Short answers, pulled from the story.
William Irvine (the 4th of July 1840 - the 3rd of November 1911) was a British civil servant and historian, born in Aberdeen, Scotland. He served in the Indian Civil Service from 1863 to 1889 and became a leading authority on the Mughal Empire.
Irvine's major scholarly work was a 1907 translation and edition of the chronicle of Venetian traveller Niccolao Manucci, who was considered the main contemporary European authority on India during the reign of Aurangzeb (1658-1707). To produce this edition, Irvine tracked down a Berlin codex and a Venice manuscript over eight years of research.
William Irvine landed in Calcutta in late 1863 and was posted to the North-Western Provinces, where he served as a magistrate and collector until his retirement in 1889. He spent eight years revising rent and revenue settlement records in the Ghazipur district.
Irvine planned a history of the Mughal Empire's decline from the death of Aurangzeb in 1707 to the British capture of Delhi by Lord Lake in 1803. In practice, his history extended only to the accession of Mahomed Shah in 1719; chapters appeared in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal between 1896 and 1908.
In 1908, the Asiatic Society of Bengal made Irvine an honorary member. He also served as vice-president and member of the council of the Royal Asiatic Society, and held positions on the council of the Central Asian Society and other learned societies.
William Irvine died on the 3rd of November 1911 at his house in Castelnau, Barnes, after a long illness. He was buried in the Old Barnes cemetery, in the same grave as his wife Teresa Anne, who had died in 1901.