Subseries RB/1/1 - Correspondence of Richard Burton

Identity area

Reference code

GB 891 RB-RB/1-RB/1/1

Title

Correspondence of Richard Burton

Date(s)

  • 1998 (Creation)
  • [1920-1940] (Creation)
  • 1887-1890 (Creation)

Level of description

Subseries

Extent and medium

9 files

Context area

Name of creator

(1821-1890)

Biographical history

Richard Francis Burton was born on 19 March 1821, the eldest son of Captain Joseph Netterville Burton and his wife, Martha. He had a peripatetic childhood living on the continent as well as in England. His father wished for him to become a clergyman and therefore Burton was sent to Oxford in 1840 but managed to get himself 'rusticated' by attending a steeplechase against University rules.

Burton joined the Bombay Infantry of the East India Company in 1842. This was the start of his explorations and detailed recording of all that he saw. Burton was a very able linguist passing out top in the Company examinations but he was also interested in geography and ethnography including dialects and customs

Burton, as part of the Survey Company, made detailed topographical, ethnographic and linguistic notes resulting in the publication of his History of Sindh.

His life was full of travel and writing including travelling to Mecca and Medina in 1852, disguised as a Muslim, and an expedition to attempt to find the source of the Nile under the auspices of the Royal Geographical Society of which he was a member.

He visited North America in 1860 before marrying Isabel in 1861. Burton went to Bioko (Fernando Po), West Africa to take up the position of Consul. In 1865 he was appointed British Consul in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where Isabel accompanied him, and then subsequently in Damascus.

In 1872, they moved to Trieste to work in the Consulate and from here he explored the mines at Midian. In 1886 he was made a Knight of the Order of St Michael and St George. He died on 20 October 1890.

Burton was a prolific writer and his travels provided him with material for many books. He was also a keen translator including translating The Arabian Nights stories and the poems of the Portugese poet, Cameons.

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Content and structure area

Scope and content

A Series of Letters from Richard Burton to Alexander George Ellis (British Museum) concerning bibliographical enquiries and other matters, dated 8 May 1887- 26 March 1890. All have annotated transcriptions by Mary S. Lovell, dated 24 October 1998

These letters have added significance for the RAS as Ellis was Honorary Librarian at the Society from 1919 to 1937.

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Language of material

  • English

Script of material

    Language and script notes

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    Alternative identifier(s)

    current

    RB/1/1

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    Dates of creation revision deletion

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