John Lorimer

John Gordon Lorimer CIE (14 June 1870 – 8 February 1914), also known as J. G. Lorimer, was a British diplomat, historian and colonial administrator. Working for the British Raj in Punjab and the Northwest frontier province, he later served in the Gulf region as British Political Resident. He is most famous for his encyclopedia, the Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia. Early life and career John Gordon Lorimer was born in Glasgow in 1870, a son of the Rev Robert Lorimer (1840–1926) a Free Church minister, and his wife Isabella Robertson. The Lorimer family was intimately associated with colonial service; his maternal uncle (who served as a judge) was killed during the Indian mutiny of 1857. His younger brother David Lockhart Robertson Lorimer served as British vice-consul in Arabistan. His other brother Robert worked in the Indian civil service until he was dismissed for refusing to participate in a flogging. His younger brother William Lorimer and younger sister Hilda Lockhart Lorimer were scholars.