Carey, William

Carey, William

▪ British missionary
born Aug. 17, 1761, Paulerspury, Northamptonshire, Eng.
died June 9, 1834, Frederiksnagar [now Shrirampur], India

      founder of the English Baptist Missionary Society (1792), lifelong missionary to India, and educator whose mission at Shrirampur (Serampore) set the pattern for modern missionary work. He has been called the “father of Bengali prose” for his grammars, dictionaries, and translations.

      A Baptist from 1783, Carey served for several years as a pastor in Moulton, Northamptonshire, where he also taught school and continued his trade as a shoemaker. In 1789 he transferred to the Baptist church at Leicester and three years later published a pamphlet titled An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens, which led to his forming, with a dozen other ministers, the English Baptist Missionary Society.

      The society's first missionaries, Carey and John Thomas, a doctor, went to Calcutta (Kolkata (Calcutta)) in 1793. The following year, Carey removed himself from the society's financial support when he became superintendent at an indigo plant in Mudnabati, Bengal. There he also preached, taught, and began his first Bible translation. Compelled to leave British Indian territory, he and his family moved to the Danish colony of Frederiksnagar, near Calcutta, in 1800. There he and Joshua Marshman and William Ward, collectively known as the “Serampore trio,” founded the mission described by the English philanthropist William Wilberforce as “one of the chief glories” of the British nation.

      Appointed in 1801 to teach Bengali, Sanskrit, and Marathi at Fort William College, Carey translated the Bible into Bengali, Oriya, Marathi, Hindi, Assamese, and Sanskrit. He also translated parts of it into 29 other languages and dialects. He edited, with Marshman, a grammar in Bhotia and prepared six other grammars in different languages. In addition to dictionaries in Bengali, Sanskrit, and Marathi, Carey and Marshman prepared a translation of three volumes of the Hindu epic poem Ramayana (Rāmāyaṇa). Having established a press at Serampore, Carey edited and published two works by horticulturist William Roxburgh, Hortus Bengalensis (1814) and Flora Indica (1832), and helped distribute prose texts for use in schools. His social work extended beyond education to urge the government to outlaw such practices as infanticide and suttee (in which Hindu widows immolated themselves on their husbands' funeral pyres). He also encouraged the use of Indians as missionaries and led in the formation of the Agricultural Society of India in 1820.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Carey, William — (1761–1834)    Missionary.    Carey was born in Northamptonshire. He was brought up in the Church of England, but joined the Baptist Church at the age of twenty two. As a young man he supported himself as a cobbler while also teaching in a school …   Who’s Who in Christianity

  • Carey, William — ( 1761 18 34 )    pioneer of the Protestant missionary movement    William Carey was born in Paulerspury, Northamptonshire, England, on August 17, 1761, the son of a schoolmaster. He was raised in the Church of England, but following a conversion …   Encyclopedia of Protestantism

  • CAREY, WILLIAM —    celebrated Baptist missionary, born in Northamptonshire; founder of the Baptist Missionary Society, and its first missionary; founded the mission at Serampore and directed its operations, distributing Bibles and tracts by thousands in native… …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia

  • CAREY, William — (1761 1834)    English shoemaker whose profound religious CONVERSION led him to write An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to use Means for Conversion of the Heathen (1792), which became the manifesto of the modern MISSIONARY movement.… …   Concise dictionary of Religion

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  • CAREY (W.) — CAREY WILLIAM (1761 1834) Né dans le Northamptonshire, William Carey rejoignit, en 1779, l’Église baptiste, dans laquelle il devint pasteur tout en gardant son métier de cordonnier. Ses sermons (Expect Great Things from God, Attempt Great Things… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

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  • William Carey — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Carey. William Carey William Carey (17 août 1761, Paulerspury, Angleterre – 9 juin 1834, Serampore, India) est un …   Wikipédia en Français

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