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Joseph Edkins was a British Protestant missionary who spent 57 years in China. He was a Sinologue, specialising in Chinese religions. He was also a linguist, a translator, and a philologist ad was author of many books about the Chinese language and the Chinese religions especially Buddhism. Born in Gloucestershire he became a Protestant minister and was sent by the London Missionary Society, to Shanghai. He worked in the London Missionary Society Press and undertook the translation of many western scientific works into Chinese. He was an active member of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.

He returned to England in 1858 and was married to Jane Rowbotham Stobbs. They returned to Shanghai. In 1860 the Edkins family moved to Yantai, Shandong, and in 1861 to Tianjin. After his first wife's death he married Janet Wood White i 1863 and they moved to Beijing. He travelled to England in 1873 but was back in China by 1876.

In 1880 he resigned from the London Missionary Society to become a translator for the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs. He was widowed a second time in 1877 and married Johanna Schmidt in 1881. He was appointed to edit and translate a series of Western scientific works into Chinese, resulting in 16 Primers for Western Knowledge (西學啟蒙十六種) published in 1898, which comprised textbooks about zoology, botany, chemistry, geography, physiology, logic and other subjects. In 1903 he survived typhoid and was still writing at the age of 81. He died in Shanghai on Easter Sunday, 1905.

John Fisher Turner was born in 1881, the son of a barrister. He was educated at Rugby and the Royal Marine Academy at Woolwich before being commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1900. He served in the North-west Frontier in 1908 and became the Chief Engineer of the Royal Air Force, India, from 1928-1931. He is remembered for his ingenuity in designing decoy sites in Britain during World War II. He died on 21 May 1958. He never married.

John George Taylor was an archaeologist, son of Captain [later Colonel] R. Taylor, who was the Assistant Political Agent in Basra from 1818-1822. John Taylor was appointed the Hon. East India Company's Agent and H.M. Vice-Consul at Basra from 8 August 1851 to 30 September 1858, and from 1859 H.M. Consul-General for Kurdistan at Diyarbekir and Erzerum. He excavated at Ur (1854) as a direct result of an earlier visit by William Kennett Loftus (q.v.), and at Abu Shahrain and Tell al-Lahm (1855). He must also have returned to Ur in 1858.

In 1861 he recovered stelae of Ashurnasirpal II and Shalmaneser III at Kurkh near Diyarbekir, and he was commissioned to excavate in this region on behalf of the British Museum.

Frederic John Goldsmid was born in Milan on the 19th May 1818; during his early years living in France he was already considered a good linguist as he was proficient in Italian, French and English. He received his education from King's College School, Paris and partly at King's College School, London. In 1839 he entered the Madras Army, joining his regiment, the 37th Madras N.I. Preceding the treaty of Nankin, China, Goldsmid's regiment was ordered to proceed to China and take part in the actions at Canton after which Goldsmid was awarded the Chinese war medal. During his time in Canton, Goldsmid was also appointed as the Adjutant of his regiment which lead him to turn his attention to the study of Eastern languages, such as Persian, Arabic and Turkish in addition to Urdu, Sindhi and other Indian vernaculars. In 1845 he qualified as an interpreter in Hindustani.

Due to ill health Goldsmid returned to England. However in 1848 he travelled back to India and continued his studies in languages, passing the qualifying exams in 1849. He was appointed Interpreter for Persian and in 1851 for Arabic. It was during this year he took on the role of Assistant-Adjutant-General of the Nagpur Subsidiary. Through the influence of General John Jacob, Goldsmid entered civil employment and later went on to work as the Assistant Commissioner for Special Enquiry into 'the Settlement of Alienated Lands' in Sindh, India.

In 1855, after taking ill again, Goldsmid volunteered for active service in Crimea becoming the Assistant-Adjutant-General for the Turkish Contingent under General Vivian. During this time Goldsmid learnt Turkish, after which he was elected as the President for the Local Examining Committee at Kerch, Crimea. For his war efforts in Crimea he was honoured with the Turkish war medal, the order of the fourth class Medjidieh and the brevet rank of the Major in the Army.

In 1862 returning to India as Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel. Golsmid accompanied Colonel Patrick Stewart, as they were commissioned to establish overland telegraphic communication from Europe through Persia and Baluchistan to India. Following the death of Colonel Stewart, Goldsmid was appointed as the Director-General of the Indo-European Telegraph. After this post, Goldsmid was commissioned with the most difficult task of his career, in 1871, defining the boundary between Persia and Afghanistan for which he was honoured by Her Majesty's Government for his 'tact and good judgment under circumstances of no ordinary difficulty'.

After 35 years in service, Goldsmid retired from Government service but he was still considered indispensable and in 1880 he accepted the office of British Controller of the 'Daira Sanieh' (Crown lands) in Egypt. During his time in Egypt he was dispatched by Lord Granville on a mission to Constantinople. On his return to Alexandria, Goldsmid organised an Intelligence Department which resulted in the victory of Tel-el-Kebir. Leaving Egypt and travelling through the Congo, Goldsmid became severely ill and returned to London on the 31st December 1883.

However during the remaining years of his life he devoted his attention partly to literary work, newspapers reviews and works of reference like the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica'. His other literary achievements includes works such as, 'Telegraph and Travel' , 'Eastern Persia' , a paper on 'Preservation of National literature in the East' and the biography, 'Life of Outram' . He was an active member of the Royal Asiatic Society, serving on its Council, including acting as Vice-President from 1890-1905. On 12th January 1908, Goldsmid died and was buried at Hollingburne, Kent, where he once lived for many years.