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113-586: The Press was founded by the British Baptist missionaries William Carey , William Ward , and Joshua Marshman , collectively known as the Serampore Trio , at the Serampore Mission. It began operations on 10 January 1800. The British government , highly suspicious of missionaries, discouraged missionary work in their Indian territories. However, since Serampore was under Danish rule, the missionaries and

226-671: A Sanskrit grammar, A Grammar of the Sungskrit Language (1804, 1806, 1808) in Dev Nagree type which required 700 separate punches. Carey therefore employed Punchanon and then an assistant Monohar. The two later established a type foundry in Serampore. Monohar created beautiful scripts of Bengali, Nagree, Persian and Arabic. Types were designed and cut for all the languages in which books were published. In fact, movable metal types for Chinese were also developed which were more economical than

339-558: A British ship in April 1793. Dorothy Carey had refused to leave England, being pregnant with their fourth son and having never been more than a few miles from home; but before they left they asked her again to come with them and she gave consent, with the knowledge that her sister Kitty would help her give birth. En route they were delayed at the Isle of Wight , at which time the captain of the ship received word that he endangered his command if he conveyed

452-580: A community suffering from extreme poverty and epidemics , and they constructed a view of the culture of India and Hinduism in light of their missionary goals. These reports were by those who had declared their conviction in foreign missionary work, and the letters describe experiences of foreigners who were resented by both the Indian populace as well as European officials and competing Christian groups. Their accounts of culture and Hinduism were forged in Bengal that

565-619: A copy of the catalogue, annotated with prices and buyers' names, is held at Cambridge University Library (shelfmark Munby.c.149(1)). The Township of Wellesley , in Ontario , Canada, was named in Richard Wellesley's honour, despite the many references (e.g.: Waterloo , Wellington County ) to his brother, Arthur Wellesley in the surrounding area, as was Wellesley Island , located in the St. Lawrence river at Alexandria Bay. Wellesley Island also serves as

678-473: A fiasco in 1812 when he was expected to make a crucial speech denouncing the new Government, but suffered one of his notorious "black-outs" and sat motionless in his place. Wellesley lived together for many years with Hyacinthe-Gabrielle Roland , an actress at the Palais Royal . She had three sons and two daughters with Wellesley before he married her on 29 November 1794. He moved her to London, where Hyacinthe

791-417: A furlough. His mission included about 700 converts in a nation of millions, but he had laid an impressive foundation of Bible translations , education, and social reform. He has been called the "father of modern missions " and "India's first cultural anthropologist." His teaching, translations, writings and publications, his educational establishments and influence in social reform are said to have "marked

904-753: A meeting with Carey. His studies led him to become a Baptist. Carey's urging of American Baptists to take over support for Judson's mission, led to the foundation in 1814 of the first American Baptist Mission board, the General Missionary Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States of America for Foreign Missions , later commonly known as the Triennial Convention . Most American Baptist denominations of today are directly or indirectly descended from this convention. In 1818,

1017-531: A mission on the soil of British India failed, as the company was hostile towards missionary activity. Eventually, Carey was permitted to set up his mission in Danish-controlled Serampore—then known as Fredericksnagar—where he was joined by two other Baptists, William Ward and Joshua Marshman. In the meantime, Carey had acquired a wooden hand press, gifted by George Udny , the indigo planter who had supported Carey and his family. He wanted to print

1130-640: A place and took the responsibility to keep her within the family home, even though the children were exposed to her rages. In 1808 Carey remarried. His new wife Charlotte Rhumohr, a Danish member of his church was, unlike Dorothy, Carey's intellectual equal. They were married for 13 years until her death. From the printing press at the mission came translations of the Bible in Bengali, Sanskrit, and other major languages and dialects. Many of these languages had never been printed before; William Ward had to create punches for

1243-819: A pro-missionary sermon (the Deathless Sermon ), using Isaiah 54 :2–3 as his text, in which he repeatedly used the epigram which has become his most famous quotation: Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God. Carey finally overcame the resistance to missionary effort, and the Particular Baptist Society for the Propagation of the Gospel Amongst the Heathen (subsequently the Baptist Missionary Society and since 2000 BMS World Mission )

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1356-429: A seminal philological work had it been completed. However, the press itself and the punches were saved, and the mission was able to continue printing in six months. In Carey's lifetime, the mission printed and distributed the Bible in whole or part in 44 languages and dialects. Also, in 1812, Adoniram Judson , an American Congregational missionary en route to India, studied the scriptures on baptism in preparation for

1469-462: A skilled administrator, and picked two of his talented brothers for his staff: Arthur was his military adviser, and Henry was his personal secretary. He founded Fort William College , a training centre intended for those who would be involved in governing India. In connection with this college, he established the governor-general's office, to which civilians who had shown talent at the college were transferred, in order that they might learn something of

1582-752: Is now housed at Regent's Park College , the Baptist hall of the University of Oxford . Much of what is known about Carey's activities in India is from missionary reports sent back home. Historians such as Comaroffs, Thorne, Van der Veer and Brian Pennington note that the representation of India in these reports must be examined in their context and with care for its evangelical and colonial ideology. The reports by Carey were conditioned by his background, personal factors and his own religious beliefs. The polemic notes and observations of Carey, and his colleague William Ward, were in

