• Reference
    • GB 102 CWML MSS/304
  • Language of Material
    • English Mailu
  • Physical Description
    • 2 vols

Scope and Content

Manuscript Mailu-English dictionary. No indication of author or date, but possibly produced by William Saville, who was stationed at Mailu with the London Missionary Society between 1901 and 1935, and who produced a Mailu-English Dictionary in addition to grammars and other publications in the language.

Administrative / Biographical History

William James Viritahitemauvai Saville was born on 22 Jan 1873, at Huahine, Society Islands, South Seas. He was the son of Rev Alfred Thomas Saville, a missionary with the London Missionary Society. William Saville was appointed to Mailu, Papua, by the London Missionary Society, and sailed on 6 Jul 1900. He settled at Mailu in Mar 1901. He married Frances Lawes on 6 Jun 1903. He started a new mission station at Millport Harbour in 1901, but returned to Mailu in 1909. Mr and Mrs Saville pioneered among the Dimuga people, and in 1933 settled the first teachers among them. He translated the New Testament in Mailu, and published a Grammar of the Mailu language, a Papuan School Reader and a Mailu-English Dictionary. He retired in 1935. He died in 1946. Mrs Saville died in 1956.

Access Information

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Related Material

See William Saville's notebooks [reference CWML MSS 8 & 9]