Robert Henry Mathews
Encyclopedia
Robert Henry Mathews was an Australia
n missionary
and Sinologist, best known for his 1931 Chinese-English Dictionary (A Chinese-English Dictionary Compiled for the China Inland Mission). Revised American edition (January 1, 1943). Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674123502.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
and Sinologist, best known for his 1931 Chinese-English Dictionary (A Chinese-English Dictionary Compiled for the China Inland Mission). Revised American edition (January 1, 1943). Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674123502.
- "R.H. Mathews, the Australian who was to be the compiler of the most widely used Chinese-English dictionary, was told on applying to the China Inland MissionChina Inland MissionOMF International is an interdenominational Protestant Christian missionary society, founded in Britain by Hudson Taylor on 25 June 1865.-Overview:...
that at 29 he was too old to learn the language. However he was accepted and arrived in China in 1906. During the war he was interned by the Japanese and his library confiscated. R.H. Mathews did not receive the financial recompense which one would expect from the compilation of such an important work, as his dictionary was published in both the US and throughout Asia in pirated editions. In December of 1962 he was awarded an honorary doctor of letters."