Career
Pratt was from Portsea, Portsmouth in England. He also served in Niue, the Loyalty Islands and New Guinea. In Samoa, Pratt lived at a mission station in Matautu on the north coast of Savai"i island.
Pratt is particularly notable for being the first person to document the Samoan language.
He authored the first grammar and dictionary of the language, A Grammar and Dictionary of the Samoan Language, with English and Samoan Vocabulary, which was first printed in 1862 at the Samoa Mission Press. Subsequent editions were published in 1876, 1893, and 1911.
Reprints have been issued in 1960, 1977, and 1984. He also collected Samoan songs and myths and translated them into a publication Some Folk-songs and Myths from Samoa, published in 1891.
Pratt"s valuable Samoan work records many old words of special interest - specialist terminology, archaic words and names in Samoan tradition.
lieutenant contains sections on Samoan poetry and proverbs, and an extensive grammatical sketch.