:See also '' William Reeve (bishop) (1844-1925), missionary to Canada'' William Reeve (1794-1850) was a

London Missionary Society The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed in outlook, with Congregational miss ...

missionary to India, author of an early dictionary of the

Kannada language Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native sp ...

, and translator with

John Hands John Hands (5 December 1780 – 30 June 1864 in Dublin) was a missionary of the London Missionary Society in India and, with William Reeve, translator of one of the first Bible translations into Kannada (1820). Hands founded the mission station ...

of the Bible into Kannada. The dictionary was compiled from 1827 to 1834, when he was in

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

. Richard Lovett. ''The History of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895'' vol. 2 (1899), p. 106
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His connection with the Society ceased 23 November 1835. William Reeve was the first to compile the

Canarese Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native sp ...

- English dictionary, which was published in 1858, by the Wesleyan Mission Press, financially supported by Sir. Mark Cubbon the British Resident of

Mysore Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...

. Reeve was minister of the Congregational church at

Oswestry Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483 and A495 roads. The town was the administrative headquarters of the Borough of ...

, from 1836 to 1843. He then suffered a complete loss of sight, and moved to

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. He died in 1850.George Eyre Evans, William George Dimock Fletcher, William Kinsella, ''Shropshire Parish Registers: Nonconformist and Roman Catholic registers'' (1903), section Oswestry Old Chapel registers, p. v
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reeve, William 1794 births 1850 deaths Translators of the Bible into Kannada Linguists of Kannada 19th-century translators People from British India