Caroline Augusta Rhys Davids

WIKI

Caroline Augusta Foley Rhys Davids born 27 Sept 1857, Wadhurst, East Sussex,to Reverend John Foley and Caroline Elizabeth Foley (née Windham). She was one of ten children. Her great-grandfather was Vice Admiral William Lukin who had assumed the name Windham in 1824 upon inheriting Felbrigg Hall.

She was a British writer and translator. She made a contribution to economics before becoming widely known as an editor, translator, and interpreter of Buddhist texts in the Pāli language. She was honorary secretary of the Pāli Text Society from 1907, and its president from 1923 to 1942

Two years before her birth, five of her siblings died within one month in December 1855/January 1856 from diphtheria and are commemorated in the church of St Peter and St Paul, Wadhurst. One surviving brother, John Windham Foley (1848–1926), became a missionary in India and another, Charles Windham Foley (1856–1933), played in three FA Cup Finals for Old Etonians, being on the winning side in 1852; he later had a career as a solicitor.

Caroline married Thomas William Rhys Davids in 1894. They had three children: Vivien Brynhild Caroline Foley Rhys Davids (1895-1978), Arthur Rhys Davids (1897-1917), and Nesta Enid (1900-1973).

Vivien won the Clara Evelyn Mordan Scholarship to St Hugh's College, Oxford in 1915, later serving as a Surrey County Councillor, and receiving an MBE in 1973. Arthur was a gifted scholar and a decorated World War I fighter ace, but was killed in action in 1917. Neither Vivien nor Nesta married or had children.

Rhys Davids died suddenly in Chipstead, Surrey on 26 June 1942. She was 84.