Verner d'Auvergne

Verner was born in Orleans, France on the 7 Juin 1865. He translated (from Persian to French) a rare Persian document, the property of a descendent of an aristocratic French family. The document dealt with the fortunes of a Persia Royal family. It was discovered in Samarkand. I comprised 488 pages of brittle papyrus leaves. The typewritten translation is 638 pages. The British museum tried to buy it for £50,000, but it was sent, along with the translation, to the owner in France.

His daughter wrote: "My father should never have married. He was brilliantly clever - a man full of wild adventure, a linguist, an Army man. He could do everything - bar having any affection for his family; He was a secret service man in WW2." He featured in the book The Gilgit Game.