Burton Sir Richard Francis

Burton, Sir Richard Francis, Knt., was born at Barham House, Hertfordshire in 1821, and being destined for the Church, matriculated at Oxford. He soon abandoned an uncongenial career, and in 1842 entered the Bombay native infantry. He served in Scinde and elsewhere, devoting much attention to native languages, until 1851, when he went home on leave. He now formed the idea of visiting Mecca and Medina as a Mohammedan pilgrim, and with that object lived in Alexandria as a dervish for some time, making his way at last without molestation to the holy cities. His adventures were related in A Pilgrimage to El Medinah and Mecca. He next visited the east coast of Africa, and served on General Beatson's staff in the Crimea. In 1856 in the company of Captain Speke he set out from Zanzibar into Central Africa, and after two years' travelling discovered Lake Tanganyika. The Mormon settlements in Utah then attracted his curiosity, and in 1861 he brought out The City of the Saints before taking up his residence as consul at Fernando Po. Here he explored the Cameroon mountains and some of the inland districts, which he described in two volumes. He was transferred to Brazil in 1864 and wrote Exploration of the Highlands of Brazil, and in 1868, being sent to Damascus, produced an interesting work on Unexplored Palestine. In 1872 he was established in the consulate at Trieste, and no further promotion awaited him. During various periods of leave he explored with Captain Cameron the gold regions of Western Africa, and paid several visits to Arabia. His late years were occupied also with purely literary labours such as his monograph on Camoens, his Book of the Sword, and his daringly exact translation of the Arabian Nights. Burton, besides the distinction of knighthood, received numberless marks of recognition from learned societies at home and abroad, but it must be admitted that his great services to science were but scantily rewarded by Government. One consolation for his disappointments was vouchsafed to him in his singularly happy marriage with a lady who thoroughly sympathised with his aims and bravely shared the hardships of his restless, adventurous career. After many months of broken health he died at Trieste in 1890, and was buried at Mortlake with the rites of the Roman Church.