a sixth volume prepared but unpublished at that time. Creswell was appointed a lecturer at Fuad University (now Cairo University) in Cairo in 1931, and within three years was made Professor of Islamic Art and Architecture. He held this post until 1951. In 1956 he was appointed a Distinguished Professor of Islamic Art and Architecture at the American University in Cairo. In June 1973, his health failing, Creswell returned to England. He died on 8 April 1974.