1695-450: Is surely part of their speckled legacy: a fabricated Hinduism crazed by blood-lust and devoted to the service of devils. Carey recommended that his fellow Anglo-Indians learn and interpret Sanskrit in a manner "compatible with colonial aims", writing that "to gain the ear of those who are thus deceived, it is necessary for them to believe that the speaker has a superior knowledge of the subject. In these circumstances, knowledge of Sanskrit

1808-421: Is valuable." According to Indian historian V. Rao, Carey lacked tolerance, understanding and respect for Indian culture, with him describing Indian music as "disgusting" and bringing to mind practices "dishonorable" to God . Such attitudes affected the literature authored by Carey and his colleagues. Biographies of Carey, such as those by F. D. Walker and J. B. Myers, only allude to Carey's distress caused by

1921-604: The Baptist missionaries in the Danish colony of Frederiksnagore in Serampore . One of his first contributions was to start schools for impoverished children where they were taught reading, writing, accounting and Christianity . He opened the first theological university in Serampore offering divinity degrees, and campaigned to end the practice of sati . Carey is known as the "father of modern missions." His essay, An Enquiry into

2034-612: The British Cabinet and as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland . In 1799, his forces invaded Mysore and defeated Tipu , the Sultan of Mysore, in a major battle. He also initiated the Second Anglo-Maratha War . Wellesley was the eldest son of The 1st Earl of Mornington , an Irish peer, and Anne, the eldest daughter of The 1st Viscount Dungannon . His younger brother, Arthur, was Field Marshal The 1st Duke of Wellington . Wellesley

2147-613: The Company style of Indian natural history. He founded short-lived 'The Institution for Promoting the Natural History' in 1801 at Barrackpore near Calcutta. The institution was supervised by Francis Buchanan-Hamilton . As a part of this endeavor 'Barrackpore Menagerie' was founded which survived till 1878 when animals and birds were transferred to Alipore which later became Calcutta Zoo. A motion by James Paull (MP) to impeach Wellesley due to his expulsion of British traders from Oudh

2260-774: The Fort William College and the Calcutta School-Book Society . In 1818, the Press also published the first Bengali newspaper and magazine. It published books in almost forty five languages. The press closed in 1837 when the Mission ran into heavy debts. According to essayist Nikhil Sarkar in "Printing and the Spirit of Calcutta", the Press merged with the Baptist Mission Press. Gangakishore Bhattacharya , considered

2373-664: The Gooroodukhina in 1818 and a Bengali translation of a collection of Sanskrit phrases titled Kubita Rutnakar . In 1826 A Dictionary and Grammar of the Bhotanta or Bhutan Language was published. A Comparative Vocabulary of the Burman, Malayau and Thai Languages was published in 1810 in Malay, Siamese and Burmese. The original Chinese text with a translation of the works of Confucius was published in 1809. A geographical treatise called Goladhya

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2486-531: The Irish House of Commons as the member for Trim until the following year when, at his father's death, he became 2nd Earl of Mornington , taking his seat in the Irish House of Lords . He was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Ireland in 1782, a post he held for the following year. Due to the extravagance of his father and grandfather, he found himself so indebted that he was ultimately forced to sell all

2599-611: The Lord Cornwallis . Mornington resolved to anticipate the action of the Sultan and ordered preparations for war. The first step was to order the disbandment of the French troops entertained by the Nizam of Hyderabad . The capture of Mysore followed in February 1799, and the campaign was brought to a swift conclusion by the capture of Seringapatam on 4 May 1799 and the death of Tipu Sultan, who

2712-618: The Perai " in the Malay language ) not long after independence within Malaya. The Wellesley Islands off the north coast of Queensland , Australia, were named by Matthew Flinders in honour of Richard Wellesley, as was the largest island in the group, Mornington Island . Flinders is believed to have done this during his imprisonment by the French on Mauritius Island as Wellesley had tried to secure his release. Mornington Peninsula , south of Melbourne,

2825-656: The Polyglot Dictionary and the blue print of the Telinga Grammar were also destroyed. Luckily the presses themselves were unharmed. It is estimated that property worth Rs 70,000 was lost. Though the press was formally closed down in 1837, publications from the press continued to flow till later on. At the close of 1845, the King of Denmark surrendered Serampore to the British Government. The spearheads associated with

2938-513: The Samachar Durpun or the "Mirror of News". The first number of this biweekly, bilingual (Bengali and English) paper was published in May 1818. According to a calculation made by the missionaries themselves, a total of 212,000 items of print in 40 languages were issued by the press from 1800 to 1832. Along with the mission's own publications, the press also executed orders by Fort William College. During

3051-666: The Bengali Bible for 2 gold mohurs each to the Englishmen in Calcutta. They raised Rs 1500 from this enterprise. From 1804, the Society in England raised Rs 10,000 every year in England to fund the printing of the Bible in seven Indian vernaculars. Once the books became popular, the press started earning enough money to cover costs and leave some profit. This money was entirely devoted for furthering

3164-639: The Bengali Language , compiled by Carey, was first published in 1801. Carey's A Dictionary of the Bengalee Language in three volumes was first published in 1815-25. Other texts published in Bengali included the Buttrish Singhasun, or, The Thirty-two Imaged Throne in 1802, Bengali translations from the original Sanskrit of Vopadeva's Mugdhabodha in 1809, the Hitopadesa in 1802, Rajavuli in 1808,

3277-582: The Bible as their textbook. In 1794, he opened, at his own cost, what is considered the first primary school in India. The public school system that Carey initiated expanded to include girls in an era when the education of the female was considered unthinkable. Carey's work is considered to have started what became the Christian Vernacular Education Society, providing English medium education across India. Carey spent 41 years in India without

