Dr. Robert Caesar Childers (1866, London)
(
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. After some travels in
Ireland, he soon ended up married to
Anna Barton of
Glendalough House[http://www.glendaloughestates.com/index.htm]. The
Barton's of
Wicklow,
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, .
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.
