Arquivo DJG - Papers of Daniel John Gogerly

Daniel John Gogerly (1792-1862) was a British Wesleyan Methodist missionary, who served in Sri Lanka from 1818, never returning to England. He was one of the first British translators of the Pāli texts into English, and the greater part of his time was spent in research work in the literature of Ceylon Buddhism. His aim was to accurately portray Buddhism, but he also used his translations to highlight differences between Buddhism and Christianity in furtherance of his missionary agenda. Overall, Gogerly is important not only because his translations were so early but also because the differing factors that conditioned them underscore the complexity within any study of orientalist representations of Buddhism.

After passing several years in general studies, and particularly in earnest preparation for the ministry, he proceeded to Ceylon in 1818, to take charge of the Wesleyan Mission Press at Colombo. From the time of his arrival, he engaged in the study of the vernacular tongues, and was one of the first missionaries who preached extemporaneously in the Sinhalese language. While at Negombo, where he was stationed from 1822 to 1834, he began the study of Pali.

His principal publications consist in essays and translations contributed to the pages of various local periodicals and the Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, of which he became in succession secretary, vice-president, and president. These papers are of value to researchers, as records of ancient Pali treatises, of which neither translations nor printed editions existed before Gogerly. His 'Dictionary of the Pali language' could be considered his greatest literary work. He had begun to compile it while at Mathura, and continued adding to it constantly as his reading became more extensive, so that at the time of his death it contained 15,000 words.

Gogerly died at the Wesleyan Mission House, Colpetty, near Colombo, in 1862.

Arthur Stanley Bishop was born in 1879. He became a Methodist minister and spent time in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Burma. He acted as superintendent of the Wesleyan Methodist Book Room at the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society, Colombo and was responsible for the editing of Gogerly's material for publication after Gogerly's death.

Ceylonese-British administrator and Pali scholar

Thomas William Rhys Davids was born in Colchester, Essex, 12 May 1843. He was educated at Brighton School and Breslau University, where he studied Greek and Sanskrit. He held a number of posts in the Ceylon Civil Service, including District Judge and Archaeological Commissioner, 1866-72. He returned to England and became a barrister in 1877 before being appointed Professor of Pali and Buddhist Literature at University College, London, a position he held from 1882-1904. He subsequently became Professor of Comparative Religion at Manchester University in 1905.

Rhys Davids married Caroline Foley in 1894. She was also a Pali scholar. He was a founder and President of the Pali Text Society from 1881-1922, and a founder of the British Academy, 1901. He served as Secretary and Librarian of the Royal Asiatic Society from 1887-1905, and he established the Indian Text Series.

In his retirement, Rhys Davids wrote for the Manchester Guardian and worked on the preparation of a Pali dictionary. He died in Chipstead, Surrey, on 27 December 1922.