3390-777: The Bible had been printed in Bengalee, Ooriya, Hindoostanee and Sanskrit. A type font for the Burman language was being developed. Translations in Telinga, Kurnata, Mahratta, Punjabi (in Gurmukhi ) and Persian were at various stages. In 1811 the translation of the New Testament in Cashmere was started. By 1818, the Assamese New Testament had been printed. By March 1816, the printing of St. Mathew

3503-451: The Bibles were the Bengali translations of the two great epics Ramayana and Mahabharata . These were published during 1802–3, and marked the first ever appearance of the epics in printed form, in any language. The press also published dictionaries, grammars, dialogues or colloquies, Sanskrit phrasebooks, philosophy, Hindu mythological tales , tracts, and the first ever newspaper in Bengali,

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3616-634: The Bruj, Sreenugur, Palpa and Munipore New Testaments had also been printed. The New Testament was also printed in Bagheli, Bhatneri, Bhotan, Dogri, Garhwali, Javanese , Kumauni, Lahnda, Magahi, Malay, Malvi, Mewari, Siamese and Singhalese . Mr. Buchanan, the vice-provost of the Serampore College suggested Carey that he should take up the translation of the Bible to Chinese after learning the language from Mr. Lasser. Carey appointed Mr. Marshman to this task and he

3729-531: The Hindu classic, the Ramayana , into English, and the Bible into Bengali , Punjabi , Oriya , Assamese , Marathi , Hindi and Sanskrit . William Carey has been called a reformer and illustrious Christian missionary. William Carey, the oldest of five children, was born to Edmund and Elizabeth Carey, who were weavers by trade, in the hamlet of Pury End in the parish of Paulerspury , Northamptonshire. William

3842-700: The Irish estates. However, in 1781, he was appointed to the coveted position of Custos Rotulorum of Meath . In 1784, he joined also the British House of Commons as member for the rotten borough of Bere Alston in Devon. Soon afterwards he was appointed a Lord of the Treasury by William Pitt the Younger . The 1792 Slave Trade Bill passed the House of Commons. Mangled and mutilated by

3955-500: The Mission's headquarters in Serampore. In 1799 William Ward and Joshua Marshman came to Calcutta. In the face of rigid resistance from the company, Ward and Carey decided to establish the Mission and printing press in Serampore. Carey's press and other printing paraphernalia were transported to Serampore. Ward was a printer and therefore work on the printing of the Bengali Bible was immediately started in March 1800. Ward also doubled up as

4068-412: The New Testament in Bengali and therefore purchased ink, paper and Bengali fonts from the type cutting foundry of Panchanan Karmakar in Calcutta. Panchanan Karmakar, the goldsmith trained in type making by Wilkins, was ‘borrowed’ by Carey from Colebrooke and then put under virtual house arrest in Serampore. With the help of Panchanan and his son-in-law Manohar, a type foundry was set up in March 1800. In

4181-664: The Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens , led to the founding of the Baptist Missionary Society . The Asiatic Society commended Carey for "his eminent services in opening the stores of Indian literature to the knowledge of Europe and for his extensive acquaintance with the science, the natural history and botany of this country and his useful contributions, in every branch." He translated

4294-568: The Obligations of Christians to use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens . This short book consists of five parts. The first part is a theological justification for missionary activity, arguing that the command of Jesus to make disciples of all the world ( Matthew 28:18 - 20 ) remains binding on Christians. The second part outlines a history of missionary activity, beginning with the early Church and ending with David Brainerd and John Wesley . Part 3 comprises 26 pages of tables, listing area, population, and religion statistics for every country in

4407-576: The Press were able to operate freely. The press produced 212,000 books between 1800 and 1832. In August 1800, the press published a Bengali translation of the Gospel according to St Matthew . The press published religious Christian tracts, Indian literary works, translations of the Bible in twenty five Indian vernaculars and other South Asian languages. However, its major activity was the publication of vernacular textbooks . The Press printed books on grammar , dictionaries , history, legends and moral tales for

4520-631: The Spanish unsuccessfully. Soon the British and Spanish forces had been forced to retreat into Portugal after French counter-attacks. A few months later, after a dispute between George Canning and Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh led to a duel and soon led to the resignation of both ministers, Perceval offered a new position in the cabinet and Wellesley accepted the post of Foreign Secretary in Spencer Perceval 's cabinet. Unlike his brother Arthur, he

4633-399: The adjustment emotionally and ultimately, mentally, and her husband seemed unable to help her. Carey even wrote to his sisters in England on 5 October 1795, "I have been for some time past in danger of losing my life. Jealousy is the great evil that haunts her mind." Dorothy's mental breakdown ("at the same time William Carey was baptizing his first Indian convert and his son Felix, his wife

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4746-416: The claim of the Irish Catholics to justice, he henceforward identified himself. Twice Viceroy of Ireland, and one of the original Knights of St Patrick, he surrendered that order on being made a Knight of the Garter on 31 March 1812. Upon Perceval's assassination he, along with Canning, refused to join Lord Liverpool's administration, and he remained out of office until 1821, criticising with severity

4859-516: The college as the professor of Bengali, Sanskrit and Marathi, publishing, in 1805, the first book on Marathi grammar . The Serampore Mission Press that Carey founded is credited as the only press that "consistently thought it important enough that costly fonts of type be cast for the irregular and neglected languages of the Indian people.". Carey and his team produced textbooks, dictionaries, classical literature, and other publications that served primary school children, college-level students, and

