James Thomas Molesworth


James Thomas Molesworth was a military officer in the services of the British East India Company, and one of the most prominent lexicographers of the Marathi language.

Early life

James was the youngest son of Richard and Catherine Molesworth, and nephew of William John, 6th Viscount Molesworth. James was educated at Exeter and arrived in India at the age of 16 after joining the East India Company as an Ensign. His knowledge of the Marathi and Hindustani languages enabled him to serve as an interpreter for the 6th and the 9th Native Infantry regiments. He was promoted Lieutenant in 1816, and subsequently transferred to the Commissariat department.

The Dictionaries

In the year 1818, while Molesworth was stationed in Solapur along with his fellow interpreter Thomas Candy, the two started compiling a glossary of Marathi words. This led to the design of a comprehensive dictionary. After an initial lukewarm response to this proposal from the British Government, the work was formally begun in 1825, when Molesworth was stationed in Bombay. The work was simultaneously carried out for a Marathi-Marathi and a Marathi-English dictionary, with the assistance of the twin brothers George and Thomas Candy, and a team of native Marathi-speaking Brahmins. A preface to the first edition of the Marathi-English dictionary describes the process as follows:
The manuscripts were completed in 1828. The Marathi-Marathi dictionary, containing approximately 25,000 words, was printed and distributed by the Bombay Native Education Society. A delay in the printing of the Marathi-English dictionary was used to advantage by Molesworth by augmenting it to 40,000 words. It appeared in 1831, under the title A Dictionary, Murathee & English, compiled for the Government of Bombay, by Captain James T. Molesworth.

Later life

A bout of ill health prevented Molesworth from completing his next project, namely an English-Marathi dictionary, and he returned to England in 1836. As he came to believe that military service was incompatible with his calling as a Christian, he resigned from the Army and chose to forgo his pension. He was invited to India in 1851 to prepare a revised version of his Marathi-English dictionary. This work, containing 60,000 words, was published in 1857, and since then has been reprinted several times.
Molesworth's fluency in Marathi was much admired by his Indian colleagues, and his name was affectionately Indianised to 'Molesarshastri' or 'Moreshwarshastri'.
He returned to England in 1860. Molesworth was a devout Christian and contributed much effort to evangelical causes and scriptural studies. He remained a lifelong bachelor. He died in Clifton on 13 July 1871.