Robert Hyde Colebrooke

His father Robert Colebrooke (1718 - 1784) was the British ambassador to the Swiss confederacy from 1762 to 1764 and his mother was Mary (née Williams).

Colebrooke compiled a vocabulary of Andaman islanders in an article to the Asiatic Society of Bengal.

[2][3] After Alexander Kyd was moved to the Andamans as Superintendent of the settlement, the position of Surveyor General of Bengal became vacant and Colebrooke was appointed in 1794.

One of Colebrooke's suggestions, made in 1795, was that by cutting a 20 foot wide and 15–20 foot deep canal between the Hurdum and Ichamati[5] to connect the Churni River and the Ganges would make the river navigable for 155 miles and avoid the route through the Sunderbans.

[6] The idea was opposed by James Rennell who said:[7] Nature seems to have adjusted matters very nicely, in respect of the capacity of river beds and their levels; ... any tampering with them in delicate cases (particularly where there is so great a periodical swelling [in volume] and velocity of current) may be productive of much mischief.A keen astronomer, Colebrooke also corresponded with John Goldingham at the Madras Observatory to establish the latitude of Calcutta.