4972-420: The communal fashion that had developed, one going so far as to demand "a separate house, stable and servants." Unused to the rigorous work ethic of Carey, Ward, and Marshman, the new missionaries thought their seniors - particularly Marshman - to be dictatorial, assigning them work not to their liking. Andrew Fuller, who had been secretary of the Society in England, had died in 1815, and his successor, John Dyer,

5085-548: The conception and execution of the Mission Press had all died by 1854. Owing to the lack of staff to take initiative, the press was gradually bereft of financial as well as expert guidance. All printing activities came to a standstill by 1855. After 1857 the British government was reluctant to encourage missionary education. There was a feeling that any strong attack on local customs, practice and beliefs or religious ideas might enrage "native" opinion. William Carey (missionary) William Carey (17 August 1761 – 9 June 1834)

5198-430: The court of directors, and he more than once tendered his resignation, which, however, public necessities led him to postpone till the autumn of 1805. He reached England just in time to see Pitt before his death. He had been created a Peer of Great Britain in 1797 as Baron Wellesley , and in 1799 became Marquess Wellesley in the Peerage of Ireland . He formed an enormous collection of over 2,500 painted miniatures in

5311-488: The daughter of Krishna Pal, a Sudra , married a Brahmin . This wedding was a public demonstration that the church repudiated the caste distinctions. Brunsdon and Thomas died in 1801. The same year, the Governor-General founded Fort William College , a college intended to educate civil servants. He offered Carey the position of professor of Bengali. Carey's colleagues at the college included pundits , whom he could consult to correct his Bengali testament. One of his colleagues

5424-461: The failure of whose issue in 1863 they fell to the 2nd Duke of Wellington. He and Arthur, after a long estrangement, had been once more on friendly terms for some years: Arthur wept at the funeral and said that he knew of no honour greater than being Lord Wellesley's brother. Wellesley was buried in Eton College Chapel , at his old school. Wellesley's library was sold at auction in London by R. H. Evans on 17 January 1843 (and three following days);

5537-451: The fall of the coalition ministry in 1807, Wellesley was invited by George III to join the Duke of Portland's cabinet, he declined, pending the discussion in parliament of certain charges brought against him in respect of his tenure as governor-general and because of criticism of his administration. Resolutions condemning him for the abuse of power were moved in both the Lords and Commons but defeated by large majorities. In 1809, Wellesley

5650-415: The family circle they were nicknamed "The Parasites". Following his first wife's death in 1816, he married, on 29 October 1825, the widowed Marianne (Caton) Patterson (died 1853), whose mother Mary was the daughter of Charles Carroll of Carrollton , the last surviving signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence ; her former sister-in-law was Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte . Wellington, who

5763-503: The first Bengali printer, began his career as a compositor at the press. Printing in Bengal had started in Hoogly where the press of the bookseller Andrews used Bengali types. N. B. Halhed's A Grammar Of the Bengal Language was published from this press in 1778. Sir Charles Wilkins had mastered the art of cutting types and he also taught Panchanan Karmakar. The printing press was in the immediate charge of Ward, who left detailed accounts of its day-to-day running. Between 1800 and 1834,

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5876-435: The first ten years of its life, the foundry produced type in at least thirteen languages. The press was set up in Mudnabatty where Carey had settled, but he could not begin the printing because he did not have an expert printer. The then Governor-General of India , Lord Wellesley , did not object to any printing presses being set up outside British occupied land but was strictly against any in English territory. Rev. Mr. Brown

5989-437: The first two decades of the nineteenth century, the college played a crucial role in producing grammars and lexicons in all the major Indian languages, a task carried out both by Indian and European scholars. Altogether 38 such works were produced in Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, Urdu , Braj , Bengali, Marathi , Oriya, Panjabi , Telugu and Kannada . The last sheets of the work were published on 7 February 1801. The printing of

6102-461: The first year in Calcutta, the missionaries sought means to support themselves and a place to establish their mission. They also began to learn the Bengali language to communicate with others. A friend of Thomas owned two indigo factories and needed managers, so Carey moved with his family west to Midnapore . During the six years that Carey managed the indigo plant, he completed the first revision of his Bengali New Testament and began formulating

6215-455: The general public, including the first systematic Sanskrit grammar, which served a model for later publications. In the latter 1700s and early 1800s in India, only children of certain social strata received education, and even that was limited to basic accounting and Hindu religion. Only the Brahmins and writer castes could read, and only men, women being completely unschooled. Carey started Sunday Schools in which children learned to read using

6328-441: The goodwill of the local Danish government and Richard Wellesley , then Governor-General of India. In May 1799 William Ward and Hannah and Joshua Marshman arrived from England and joined Carey in his work. The three men became known as the Serampore trio . The conversion of Hindus to Christianity posed a new question for the missionaries concerning whether it was appropriate for converts to retain their caste . In 1802,

6441-443: The head of coalition after coalition against the French, made Mornington aware of the necessity of ensuring French power did not reign supreme in India. On the voyage out, he formed the design of curbing French influence in the Deccan . Soon after his arrival, in April 1798, he learned that an alliance was being negotiated between Tipu Sultan and France . He soon after was appointed Governor-General of India on May 12, replacing

