Annette Beveridge


Annette Susannah Beveridge was a British Orientalist known for her translation of the Humayun-nama and the Babur-nama.

Background and education

Annette Akroyd's father William Akroyd was a Unitarian industrialist associated with the establishment of the Bedford College, London in 1849, where she completed her study in 1863.

Work in India

In October 1872 she sailed for British India. Around 1875 she was involved in a public controversy with Keshub Chandra Sen, an Indian philosopher and social reformer who attempted to incorporate Christian theology within the framework of Hindu thought. Akroyd was shocked by her discussions with him and felt that Sen, who spoke up for women's education in England, was a typical Hindu obscurantist back home in India, trying to keep knowledge from the minds of women. This dispute spilled into the native press and had its impact on the Bethune School. Akroyd was also dismayed with Sen's associates such as Bijoy Krishna Goswami, Aghore Nath Gupta and Gour Govinda Ray, who were traditionally Hindu in educational background and resisted the education of women.

Translation

Annette Beveridge translated the diaries of the first Mughal Emperor Babur, the Baburnama, publishing it in four books from 1912 to 1922. She used both Persian and Turki sources.
She also translated the biography of the second Mughal Emperor, Humayun, from Persian into English. The memoir had been written by his sister Gulbadan Begum, whom Beveridge affectionately called "Princess Rosebud". Her other translated works include The key of the hearts of beginners, 1908.

Marriage and children

She married Henry Beveridge of the Indian Civil Service.
The couple had two children: a daughter, Annette Jeanie Beveridge, who married R. H. Tawney, and a son, William Beveridge, a noted economist who gave his name to the report associated with the foundation of the welfare state.
The Beveridges lived at Pitfold, Shottermill, Surrey, England.