Robert Caesar Childers

Robert Caesar Childers (1838 - July 25, 1876) was a British Orientalist scholar, compiler of the first Pāli-English dictionary. Childers was the husband of Anna Barton of Ireland. He was the father of Irish nationalist Robert Erskine Childers and grandfather to the fourth President of Ireland, Erskine Hamilton Childers.

Early life and marriage

He was born in Nice, France, to English parents. In 1857; at the age of nineteen, he studied Hebrew at Wadham College, Oxford; graduating in 1861 [http://books.google.com/books?id=lCkBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA496&lpg=PA496&dq=robert+caesar+childers+wadham&source=web&ots=673OCG29Xa&sig=edO1nT7QIFaFx_0jj-lwNeY5BOk&hl=en] . After some travels in Ireland, he soon ended up married to Anna Barton of Glendalough Househttp://www.glendaloughestates.com/index.htm] . The Barton's of Wicklow [http://www.wicklow.ie/archives/barton.htm Home Page ] ] , Ireland were a very wealthy and respected family in Irish farming and politics.

Pali dictionary

He then moved to Sri Lanka for an official position in the Ceylon civil service. During this period he studied Sinhalese culture, particularly the Pali language. In 1869 he published the first Pali text in Britain, and began to work on a Pali dictionary, which was published 1872-75 [ [http://www.buddhismtoday.com/english/world/country/007-burma3.htm Buddhism Today - Dda.o Pha^.t Nga`y Nay, default page-english ] ] , [ [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/india/buddha-order.html Indian History Sourcebook: Sources on Buddhist Order ] ] .

In 1872 he was appointed sub-librarian at the India Office, and in the following year he became the first professor of Pali and Buddhist literature at University College, London.

In 1876 Childers' dictionary was awarded the Volney prize by the Institute of France. He died in London the same year. He is buried in Highgate_Cemetery, London.

Notes

References

*http://www.ames.cam.ac.uk/faclib/archive/rhys-index.html Rhys Davids Archives at Cambridge. Letters from Childers.
*http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/frontmatter.html
*http://www.quangduc.com/English/revival.htm
*http://www.jstor.org/pss/607190 Obituary of Mr. Rhys Davis of the Pali Text Society,