Frank Lee Woodward Biography

Frank Lee Woodward was born on 13 April 1871 at Saham Toney in Norfolk, England, as the third son of William Woodward, an Anglican vicar, and his wife Elizabeth Mary Ann.

Woodward had a Victorian education and began to study the languages Latin, Greek, French and German by the age of eight. He joined the traditional English public school Christ's Hospital (the Bluecoat School), London in 1879, where he later won the Latin and French prizes on three occasions.

Woodward also did well in athletics at his school and won prizes for many athletic events. He did specially well in Putting the weight, where he held the records for several years.

Woodward won a scholarship to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge at the age of eighteen and won the distinction as a classical scholar, sportsman and organist there. He was also the captain of the Rugby football team, vice-captain of Boats and was a full-back of the Soccer team of Sydney Sussex College.

He received BA in 1893 and MA in 1902 and later turned to teaching and taught in several English public schools which secured him a job as deputy headmaster. Woodward began his teaching career at Rugby Preparatory School, where he served for a short period as an assistant master.

Later he taught for three years at the Royal Grammar School, Worcester until 1897 as classics master. Woodward then joined Stamford School, Lincolnshire, where he served for five years as the second master. He regarded his profession as “the noblest of them all”, as “a means of learning” and as “a means of service.”

During his five-year period at Stamford school he spent a great deal of his time for the study of both Western and Eastern philosophy, Pali and Sanskrit, English literature, and religion. Woodward joined the London Theosophical Society in 1902 and became a friend and follower of Col. Henry Steel Olcott, the co-founder and first President of the Theosophical Society.

In 1903 Col. Olcott offered him the principalship of Mahinda College, Galle, Ceylon which was then administered by the Buddhist Theosophical Society of Galle, Ceylon. Woodward accepted the principalship of Mahinda College which he managed for the next 16 years of his life.

Woodward was the principal of Mahinda College from 1903 to 1919. His work at Mahinda College included taking classes in English, Latin, Pali, Buddhism and Art, in addition to the administrative duties related with the head mastership of the school.

With the assistance of Mudaliyar Gunaratne, Muhandiram Thomas Amarasuriya, Muhandiram Wickremasinghe and the charitable Buddhist public of Galle, Woodward relocated Mahinda College from busy Galle fort to its present site, which is more suited for a school.

His involvement went much further as he was the designer and architect of its buildings, personally supervised their construction, and often worked alongside the masons. He also contributed generously from his monetary inheritance and did not draw the salary attached to the post.

During the tenure of Woodward, the school had grown rapidly and became one of the leading colleges in the Southern Sri Lanka. Although he was a strict disciplinarian, his students greatly idolized him.

While working in Sri Lanka, he edited “The Buddhist,” the leading Buddhist magazine of the island at the time and went to Madras each year for the annual convention of the Theosophical Society Adyar. Woodward advised the director of education in Ceylon often during his work and was actively involved with the movement for establishing a University in Ceylon.

Sinhalese language was accepted as a subject for the Cambridge local examinations due to his efforts. He decided to leave Mahinda College in 1919 due to the tropical climate, which was having a bad impact on his health. He moved to Tasmania to live the remaining part of his life with the intention of translating the Pali Canon into English language.

Woodward settled in Tasmania and in 1927 bought a small apple orchard and a cottage from a fellow Theosophist, situated on the Tamar River 40 km from Launceston, from where Ben Lomond, one of the highest peaks in Tasmania, can be seen. In this peaceful setting he resumed his studies on Buddhism and translations for the Pali Text Society, established by Thomas Rhys Davids in 1881.

He lived alone, surrounded by Buddhist scriptures on thousands of palm leaves and practiced yoga and meditation. Although he preferred isolation, he developed friendships with his close neighbors and was liked by the local children, who were given sweets by Woodward on his visits to the store.

Being also a Theosophist, he sometimes drew up their astrological charts. A vegetarian and animal lover, he surprised his neighbors with his fondness for the snakes of the area.

In his final years, his orchard became neglected and he was reduced to near poverty. Woodward only left his hometown two or three times a year, usually to take part in some activity of the local branch of the Theosophical Society. His work, “Some Sayings of the Buddha,” has contributed to a wider understanding of Buddhism in the western world. An erudite Pali scholar and translator, he translated eighteen of the forty-two volumes of the Pali texts into English and compiled the vast concordance of the Pali canon.

In 1936, upon the publication of 15 volumes of a complete translation of the Digha, Majjhima, Samyutta and Anguttara Nikayas, Mrs. Rhys Davids declared: "More specially our tribute is due to him (Woodward) who has borne the major burden, translating alone six of the fifteen volumes, giving aid in a seventh and now crowning our labours with this last volume. To all this must be added his recently issued translations of two Minor Anthologies in the Sacred Books of the Buddhist series Udana and Iti-vuttaka, and his first edition of the Samyutta Commentary. Very worthily has he stood in the breach left by the untimely death of Richard Morris and Edmund Hardy. That we can look forward in a few years to completing our scheduled programme is largely due to him."

Woodward died on 27 May 1952 at Beaconsfield Hospital, West Tamar, at the age of 81. He was buried in Carr Villa cemetery, Launceston.

Literary works of F. L. Woodward

• Some sayings of the Buddha according to the Pali canon
• The Minor Anthologies of the Pali Canon
• The Buddha's Path of Virtue: A Translation of the Dhammapada
• The Book of the Kindred Sayings
• The Book of Gradual Sayings
• Pictures of Buddhist Ceylon and Other Papers
• Francis Bacon and the Cipher Story
• Buddhist Stories. Translated from the Pāli
• The Buddhist Doctrine of Reversible Merit
• Peace

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._L._Woodward
• http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/woodward-frank-lee-9183
• http://buddhadust.net/backmatter/gallery/woodward.htm

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