6554-401: The highest statesmanship in the immediate service of their chief. He endeavoured to remove some of the restrictions on the trade between Europe and Asia. He took the time to publish an appreciation of British composer Harriet Wainwright 's opera Comala in the Calcutta Post on 27 April 1804. Both the commercial policy of Wellesley and his educational projects brought him into hostility with

6667-475: The journals of the explorer James Cook , and became concerned with propagating the Christian Gospel throughout the world. John Eliot (c. 1604 – 21 May 1690), Puritan missionary in New England, and David Brainerd (1718–47) became the "canonized heroes" and "enkindlers" of Carey. In 1789 Carey, became the full-time pastor of Harvey Lane Baptist Church in Leicester . Three years later, in 1792, he published his groundbreaking missionary manifesto, An Enquiry into

6780-418: The last point exiting the United States before crossing to Hill Island, in Canada. Province Wellesley , in the state of Penang, Malaysia , was named after Richard Wellesley. It was originally part of the state of Kedah . It was ceded to the British East India Company by the Sultan of Kedah in 1798, and has been part of the settlement and state of Penang ever since. It was renamed Seberang Perai ("across

6893-563: The local shoemaker, Thomas Old; he married Old's sister-in-law Dorothy Plackett in 1781 in the Church of St John the Baptist, Piddington. Unlike William, Dorothy was illiterate; her signature in the marriage register is a crude cross. William and Dorothy Carey had seven children, five sons and two daughters; both girls died in infancy, as did son Peter, who died at the age of 5. Thomas Old himself died soon afterward, and Carey took over his business, during which time he taught himself Hebrew , Italian, Dutch , and French, often reading while working on

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7006-500: The mental illness and subsequent breakdown suffered by his wife, Dorothy, in the early years of their ministry in India. More recently, Beck's biography of Dorothy Carey paints a more detailed picture: William Carey uprooted his family from all that was familiar and sought to settle them in one of the most unlikely and difficult cultures in the world for an uneducated 18th-century British working-class woman. Faced with enormous difficulties in adjusting to all this change, she failed to make

7119-419: The mission bought a house large enough to accommodate all of their families and a school, which was to be their principal means of support. Ward set up a print shop with a secondhand press Carey had acquired and began the task of printing the Bible in Bengali. In August 1800 Fountain died of dysentery. By the end of that year, the mission had their first convert, a Hindu named Krishna Pal . They had also earned

7232-498: The mission founded Serampore College to train indigenous ministers for the growing church and to provide education in the arts and sciences to anyone regardless of caste or country. Frederick VI , King of Denmark , granted a royal charter in 1827 that made the college a degree-granting institution, the first in Asia. In 1820 Carey founded the Agri Horticultural Society of India at Alipore , Calcutta, supporting his enthusiasm for botany. When William Roxburgh went on leave, Carey

7345-407: The mission, and her condition was an additional burden to it. John Marshman wrote how Carey worked away on his studies and translations, "…while an insane wife, frequently wrought up to a state of most distressing excitement, was in the next room…". Several friends and colleagues had urged William to commit Dorothy to an asylum. But he recoiled at the thought of the treatment she might receive in such

7458-399: The missionaries faced problems to raise money for printing. In 1795, Carey wrote to the Mission in England that the printing of 10,000 copies of the translated New Testament would cost Rs 43,750, a sum that was beyond his means. In June 1800, the printing work of the Bengali Bible had to be restricted because of the shortage of funds. The missionaries sought to raise money by selling copies of

7571-422: The missionaries to Calcutta, as their unauthorised journey violated the trade monopoly of the British East India Company . He decided to sail without them, and they were delayed until June when Thomas found a Danish captain willing to offer them passage. In the meantime, Carey's wife, who had by now given birth, agreed to accompany him provided her sister came as well. They landed at Calcutta in November. During

7684-422: The modifications and amendments of Pitt , the Earl of Mornington, Edward James Eliot and the Attorney General , it lay for years in the House of Lords. In 1793, he became a member of the Board of Control over Indian affairs; and, although he was best known for his speeches in defence of Pitt's foreign policy, he was gaining the acquaintance with Oriental affairs which made his rule over India so effective from

7797-402: The moment when, in 1797, he accepted the office of Governor-General of India . Mornington seems to have caught Pitt's large political spirit in the period 1798 to 1805. That both had consciously formed the design of expanding their influence in the Indian subcontinent to compensate for the loss of the American colonies is not proven; but the rivalry with France, which in Europe placed Britain at

7910-416: The nearby village of Earls Barton every other Sunday. On 5 October 1783, William Carey was baptised by Ryland and committed himself to the Baptist denomination. In 1785, Carey was appointed the schoolmaster for the village of Moulton . He was also invited to serve as pastor to the local Baptist church. During this time he read Jonathan Edwards ' Account of the Life of the Late Rev. David Brainerd and

8023-546: The persuasion of Carey wrote the The History of Raja Pritapadityu and was published in July 1801. This was the Press's first prose work printed in Bengali. Towards the end of 1804 Hetopudes, the first Sanskrit work to be printed was published. In 1806 the original Sanskrit Ramayana with a prose translation and explanatory notes compiled by Carey and Mr Marshman was published. Historical books in Sanskrit, Hindi, Maratha and Ooriya were nearly printed by 1812. Assamese and Kasmiri historical books were published in 1832. A Grammar of

8136-416: The press printed Bible translations in almost 50 languages, 38 of which were translated at Serampore by Carey and his associates. There were altogether 117 printings, of which 25 were in Bengali. The press supplied Bibles to almost all significant Baptist missions in the region, from Indonesia in the east to Afghanistan in the west. From a memoir of 1813, it may be seen that a Malay Bible in roman characters

