Morrison, Robert

(1782–1834)

   Missionary.

   Morrison was born in Northumberland, England, and was largely self-educated. He was sponsored by the London Missionary Society to translate and distribute the Bible in China. He was ordained and sailed for Canton in 1807. At that period, China was almost completely closed to the West, but Morrison set about learning the language thoroughly and he was employed as an interpreter by the East India Company. By 1818 he had translated the entire Bible and his Chinese Dictionary was published in 1821. This remained the standard work for many years. He sent his assistant, William Milne, to found the Anglo-Chinese College in Malacca and, on his return to England in 1824, he promoted greater understanding of the Chinese people. Even at the time of his death, China was still closed to Westerners, but none the less Morrison’s work provided the foundation for later Protestant missions in that country.

   M. Broomhall, Robert Morrison (1935);

   L. Ride, Robert Morrison: The Scholar and the Man (1957).