Arthur Berriedale Keith

The grave of Arthur Berriedale Keith, Grange Cemetery, Edinburgh

Arthur Berriedale Keith (5 April 1879 – 6 October 1944) was a Scottish constitutional lawyer, scholar of Sanskrit and Indologist. He became Regius Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology and Lecturer on the Constitution of the British Empire in the University of Edinburgh. He served in this role from 1914 to 1944.

Biography[]

Arthur Berriedale Keith was born in Edinburgh, the fourth child and third son of Davidson Keith (1842–1921), an advertising agent, and Margaret Stobie Keith, née Drysdale (1851–1911). All his five siblings were associated with the British Empire in Burma and India: Sir William John Keith KCSI, ICS, was acting governor of Burma in 1925, Steuart Keith (died 1925) was a sessions judge in Burma, Alan Davidson Keith (died 1928) was a barrister in Burma. Both of his sisters married British expatriates in the region.

Keith was educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh, the University of Edinburgh (MA 1897; DLitt 1914), and Balliol College, Oxford (BA 1900; BCL 1905; DCL 1911). At Oxford he took Firsts in firsts in classical moderations (1899), in Sanskrit and Pali (1900), and in literae humaniores (1901). He was called to the bar by the Inner Temple in 1904 and became a member of the Faculty of Advocates in 1921.

He joined the Colonial Office as a clerk in 1901, having ranked first in the Home and Indian civil service examinations; he was said to have received the highest marks ever. He remained in the department until 1914, except for a period with the Crown Agents from 1903 to 1905. From 1912 to 1914 he was private secretary to the permanent under-secretary, Sir John Anderson.

In 1914, he became Regius Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology at the University of Edinburgh. In 1927 he additionally became Lecturer on the Constitution of the British Empire.

Keith was awarded an honorary LLD from the University of Leeds in 1936. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1935, but resigned in 1939.

He is buried in Grange Cemetery in Edinburgh with his wife, Margaret Balfour Allan (died 1934). The grave lies on the south side of the central vaults, adjacent to the central archway through the vaults.

Works[]

Constitutional law and history[]

• The Theory of State Succession (1907)
• Responsible Government in the Dominions
  • 1st edition, 1x vol. (1909)
  • "Revised" edition, 3x vols. (1912)
  • "Second" edition, 2x vols. (1928)
• Imperial Unity and the Dominions (1916)
• The Belgian Congo and the Berlin Act (1919)
• The British Cabinet System
• The Causes of the War
• The Constitution of England from Queen Victoria to George VI
• Dominion Home Rule in Practice (1921)
• War Government of the British Dominions (1921)
• The Sovereignty of the British Dominions (1929)
• Speeches and Documents on Colonial Policy 1763–1917
• Speeches and Documents on the British Dominions 1918–1931
• The Constitutional Law of the British Dominions (1933)
• The Governments of the British Empire (1935)
• The King and the Imperial Crown (1936)
• A Constitutional History of India (1600–1935), Methuen and Co. Ltd, London (1936)
• The British Commonwealth of Nations. Its Territories and Constitutions, British Life and Thought: No. 1, Longmans Green & Co. Ltd. (1940)
• The Privileges and Rights of the Crown
• The Dominions as Sovereign States

Indian culture and literature[]

• Indian Mythology (1917)^[1]
• The Heritage of India Series: "The Karma-Mīmāmsā" (1921)
• The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads (1925)
• The Samkhya System: A History of the Samkhya Philosophy (1918)
• Buddhist Philosophy in India
• A History of Sanskrit Literature (1928)^[2]

Translations[]

• The Aitareya Aranyaka (1909)
• The Veda of the Black Yajus School (Taittiriya Sanhita)
• Rigveda Brahmanas: the Aitareya and Kausitaki Brahmanas of the Rigveda (1920)

References[]

Bibliography

• Ridgway Foulks Shinn (1 January 1990). Arthur Berriedale Keith, 1879-1944: The Chief Ornament of Scottish Learning. Aberdeen University Press. ISBN 978-0-08-037737-7.
• Ridgway Foulks Shinnb (1981). Guide to Arthur Berriedale Keith Papers and Correspondence, 1896-1941.