William Hodge Mill

William Hodge Mill (1792–1853) was an English churchman and orientalist, the first principal of Bishop’s College, Calcutta and later Regius Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge.

Life

He was son of John Mill, a native of Dundee, by his wife Martha née Hodge, and was born 18 July 1792 at Hackney, Middlesex. He was educated chiefly in private under Thomas Belsham. In 1809 he went to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. as sixth wrangler in 1813, was elected Fellow in 1814, and proceeded M.A. in 1816. He took deacon's orders in 1817, and priest's in the following year, and continuing in residence at Cambridge.

In 1820 he was appointed the first principal of Bishop’s College, Calcutta, then just founded, under the superintendence of Bishop Thomas Fanshawe Middleton. There he assisted in the publication of works in Arabic, of which he had already gained some knowledge, and addressed himself to the study of the Indian vernaculars and Sanskrit, and he co-operated in the work of the Sanskrit and other native colleges. He was also a leading member of the Bengal Asiatic Society (vice-president 1833–7), and supported the society's Journal, then just founded, his contributions extending from vol. ii. to vol. vi. He also deciphered of several inscriptions, then little understood, especially those on the pillars at Allahabad and Bhitari. Their daughter Maria Elphinstone Mill married Benjamin Webb.