The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland was founded by the eminent Sanskrit scholar Sir Henry Thomas Colebrooke on the 15th March 1823. It received its Royal Charter from King George IV on the 11th August 1824 'for the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encouragement of science, literature and the arts in relation to Asia'. It continues as a forum for those who are interested in the languages, cultures and history of Asia to meet and exchange ideas.

William Harrison Moreland was a British civil servant who served in the Indian Civil Service and wrote several books on the economic history of India based on Mughal, Dutch, and Portuguese sources. Moreland was born in Belfast, Ireland, son of William Harrison of Glen House, Crawfordsburn. He studied at Clifton College, Somerset (1881-1886) and joined the Indian Civil Services spending probation studying at Trinity College, Cambridge and receiving an LL.B. in 1889 after which he went to India. He served as assistant commissioner (1894), joint magistrate (1897), magistrate and collector (1899) and became Director of Land Records and Agriculture in the United Provinces in 1899. He simplified the system of land revenue. He retired in 1914 due to loss of hearing but worked as an advisor in Central India for two years. Returning to England, he studied the economic history of India.