Alexander Gerard was born in Aberdeen in 1792, son of Gilbert Gerard and grandson of Alexander Gerard, the Scottish minister and philosopher. He and his two brothers all served in India. Gerard graduated from Kings College, Aberdeen, in 1808 when he was appointed to a cadetship in the 13th Bengal Infantry. He was employed in the survey of the route from Dehli to Lahore in 1812. In 1814 he was promoted to lieutenant, and appointed to survey the Saharanpur district, which he completed in 1819. He was surveyor of the Narmada valley in 1825, and surveyor in Malwa and Rajputana in 1826 and 1827. During the surveys in the Himalayas he ascended heights previously believed to be inaccessible, and penetrated into Tibet as far as the frontier pickets of Chinese would allow. Some of the earliest discoveries of the geological structure and remains of the Himalayan ranges come from his work. Gerard was a Persian scholar and versed in other oriental languages. He was also an accurate topographer and observant traveller. Bad health, the result of hardships endured in the course of his survey duties and travels, led to his retirement from the service on 22 February 1836. He died in Aberdeen on 15 December 1839, aged 48.
Sir Alexander Johnston, PC, FRS (25 April 1775 – 6 March 1849), was born in Carnsalloch, Dumfriesshire but moved with his family to India when his father received a posting in the Madras Presidency. He returned to England to study law. Johnston became a British colonial official who served as third Chief Justice of Ceylon and second Advocate Fiscal of Ceylon. He introduced a range of administrative reforms to the country and was an advocate of the rights of the native people. He was also an orientalist and along with Henry Thomas Colebrooke and others he was a founding member of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.