Sir Monier Monier-Williams,
KCIE (12 November 1819,
Bombay – 11 April 1899,
Cannes ) studied, documented and taught Asian languages in
England, and compiled one of the most widely used
Sanskrit-English dictionaries.
Monier-Williams was the son of Colonel Monier Williams, surveyor-general in the Bombay presidency. He was educated at King's College School, Balliol College, Oxford (1838-40), the East India Company College (1840-41) and University College, Oxford (1841-44). He married in 1848.
Monier-Williams taught Asian languages at the East India Company College from 1844 until 1858, when company rule in India ended after the mutiny.
He was the second occupant of the Boden Chair of Sanskrit at Oxford University, following Horace Hayman Wilson, who had started the University's collection of Sanskrit manuscripts upon taking the Chair in 1831.
