English general and archæologist, born in London in 1814; the son of Allan Cunningham, the poet. He received a military education, and in 1831 was second lieutenant of engineers; in 1834, aide-de-camp to the governor-general of India; in 1839, was on a special mission to Cashmere; and in 1840 became engineer to the king of Oudh. In 1858 he was chief engineer of the Northwest Provinces, and in 1870 became surveyor-general of Indian archæology. He published several important works on archæological topics, including An Essay on the Aryan Order of Architecture (1848); The Bhilsa Topes; or, Buddhist Temples of Central India (1854); The Ancient Geography of India, the Buddhist Period, a most important and valuable work, serving to solve some of the most difficult questions in regard to much that had been in dispute as to the geography of the East (1871); and Book of Indian Eras (1883). He died on the 28th of November 1893.
