Reinhold Rost

Reinhold Rost (1822–1896) was a German orientalist, who worked for most of his life at St Augustine's Missionary College, Canterbury in England.

He was the son of Charles F. Rost, a Lutheran minister, and his wife Eleonore von Glasewald, born at Eisenberg in Saxen-Altenburg on 2 February 1822. He was educated at the Eisenburg gymnasium school, and, after studying under Johann Gustav Stickel and Johann Gildemeister, graduated Ph.D. at the University of Jena in 1847. In the same year he came to England, to act as a teacher in German at the King's School, Canterbury. After four years, on 7 February 1851, he was appointed oriental lecturer at St. Augustine's Missionary College, Canterbury, founded to educate young men for mission work. This post he held for the rest of his life.

In London, Rost met Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, and was elected, in December 1863, secretary to the Royal Asiatic Society, a post he held for six years. Through Rawlinson he became on 1 July 1869 librarian at the India Office, on the retirement of FitzEdward Hall, and imposed order on its manuscripts. He secured for students free admission to the library. He retired in 1893.

Rost gained many distinctions and awards. He was created Hon. LL.D. of Edinburgh in 1877, and a Companion of the Indian Empire in 1888. He died at Canterbury on 7 February 1896.

Rost was familiar with some twenty or thirty languages in all. His own works were:

Rost's India Office Library catalogue of Sanskrit works was a significant bibliographic advance. He edited:

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