8249-588: The press would be useful for the students of the about to be opened Fort William College . Thus began a fruitful and long association between the Serampore Press and the Fort William College. William Carey was appointed as the professor of Sanskrit in the college and after that he published a number of books in Bengali from the press. The press initially started work with some fonts that Carey had purchased from Punchanon. In 1803 Carey decided to publish

8362-475: The principles upon which his missionary community would be formed, including communal living, financial self-reliance, and the training of indigenous ministers. His son Peter died of dysentery , which, along with other causes of stress, resulted in Dorothy suffering a nervous breakdown from which she never recovered. Meanwhile, the missionary society had begun sending more missionaries to India. The first to arrive

8475-444: The problem. His successor, Canning, died only a few months after taking up office as Prime Minister, to be succeeded briefly by Lord Goderich . On the assumption of office by Wellington, his brother resigned the lord-lieutenancy. He is said to have been deeply hurt by his brother's failure to find a Cabinet position for him (Arthur made the usual excuse that one cannot give a Cabinet seat to everyone who wants one). He had, however,

8588-677: The proceedings of the Congress of Vienna and the European settlement of 1814, which, while it reduced France to its ancient limits, left to the other great powers the territory that they had acquired by the Partitions of Poland and the destruction of the Republic of Venice . He was one of the peers who signed the protest against the enactment of the Corn Laws in 1815. His reputation never fully recovered from

8701-522: The satisfaction of seeing the Catholic claims settled in the next year by the very statesmen who had declared against them. In 1833, he resumed the office of Lord Lieutenant under Earl Grey , but the ministry soon fell, and, with one short exception, Wellesley did not take any further part in official life. On his death, he had no successor in the marquessate, but the earldom of Mornington and minor honours devolved on his brother William, Lord Maryborough , on

8814-626: The shoes. Carey acknowledged his humble origins and referred to himself as a cobbler . John Brown Myers titled his biography of Carey William Carey the Shoemaker Who Became the Father and Founder of Modern Missions . Carey became involved with a local association of Particular Baptists that had recently formed, where he became acquainted with men such as John Ryland , John Sutcliff, and Andrew Fuller , who would become his close friends in later years. They invited him to preach in their church in

8927-559: The study not only of the common language of Bengali, but to many other Indian vernaculars, and the ancient root language of Sanskrit . In collaboration with the College of Fort William , Carey undertook the translation of the Hindu classics into English, beginning with the Ramayana . He then translated the Bible into Bengali , Oriya, Marathi, Hindi, Assamese, and Sanskrit, and parts of it into other dialects and languages. For 30 years Carey served in

9040-647: The traditional wooden block types. In 1809 a treadmill that was run by a steam engine was set up in Serampore to produce paper. The first published work of the Serampore Mission Press was the Bengali New Testament. On 18 March 1800, the first proof sheets of the translation were printed. In August, the gospel of Matthew was completed and published as the Mangal Samachar . The bulk of publication consisted of Bibles, but even more significant than

9153-457: The turning point of Indian culture from a downward to an upward trend". [Carey] saw India not as a foreign country to be exploited, but as his heavenly Father's land to be loved and saved... he believed in understanding and controlling nature instead of fearing, appeasing or worshipping it; in developing one's intellect instead of killing it as mysticism taught. He emphasized enjoying literature and culture instead of shunning it as maya . Carey

9266-445: The type by hand. Carey had begun translating literature and sacred writings from the original Sanskrit into English to make them accessible to his own countryman. On 11 March 1812, a fire in the print shop caused £10,000 in damages and lost work. Among the losses were many irreplaceable manuscripts, including much of Carey's translation of Sanskrit literature and a polyglot dictionary of Sanskrit and related languages, which would have been

9379-453: The type setter during the early days. In spite of the high rents in Serampore, the missionaries were able to purchase a suitable premise. To appease Lord Wellesley, Rev. Brown had to assure him of the purely evangelical intentions of the press since they had refused to publish a pamphlet that criticized the English government. Rev. Brown also convinced Wellesley that the Bengali Bible published by

9492-438: The volume was completed within nine months. At the beginning of 1804, the missionaries decided to publish translations of the Bible in Bengali, Hindoostanee , Mahratta, Telinga, Kurnata, Ooriya and Tamul . Between 1800 and 1834, the press printed Bible translations in almost 50 languages, 38 of which were translated at Serampore by Carey and his associates. There were altogether 117 printings, of which 25 were in Bengali. By 1804

9605-512: The war in Europe and the domination of Europe by Napoleon Bonaparte . The growing French influence threatened Britain and its empire to the extent of causing high tensions in the country. While the crisis abroad wasn’t enough, the British government had been led by weak and unsuited men from 1806-1809 with two short-lived ministries under Lord Grenville and the Duke of Portland respectively. But when on

9718-532: The work of the Mission. On 11 March 1812, a devastating fire caused mass destruction in the printing office. Important documents, accounting papers, manuscripts, 14 types in Eastern languages, a bulk of types sent from England, 12 hundred reams of paper and other essential raw materials were destroyed. The manuscripts of the translation of the Ramayana were also destroyed and the project was never resumed. The manuscripts of

