Thomas William Rhys Davids

(1843-1922)

Pioneering British scholar of Pāli and husband of C. A. F. Rhys Davids, whom he married in 1894. After training as a solicitor Rhys Davids studied Sanskrit and went on to join the Ceylon Civil Service, which brought him into first-hand contact with Theravāda Buddhism. He resigned from the Civil Service in 1872 and returned to England intending to practise law, but instead began to translate texts from the Pāli Canon. In 1881 he founded the Pāli Text Society and in 1882 took up the post of Professor of Pāli at University College, London. He wrote many secondary works on early Buddhism and his contribution to Pāli studies remains unrivalled.

A Dictionary of Buddhism, Oxford University Press, 2003, 2004 (which is available in electronic version from answer.com)