Carey, William (1761-1834) Christian preacher, a promoter of Bangla prose, and founder of Bangla printing, was born in Northamptonshire, England. He was too poor to continue his studies and had to begin working in a shoe factory while still quite young. At the age of fifteen he was attracted to christianity and learned Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. He also acquired considerable knowledge of history, geography, and natural sciences. In 1783 he became a Baptist. In 1793, along with his family, he sailed for India with Thomas Jones, a physician and preacher. While on boardship, Carey started learning Bangla.

With the collaboration of panchanan karmakar, a typemaker, William Carey printed the first Bangla newspaper, Samachar. In August the same year, the first book in Bangla prose, Matheu Rachita Mission Samachar, was published under his initiative.

In recognition of his pioneering work in Bangla, Carey was appointed professor of Bangla at fort william college in 1801. Along with Bangla, he also taught sanskrit and Marathi. To meet the need of Bangla textbooks, he wrote Bangla Vyakaran (Bangla Grammar) and Kathopakathan (Conversations, 1801). He published Itihasmala in 1812. Other books by him include The New Testament, The Old Testament, and Bangla-Engreji Abhidhan (Bangla-English Dictionary). He also translated the Bible into other Indian languages. He did a great deal of research in Indian agriculture, geology, botany, and zoology. In 1823 he founded the Horticulture Society of India. He also edited an English magazine titled Friends of India. [Saumitra Sekhar]