ROBERT, D.D., the first Protestant missionary to China, was born of Scottish parents at Morpeth in January 1782. After receiving an elementary education from his maternal uncle at Newcastle, he was apprenticed at an early age to his father's trade of lastmaking. But his predilection was for the office of the ministry, and his spare hours were devoted to the eager perusal of religious books. In 1801 he began a regular course of study under a Presbyterian minister, and in 1803 he was received into the Independent theological academy at Hoxton. It was in 1804 that he was seized with the desire of proceeding on a mission to the Chinese. His services were immediately offered to the London Missionary Society, and were accepted. After attending the Mission College of Gosport, and studying the Chinese language under a native teacher, he set sail for China in January 1807. On his arrival at Canton in September of the same year, he commenced to perfect his knowledge of the language of the country with an intense application, which for some time imperilled his health. At the same time he was living in the dullest solitude, maintaining the strictest economy, and guarding with incessant circumspection against exciting the unreasonable jealousy of the natives. His domestic discomfort was relieved in 1808 by his marriage, and by his simultaneous appointment to the office of translator to the East India Company's factory at Canton. By this time he had constructed a Chinese grammar, was compiling a Chinese dictionary, and was preparing for his great work of translating the Scriptures. He did not suffer his official duties to divert him from his studies. In 1814 his translation of the New Testament and his Chinese Grammar were printed. He then commenced to translate the Old Testament, with the assistance of Mr Milne, who had been sent out by the London Missionary Society. Separate portions of the Bible, and several small devotional treatises, were in the meantime printed, and were secretly distributed among the natives. He also published in 1817 an English treatise entitled A View of China for Philological Purposes. In the same year the university of Glasgow recognised his services in the cause of learning by conferring upon him the degree of D.D. He completed his translation of the Bible in the following year. His next enterprise was the establishment of an Anglo-Chinese college at Malacca, for "the reciprocal cultivation of Chinese and European literature." This institution was founded in November 1818, was furthered by liberal contributions from Great Britain, India, and America, and was opened in 1820. In 1821 the Chinese Dictionary was published by the East India Company at an expense of L.15,000. Dr Morrison, worn out by long and continued mental exertion, now proposed to visit his native country for the sake of his health. He accordingly left China at the close of 1823, and arrived in London in the following March. He was greeted by the respect and esteem of all classes. George IV. honoured him with an interview; the Royal Society elected him one of their number; and wherever he went to advocate the cause of the Chinese mission he was received by large and enthusiastic audiences. After spending two years in attempting to interest his countrymen in the project to which he had devoted his life, he returned to China in 1826. He now set himself to promote education, to write a commentary on the Scriptures in Chinese, and to superintend the distribution of books and tracts. These labours were beginning to yield some visible fruit, when they were brought to a close by his death, at Canton, on the 1st August 1834. His remains were interred at Macao.

His Memoirs, compiled by his widow, were published in 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1839.