GOGERLY, Daniel John. London 25.8.1792 — buried Colombo 6.9.1862. British Methodist Missionary in Ceylon. Son of Daniel G. and Elizabeth Forster. Worked as a printer, but soon joined the Wesleyan Mission. Arrived at Jaffna in October 1818 taking the supervision of Methodist Mission press. Ordained priest 1823, in 1822-34 stationed at Negombo. After Clough’s departure in 1822 he became the head of the Sinhalese Bible translation committee, and again in the 1850s, for a new revised version. In the 1830s doyen of the Wesleyan Mission, later General Superintendent of the Wesleyan Mission in South Ceylon. Married 1817 Sarah Kenegan (d. 1821), 1822 Johanna Anna Susanna Guillaume (née van Lynden, d. 1829, two children), 1830 Eliza Jane Torriano (d.) and 18?? Anna Deborah Chater (née McCally, d. 1861).
Beside Sinhalese, Gogerly also mastered Pāli, taught to him by Buddhist monks in Matara in the 1830s. In this his main purpose was to refute Buddhism, and part of his translations were selected to support this aim. He was preparing an extensive Pāli dictionary which remained unfinished.
Publications: Translated: “Pātimokkha” The Ceylon Friend 1839 (republ. together with the Chinese Prātimokṣa translated by S. Beal, JRAS 19, 1862, 407-480); “Dhammapada”, The Ceylon Friend 1840 (first 18 vaggas).
– “On Buddhism”, JRAS-CB 1:1, 1845, 90-112; 1:2, 1846-47, 13-62; 1:3, 1847-48, 111-148; 1:4, 1847-48, 117-156; and 2:1 (4), 1848, 17-30 (with translated extracts from manuscripts).
– Translated: ”The Discourse on the Minor Results of Conduct, or Discourse addressed to Subha”, JRAS-CB 1:2, 1846-47, 84-90; “Singālo Wāda”, JRAS-CB 1:2, 1846-47, 156-163; “The discourse respecting Raṭṭhapála”, JRAS-CB 1:3, 1847-48, 84-98 & 1:4, 1847-48, 89-104; “First 10 tales of the Chariya Piṭaka”, JRAS-CB 2:2 (6), 1853, 1-11; “The First Discourse delivered by Buddha”, JRAS-CB 4:13, 1865-66, 118-122.
– “The Laws of the Budhist Priesthood”, JRAS-CB 2:2 (6), 1853, 12-26 & 2:4 (8), 1855, 117-142 & 3:11, 1858-59, 253-261.
– “A lecture on Buddhism”, JRAS-CB 1:14, 1867-70, 87-130; further papers on Buddhism in the Wesleyan Ceylon Friend.
– Ceylon Buddhism, being the Collected Writings of Daniel John Gogerly. Edited by A. S. Bishop. 1-2. Colombo 1908.
Sources: Works in N.U.C.; JRAS N.S. 1, 1865, Proc. vii-ix; ancestry.com & gw.geneanet.org (family details and biographical note); *E.J. Harris, “Manipulating Meaning: Daniel Gogerly’s Nineteenth Century Translations of the Theravada Texts”, Buddhist Studies Review 27, 2010, 66ff.; Wikipedia.
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