John Dobie (1859–1892) was a Church of Scotland minister skilled in Hebrew and closely associated with India.
A polyglot he could speak English, French, German, Persian, Hebrew, Hindustani and Arabic.
He then obtained a post at the University of Bombay as Wilson Lecturer on Comparative Philology of the Semitic Languages.
In December 1892 he returned to Scotland to take up the role of Professor of Hebrew and Semitic Languages at the University of Edinburgh in place of Rev Prof David Laird Adams.
[1] During a trip to Arabia he joined a caravan of Arab pilgrims travelling to Yemen seeking to investigate Himyarite remains and increase his knowledge of Yemenite Jews.