Carey

Carey, WILLIAM, D.D., Baptist missionary and orientalist, was born at Paulerspury, near Towcester, Northamptonshire, 17th August 1761. Apprenticed at fourteen to a shoemaker, he joined the Baptists in 1783, and three years later became a minister, first at Moulton in Northamptonshire, and then at Leicester. A pamphlet which he published about this time attracted the attention of his co-workers in the ministry to the subject of Foreign Missions, and ultimately a missionary society, chiefly through Carey's exertions, was formed. Carey and a Mr Thomas were chosen its first missionaries to India in 1793. From that time until his death on 9th June 1834, Carey was indefatigable (under many difficulties, especially during the early years) in his efforts to spread the knowledge of the gospel among the heathen. Under his direction, the Serampore mission, of which he was the principal founder, had up to 1832 issued above 200,000 Bibles, or portions thereof, in about forty Oriental languages or dialects, besides a great number of tracts and other religious works in various languages. A great proportion of the actual literary labour involved in these undertakings was performed by Carey himself, who published valuable grammars and dictionaries of Bengali, Mahratta, Sanskrit, and other languages. From 1801 to 1830 he was Oriental professor at Fort-William College, Calcutta. See his Life by Culross (1881) and Dr G. Smith (1884).