Robert Morrison

Robert Morrison (1782-1834), missionary to China and Chinese scholar, was trained at Hoxton Academy and joined the LMS in 1804. After some study with David Bogue at Gosport and the study of medicine in London, he sailed for Canton, China (via America) in September 1807. In 1815 he published his Grammar of the Chinese Language, although he had already published portions of the New Testament and other tracts into Chinese. His bible, assisted by fellow LMS missionary William Milne (1785-1822), appeared in 1823. In 1824 Morrison returned to London, bringing his large library of Chinese books with him, a collection that formed the basis of the library at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. His reputation stands today first as a protestant pioneer, both physically and methodologically—he proved that it was possible for Europeans to publish works in Chinese in China itself; and second as a scholarly facilitator of cultural exchange between Europe and China. As the report of the East India Company's select committee in Canton stated in 1827, Robert Morrison was considered the chief person who opened to his countrymen the road to the knowledge of the language of China.