Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, 1st Baronet, GCB FRS KLS (5 April 1810 – 5 March 1895) was a British East India Company army officer, politician, and Orientalist, sometimes described as the Father of Assyriology.

Settling in Baghdad, he devoted himself to cuneiform studies, and in 1847 he was able to send to Europe a full and accurate transcript of the Behistun inscription, which he was also successful in deciphering and interpreting.

Having collected a large amount of antiquarian and geographical information in the pursuit of various explorations, including visits with Sir Austen Henry Layard to the ruins of Nineveh, he returned to England on leave of absence in 1849.

[4] He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in February 1850, praised as "The Discoverer of the key to the Ancient Persian, Babylonian, and Assyrian Inscriptions in the Cuneiform character.

An equestrian accident in 1855 hastened his determination to return to England, and in that year, he resigned his post in the East India Company.

[6] Prior to his return, Rawlinson was involved in the ill-fated French mission to ship over 200 cases of antiquities to Europe, which were mostly lost at Al-Qurnah.

[8][9] On his return to England, he received the distinction of Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, and he was appointed a crown director of the East India Company.

He argued that Tsarist Russia would attack and absorb Kokand, Bukhara and Khiva (which occurred, and the regions are now parts of Uzbekistan) and warned that it would invade Persia (Iran) and Afghanistan as springboards to British India.