9831-530: The world. Carey had compiled these figures during his years as a schoolteacher. The fourth part answers objections to sending missionaries, such as difficulty learning the language or danger to life. Finally, the fifth part calls for the formation by the Baptist denomination of a missionary society and describes the practical means by which it could be supported. Carey's seminal pamphlet outlines his basis for missions: Christian obligation, wise use of available resources, and accurate information. Carey later preached

9944-674: Was Madan Mohan who taught him the Sanskrit language. He also wrote grammars of Bengali and Sanskrit , and began a translation of the Bible into Sanskrit. He also used his influence with the Governor-General to help put a stop to the practices of infant sacrifice and suttee , after consulting with the pundits and determining that they had no basis in the Hindu sacred writings (although the latter would not be abolished until 1829). Dorothy Carey died in 1807. Due to her debilitating mental breakdown, she had long since ceased to be an able member of

10057-610: Was John Fountain, who arrived in Midnapore and began teaching. He was followed by William Ward , a printer; Joshua Marshman , a schoolteacher; David Brunsdon, one of Marshman's students; and William Grant, who died three weeks after his arrival. Because the East India Company was still hostile to missionaries, they settled in the Danish colony in Serampore and were joined there by Carey on 10 January 1800. Once settled in Serampore ,

10170-645: Was a Calvinist ." and a postmillennialist . Even the two dissertations that discuss his achievements (by Oussoren and Potts ) ignore large areas of his theology. Neither mentions his eschatological views, which played a major role in his missionary zeal. One exception, in James Beck's biography of his first wife, mentions his personal optimism in the chapter on "Attitudes Towards the Future," but not his optimistic perspective on world missions, which derived from postmillennial theology. Carey devoted great efforts and time to

10283-482: Was a bureaucrat who attempted to reorganise the Society along business lines and manage every detail of the Serampore mission from England. Their differences proved to be irreconcilable, and Carey formally severed ties with the missionary society he had founded, leaving the mission property and moving onto the college grounds. He lived a quiet life until his death in 1834, revising his Bengali Bible, preaching, and teaching students. The couch on which he died, on 9 June 1834,

10396-487: Was a churchman like himself, but another apprentice, John Warr, was a Dissenter . Through his influence Carey would leave the Church of England and join with other Dissenters to form a small Congregational church in nearby Hackleton . While apprenticed to Nichols, he also taught himself Greek with the help of Thomas Jones, a local weaver who had received a classical education. When Nichols died in 1779, Carey went to work for

10509-550: Was an Anglo-Irish politician and colonial administrator . He was styled as Viscount Wellesley until 1781, when he succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of Mornington . In 1799, he was granted the Irish peerage title of Marquess Wellesley of Norragh. He was also Lord Wellesley in the Peerage of Great Britain . Richard Wellesley first made his name as fifth Governor-General of Bengal between 1798 and 1805. He later served as Foreign Secretary in

10622-674: Was an English Christian missionary , Particular Baptist minister, translator, social reformer and cultural anthropologist who founded the Serampore College and the Serampore University , the first degree-awarding university in India and cofounded the Serampore Mission Press . He went to Calcutta (Kolkata) in 1793, but was forced to leave the British Indian territory by non-Baptist Christian missionaries. He joined

10735-511: Was an eloquent speaker, but was subject to inexplicable "black-outs" when he was apparently unaware of his surroundings. He held this office until February 1812, when he retired, partly from dissatisfaction at the inadequate support given to Wellington by the ministry, but also because he had become convinced that the question of Catholic emancipation could no longer be kept in the background. From early life, Wellesley had, like his brother Arthur, been an advocate of Catholic emancipation, and with

10848-578: Was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland . Catholic emancipation had now become an open question in the cabinet, and Wellesley's acceptance of the viceroyalty was believed in Ireland to herald the immediate settlement of the Catholic claims but they would remain unfulfilled. Some efforts were made to placate Catholic opinion, notably the dismissal of the long-serving Attorney-General for Ireland , William Saurin , whose anti-Catholic views had made him bitterly unpopular. Lord Liverpool died without having grappled with

10961-627: Was born in 1760 in Dangan Castle in County Meath , Ireland , where his family was part of the Ascendancy , the old Anglo-Irish aristocracy . He was educated at the Royal School, Armagh , Harrow School and Eton College , where he distinguished himself as a classical scholar, and at Christ Church, Oxford . He is one of the few men known to have attended both Harrow and Eton. In 1780, he entered

11074-468: Was defeated in the House of Commons by 182 votes to 31 in 1808. Mornington also disapproved of liaisons between Company officials and soldiers and locals, seeing them as improper. After his governorship ended in 1808, he returned to Britain and began to join British politics yet again. The few years back in Parliament were quite uneventful, despite the overwhelming crisis the British government faced with

11187-716: Was engaged in the Chinese translation for fourteen years. In April 1822 the printing of the Chinese Bible was completed using moveable metallic types. The translations were subject to heavy criticisms from the very beginning. Various societies including the Baptist Society and Bible Society questioned the accuracy of the translations. The missionaries themselves accepted that their work was flawed and whole-heartedly accepted constructive criticism while renouncing detractors. Ramarama Boshoo (also known as Ram Ram Boshoo or Rama Basu) under

11300-604: Was entrusted to maintain the Botanical Garden at Calcutta. The genus Careya was named after him. Carey's second wife, Charlotte, died in 1821, followed by his eldest son Felix. In 1823 he married a third time, to a widow named Grace Hughes. Internal dissent and resentment was growing within the Missionary Society as its numbers grew, the older missionaries died, and they were replaced by less experienced men. Some new missionaries arrived who were not willing to live in

