Thomas William Rhys Davids was born in Colchester, the eldest son of a Welsh Congregational minister who was affectionately referred to as the Bishop of Essex. His mother, who died at the age of 37 following childbirth; had run the Sunday school attached to his father's church.
T. W. Rhys Davids was well educated in Latin at school. Deciding on the Civil Service, he studied Sanskrit under A.F. Stenzler (a distinguished scholar at the University of Breslau, Germany, from 1833 till 1868). There, he earned money by teaching English. He returned to England in 1863 and, passing his civil service exams, he was posted to Ceylon. As Magistrate of Galle, a case was brought before Rhys Davids involving questions of ecclesiastical law, and he first came across Pali when a document in a strange language was brought up as evidence.
In 1871 he was posted as Assistant Government Agent of Nuwarakalaviya of which Anuradhapura was the administrative centre, where the Governor was Sir Hercules Robinson. Robinson founded the Archaeological Commission in 1868.
Rhys Davids became involved with the excavation of the ancient Sinhalese city of Anuradhapura, which had been abandoned after an invasion in 993. He began to collect inscriptions and manuscripts, and from 1870-1872 wrote a series of articles for the Ceylon branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Journal about them. During this time Rhys Davids learned the local language and spent time with the people of the area.
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