Robert Henry Codrington

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Robert Henry Codrington

Personal life
Born	(1830-09-15)15 September 1830 Wroughton, Wiltshire
Died	11 September 1922(1922-09-11) (aged 91) Chichester
Religious life
Religion	Church of England

Robert Henry Codrington (15 September 1830, Wroughton, Wiltshire – 11 September 1922)^[1] was an Anglican priest and anthropologist who made the first study of Melanesian society and culture. His work is still held as a classic of ethnography.

Codrington wrote, "One of the first duties of a missionary is to try to understand the people among whom he works,"^[2] and he himself reflected a deep commitment to this value. Codrington worked as headmaster of the Melanesian Mission school on Norfolk Island from 1867 to 1887.^[1] Over his many years with the Melanesian people, he gained a deep knowledge of their society, languages, and customs through a close association with them. He also intensively studied "Melanesian languages", including the Mota language.^[1]

He popularized the use of the word "mana" in the West, and described mana "as a generalized power that is perceived in objects appearing in any sense out of the ordinary, or that is acquired by persons who possess them."^[3]

Bibliography of works by Codrington

A Sketch of Mota Grammar. (1877). (full text from the Internet Archive).
The Melanesian Languages. (1885). Oxford: Clarendon Press. (full text from the Internet Archive).
The Melanesians: Studies in their Anthropology and Folk-Lore. (1891). Oxford: Clarendon Press. (full text from the Internet Archive).
A Dictionary of the Language of Mota, Sugarloaf Island, Banks' Islands: With a short grammar and index. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
"Melanesians." Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics. Ed. James Hastings. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 8:529–38.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Davidson, Allan K. "The Legacy of Robert Henry Codrington." International Bulletin of Missionary Research. Oct 2003, Vol. 27 Issue 4, p. 171-176. full text.
^ The Melanesians. Robert Codrington.
^ World Religions: Eastern Traditions. Edited by Willard Gurdon Oxtoby (2nd ed.). Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press. 2002. pp. 324, 326. ISBN 0-19-541521-3. OCLC 46661540.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)

External links

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