Colonel Antoine-Louis Henri de Polier (1741–1795) was a Swiss adventurer, art collector, military engineer and soldier who made his fortune in India in the eighteenth century.

Antoine-Louis was born in Lausanne[2] from a French Huguenot family who emigrated to Switzerland in the mid 16th century to escape the wars of religion.

When one begins such a study without the advantage of possessing the Samscrite[Sanskrit], or sacred, tongue of the Indous, which the Pundits or savants so constantly draw upon in their usual discourse that it is difficult for me to follow them in their conversation, even though I have a deep knowledge [je possédé à fond] of the common tongue of India, called Moors by the English, and Ourdouzebain by the natives of the land.In India, he had two Indian wives, Jugnu and Zinat,[6] one senior and one junior and three (or possibly, four) children who were all baptized in Calcutta.

In 1788 he left his Indian wives with his loyal companion and fellow enlightened adventurer, Claude Martin.

Polier, who felt he had lost the ability to express himself easily in French or English as a result of his travels, dictated an autobiographical preface to her.