Robert Henry Codrington

Robert Henry Codrington (15 September 1830, Wroughton, Wiltshire – 11 September 1922) was an Anglican priest and anthropologist who made the first study of Melanesian society and culture. His work is still held as a classic of ethnography.

Codrington wrote, "One of the first duties of a missionary is to try to understand the people among whom he works," and he himself reflected a deep commitment to this value. Codrington worked as headmaster of the Melanesian Mission school on Norfolk Island from 1867 to 1887.

Bibliography of works by Codrington A Sketch of Mota Grammar. (1877). (full text from the Internet Archive). The Melanesian Languages. (1885). Oxford: Clarendon Press. (full text from the Internet Archive). The Melanesians: Studies in their Anthropology and Folk-Lore. (1891). Oxford: Clarendon Press. (full text from the Internet Archive). Codrington, Robert & John Palmer. 1896. A Dictionary of the Language of Mota, Sugarloaf Island, Banks' Islands: With a short grammar and index. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. "Melanesians." Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics. Ed. James Hastings. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 8:529–38.