Sir James William Redhouse (30 December 1811 – 4 January 1892) authored the original and authoritative Ottoman - English dictionary. He was commissioned by the

American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was among the first American Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College. In the 19th century it was the largest and most imp ...

for his dictionary. His work was later used as the basis for many Turkish - English dictionaries.

Biography

Redhouse was born near London, the eldest son of James Redhouse and his wife Elizabeth Saunders. He was orphaned and educated at

Christ's Hospital Christ's Hospital is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 11–18) with a royal charter located to the south of Horsham in West Sussex. The school was founded in 1552 and received its first royal charter in 1553. ...

from 1819 to 1826. In 1826 he toured the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

Smyrna Smyrna ( ; grc, Σμύρνη, Smýrnē, or , ) was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to promi ...

(now Izmir) and

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

(the entirety of which is now

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

). He was offered a post by the Turkish government as a draftsman, and as a result learnt Turkish. In 1830 he visited Russia and returned to England in 1834 to publish a Turkish-English dictionary. In 1838 Redhouse returned to work for the Ottoman government as an interpreter to the Grand Vizier and the

Minister for Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

. He transferred to the Ottoman Admiralty in 1840, became a member of the Naval Council, and went to Syria to help communications between the English Austrian and Ottoman fleets which were running a blockade. He received the Sultan's Imperial Order (İftihar Nişanı) in 1841. In 1843 he was appointed secretary and interpreter to the British Commissioner

William Fenwick Williams General Sir William Fenwick Williams, 1st Baronet (4 December 180026 July 1883) was a Nova Scotian military leader for the British during the Victorian era. Williams is remembered for his defence of the town of Kars during the Crimean War. He ...

, who was arranging a peace treaty between the Ottoman Empire and Persia. Redhouse was also involved in peace negotiations at Erzurum in 1847 and was awarded the Persian

Order of the Lion and the Sun The Imperial Order of the Lion and the Sun ( Persian: نشان سلطنتی شیر و خورشید) was instituted by Fat’h Ali Shah of the Qajar dynasty in 1808 to honour foreign officials (later extended to Iranians) who had rendered disting ...

. He returned to Constantinople until 1853. He was appointed oriental translator to the Foreign Office in 1854 and went to Paris to help negotiate a treaty with Persia. Redhouse retired from the Foreign Office to concentrate on literary work. He joined the

Royal Asiatic Society The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, commonly known as the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS), was established, according to its royal charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the en ...

in 1854 and was its secretary from 1861 to 1864. He lived at Kilburn where he compiled a dictionary of Arabic, Persian and Turkish languages. In 1884 he was given an honorary doctorate at Cambridge University. He was made CMG in 1885 and knighted in 1888. Redhouse married firstly Jane Carruthers Slade, daughter of Thomas Slade of Liverpool, who died in 1887. He was married again in 1888 to Eliza Colquhoun, daughter of Sir Patrick Colquhoun.

Works

* Grammaire raisonné de la langue Ottomane (1846) * Vade mecum of the Ottoman colloquial language (1855) * Turkish vade mecum (1877) * A simplified grammar of the Ottoman-Turkish (1884) * Müntehabatı lügatı Osmaniye (1838) * A dictionary of Arabic and Persian words used in Turkish (1853) * A Turkish and English lexicon shewing the English significations of the Turkish terms (1890) * Kitabı maanii lehçe li James Redhouse el İngilizi (1890) * The Mesnevi (1881) * A Vindication of the Ottoman Sultans title of caliph (1877) * On the history, system and varieties of Turkish poetry (1879)

References

External links

Sir James Redhouse --the Turkish Dictionary Man

History of Redhouse Press
{{DEFAULTSORT:Redhouse, James British lexicographers 1811 births 1892 deaths Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Knights of the Order of the Crescent 19th-century lexicographers English expatriates in Russia English expatriates in Turkey