Robert Pinkerton (1780, Foulshiels near Selkirk,

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions (edited by Gerald H. Anderson) – 7 April 1859, Reigate, Surrey, England) was a Principal Agent of the

British and Foreign Bible Society The British and Foreign Bible Society, often known in England and Wales as simply the Bible Society, is a non-denominational Christian Bible society with charity status whose purpose is to make the Bible available throughout the world. The ...

(BFBS). He was a respected

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

, translator and author of several books including, most notably ''The Present State of the Greek Church in Russia'' (1816) and ''Russia or Miscellaneous Observations on the past and present state of that country and its inhabitants'' (1833). Pinkerton travelled widely, especially in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, Europe (

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in particular) and

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

encouraging the setting up of Bible societies, writing copiously about his travels and translating other authors' works from Russian, Greek and other languages.

Biography

In 1813 Pinkerton helped found the Russian Bible Society in

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

; he then toured Germany (including

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

especially) returning to Russia for three years before making a two-year missionary tour of Europe including Greece. Between 1823 and 1830 he lived in London with some of his family after which he moved to

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

to take the post of Sole Agent for the BFBS in the German-speaking countries in Europe. In the 1820s Pinkerton found himself having to resolve his opinions of the conflicting views of the BFBS and those of

Robert Haldane Robert Haldane (28 February 1764 – 12 December 1842) was a religious writer and Scottish theologian. Author of ''Commentaire sur l'Épître aux Romains, On the Inspiration of Scripture'' and ''Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans.'' Early ...

that came to be known as the Apocrypha Controversy and which resulted in a split and the formation of the

Scottish Bible Society Scottish Bible Society (SBS), founded in 1809 as the Edinburgh Bible Society, amalgamated in 1861 with the Glasgow Bible Society (founded 1812) to form the National Bible Society of Scotland, is a Scottish Christian charity that exists to make th ...

. Pinkerton married Dorothea, née possibly Theakston, about 1807 at her home town of Sarepta, Volgograd, Russia and had at least nine children. Pinkerton is not found on a British census record but his wife Dorothea and those children who chose to live in Britain are found.1861 England Census, Surrey, Reigate Foreign, District 3, Page 33. Pinkerton was the grandfather of linguist and translator

Percy Edward Pinkerton Percy Edward Pinkerton (19 June 1855 – 31 August 1946) was an English translator and poet. His translations included two novels by Émile Zola and a Puccini libretto. Early life Pinkerton was born at Stamford Hill, Middlesex, the third child o ...

and the architect

Godfrey Pinkerton Godfrey Pinkerton (1858 – 1937) was a London-based British architect. Biography Early life Pinkerton was born at Godstone, Surrey, son of metal broker George Pinkerton (1823 – 1899), son of the missionary and linguist Rev. Robert Pinkerton, D ...

References

External links

A Visit to the Dukhobortsy on the Sea of Azov, 1816 by Robert Pinkerton
ref>This page contains an image of Pinkerton that is courtesy of the BFBS Collection, Cambridge University Library and may be subject to copyright. {{DEFAULTSORT:Pinkerton, Robert 1780 births 1859 deaths Scottish Christian missionaries People from Selkirk, Scottish Borders 19th-century Scottish translators Translators from Russian