Richard Francis Weymouth

Born in Devon in 1822, Richard Francis Weymouth was an English schoolmaster, philologist, and Baptist layman whose career joined classical learning with a deep interest in the New Testament. He studied at University College London and went on to build a strong reputation as a teacher and scholar.

Weymouth is especially remembered for his work on the Greek New Testament and for the translation later published as The New Testament in Modern Speech. Although it appeared after his death in 1903, the translation grew out of his long effort to present the meaning of the Greek text in direct, readable English rather than traditional church language.

He also served as headmaster of Mill Hill School and wrote on questions of language and biblical study. Weymouth died in 1902, but his name has remained closely linked with one of the earliest and most influential attempts to give modern readers an English New Testament in everyday speech.