Jean Baptiste Joseph Gentil

Jean Baptiste Joseph Gentil (1726-1799) was a French Army Colonel, Knight of the Royal and Military Order of Saint-Louis, who worked in India.

He is known for the collections he made of historic manuscripts and artifacts from India and for his cartography and documentation of Mughal history.

The French joined hands with Nawab Mir Qasim and declared war on the English East India Company forces.

He became a friend of Khwaja Gregory (Gorgin Khan, Armenian minister and commander-in-chief of the Nawab of Bengal from 1760 to 1763) and was a witness to his assassination following internal conspiracies.

[3] While serving at Oudh, he purchased a large collection of objects of natural history, weapons, medals and manuscripts in many languages.