Henry Ernest Stapleton
Henry Ernest Stapleton (1878-1962) was an English chemist, historian of chemistry, Arabist, linguist, and numismatist specializing in the history of alchemy and chemistry in the medieval Islamic world. Biography
Born in Boroughbridge, Yorkshire, Stapleton attended Bradford Grammar School and St John's College, Oxford. He took a First in Chemistry (1899), did a year of research in Cambridge, then entered the Indian Education Service. His career was interrupted by the First World War: in 1915, he was commissioned first in the Indian Army Reserve, then joined the 24th Punjabis in Mesopotamia. He was in action at Ctesiphon and involved in the retreat to Kut-el-Amarah, and after his surrender, he spent two and a half years in a Turkish prison camp. Already an Oriental scholar, he used the time in captivity to study. After the war, he spent some time in Oxford and Jersey, and in late 1919 resumed his career with the Indian Education Service, in positions of leadership, including Principal of Presidency College, Calcutta, and Special Officer for the opening of Dacca University. He retired in 1933, went to Jersey, and in 1935 visited India again to catalogue and advise on the preservation of manuscripts in the library of Hyderabad University. He returned to Jersey, where he had a herd of Jersey cattle and experimented to try and increase the butter-fat content of their milk, and continued to research and engage with learned societies. Stapleton was a keen numismatist, specialising in Indian coins, and bequeathed his collection to the Ashmolean Museum. 