Robert Henry Mathews

Who was Robert Henry Mathews?

Robert Henry Mathews was an Australian missionary and Sinologist, best known for his 1931 Chinese-English Dictionary. Revised American edition. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-12350-2.

"R.H. Mathews, the Australian who was to be the compiler of the most widely used Chinese-English dictionary, was told on applying to the China Inland Mission that at 29 he was too old to learn the language. However he was accepted and arrived in China in 1906. During the war he was interned by the Japanese and his library confiscated. R.H. Mathews did not receive the financial recompense which one would expect from the compilation of such an important work, as his dictionary was published in both the US and throughout Asia in pirated editions. In December of 1962 he was awarded an honorary doctor of letters."