11413-681: Was finished or nearly so in Kunkuna, Mooltanee, Sindhee, Bikaneer, Nepalese, Ooduypore, Marwar , Juypore , Khasee and Burman. By 1817 the entire Bible had been printed in Armenian . The New Testament in Pushtoo or Affghan and Gujuratee was completed by 1820. By 1821, the New Testament had been printed in Bhugulkhund and Kanoje. In 1826 the Magadh, Oojuyeenee, Jumboo and Bhutneer New Testament were printed. By this time

11526-709: Was forcefully confined to her room, raving with madness" ) led inevitably to other family problems. Joshua Marshman was appalled by Carey's neglect of his four boys when he first met them in 1800. Aged 4, 7, 12 and 15, they were unmannered, undisciplined, and uneducated. Besides Iain Murray 's study, The Puritan Hope , less attention has been paid in Carey's numerous biographies to his postmillennial eschatology as expressed in his major missionary manifesto, notably not even in Bruce J. Nichols 's article "The Theology of William Carey." Carey

11639-604: Was founded in October 1792, including Carey, Andrew Fuller, John Ryland, and John Sutcliff as charter members. They then concerned themselves with practical matters such as raising funds, as well as deciding where they would direct their efforts. A medical missionary, Dr John Thomas, had been in Calcutta and was in England raising funds; they agreed to support him and that Carey would accompany him to India. Carey, his eldest son Felix, Thomas and his wife and daughter sailed from London aboard

11752-913: Was generally miserable, as she never learned English and she was scorned by high society: Lady Caroline Lamb was warned by her mother-in-law, Elizabeth Milbanke , a noted judge of what was socially acceptable, that no respectable woman could afford to be seen in Hyacinthe's company. Their children were: Through his eldest daughter Lady Charles Bentinck, Wellesley was a great-great-great-grandfather to Queen Elizabeth II . Wellesley also had at least two other illegitimate sons by his teenage mistress, Elizabeth Johnston, including Edward (later his father's secretary), born in Middlesex (1796-1877). Wellesley's children were seen by Richard's other relatives, including his brother Arthur, as greedy, unattractive and cunning, and as exercising an unhealthy influence over their father; in

11865-595: Was in preparation, while a five-volume reprint of the entire Bible in Arabic was being undertaken for the lieutenant-governor of Java . The memoir of 1816 claims that a Chinese Pentateuch was in the press and that ‘the new moveable metal type, after many experiments, are a complete success’. The 1820 memoir records the printing of the New Testament in Pushtoo , and also the setting up of a paper factory. William Carey arrived in Calcutta on 11 November 1793. His early attempts to set up

11978-406: Was informed that Lord Wellesley would enforce censorship on any publication done on English territory outside Calcutta. The British government threatened to arrest missionaries who would trespass on the East India Company ’s territory. The Danish Government of Serampore assured Ward that they would provide protection for the missionaries. In 1798 Carey suggested that the missionaries could establish

12091-425: Was instrumental in launching Serampore College in Serampore . Carey's passionate insistence on change resulted in the founding of the Baptist Missionary Society . Many schools are named after him: Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley Richard Colley Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley , KG , KP , PC , PC (Ire) (20 June 1760 – 26 September 1842)

12204-467: Was killed in action. In 1803, the restoration of the Peshwa proved the prelude to the war against Sindhia and the raja of Berar , in which his brother Arthur took a leading role. The result of these wars and of the treaties which followed them was that French influence in India was reduced to Pondicherry , and that Britain acquired increased influence in the heartlands of central India. He proved to be

12317-498: Was physically, politically and spiritually difficult to preach in. Pennington summarises the accounts reported by Carey and his colleagues as follows, Plagued with anxieties and fears about their own health, regularly reminded of colleagues who had lost their lives or reason, uncertain of their own social location, and preaching to crowds whose reactions ranged from indifference to amusement to hostility, missionaries found expression for their darker misgivings in their production of what

12430-400: Was published. The second edition of Sankhya Pruvuchuna Bhashya in Sanskrit was published in 1821. In 1818 the Serampore missionaries decided to publish the Bengali newspaper Samachar Darpan to study the pulse of the public authorities. They started with Digdarshan , a monthly magazine which received approbation. There was a bilingual (English-Bengali) and a Bengali edition. Initially

12543-496: Was raised in the Church of England ; when he was six, his father was appointed the parish clerk and village schoolmaster. As a child he was inquisitive and keenly interested in the natural sciences , particularly botany . He possessed a natural gift for language, teaching himself Latin . At the age of 14, Carey's father apprenticed him to a cordwainer in the nearby village of Piddington, Northamptonshire . His master, Clarke Nichols,

12656-595: Was soon appointed as the British ambassador to Spain by Perceval. He landed at Cádiz just after the Allies victory at the Battle of Talavera , and he tried to bring the exiled Spanish government into an effective co-operative agreement to support the campaign against the French in country with his brother, Duke of Wellington who was commander-in-chief of the British Forces, through the failure of his allies failed to cooperate with

12769-472: Was very fond of Marianne (rumour had it that they were lovers) and was then on rather bad terms with his brother, pleaded with her not to marry him, warning her in particular that "The Parasites", (Richard's children by Hyacinthe) would see her as an enemy. The Duke's concern seems to have been misplaced; they had no children, but the marriage was a relatively happy one - "much of the calm and sunshine of his old age can be attributed to Marianne". In 1821, he

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