“at Mecca there is nothing theatrical, nothing that suggests the opera, but all is simple and impressive... tending, I believe, after its fashion, to good.”
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Richard Francis Burton
Sir Richard Francis Burton was a British explorer, army officer, writer and scholar. He was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia, Africa and South America, as well as his extensive knowledge of languages and cultures, speaking up to 29 different languages.
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culture · British explorer, army officer, writer and scholar (1821–1890) · translator · explorer · writer · poet · diplomat · military personnel · ethnologist · linguist · cartographer · historian · also Richard Francis Burton, Sir Richard Burton, Richard F. Burton, Richard Burton, Sir Richard Francis Burton, R. F. Burton
Born 19 March 1821 · Died 20 October 1890 · Q125057
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I have struggled for forty-seven years, distinguishing myself honourably in every way that I possibly could. I never had a compliment, nor a "thank you," nor a single farthing. I translate a doubtful book in my old age, and I immediately make sixteen thousand guineas. Now that I know the tastes of England, we need never be without money.
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2026· 2 entries
The Guardian: Boom! A melodrama fit for Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton’s doomed love affair
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1898· 1 entry
And was controversial for its criticism of Jews and for its assertion of the existence of Jewish human sacrifices
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1890· 3 entries
Died 1890-10-20.
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“Conquer thyself, till thou hast done this, thou art but a slave; for it is almost as well to be subjected to another's appetite as to thine own.”
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“I have struggled for forty-seven years, distinguishing myself honourably in every way that I possibly could. I never had a compliment, nor a "thank you," nor a single farthing. I translate a doubtful book in my old age, and I immediately make sixteen thousand guineas. Now that I know the tastes of England, we need never be without money.”
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1883· 1 entry
And numerous editions of the Burton translation are in print to this day
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1880· 1 entry
And, the next year, wrote a sympathetic biography of the poet and adventurer
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1872· 1 entry
To the port city of Trieste in Austria-Hungary
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1868· 2 entries
Was appointed as the British consul in Damascus, an ideal post for someone with Burton's knowledge of the region and customs
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And 1869, he made two visits to the war zone of the Paraguayan War, which he described in his Letters from the Battlefields of Paraguay (1870)
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1865· 1 entry
When Burton was transferred to Santos in Brazil
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1863· 1 entry
Burton co-founded the Anthropological Society of London with Dr
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1860· 1 entry
Awarded Grande Médaille d'Or des Explorations (1860).
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1859· 1 entry
Won Founder’s Medal (1859).
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1856· 1 entry
The Royal Geographical Society funded another expedition for Burton and Speke, "and exploration of the then utterly unknown Lake regions of Central Africa
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1853· 1 entry
Was his realisation of "the plans and hopes of many and many a year
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1842· 1 entry
Beginning an eighteen-year military career which included a brief stint in the Crimean War
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1840· 1 entry
Studied at Trinity College (1840).
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1836· 1 entry
For Pau in the south, and soon again after, for Italy, first Pisa, then Lucca, where the sons divided time "ruffl[ing] it with a number of dissolute medical students" learning "several quite original wickednesses", and t
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1829· 1 entry
And Richard and his brother Edward were sent to a preparatory school at Richmond Green run by a Reverend Charles Delafosse, a school that Wright describes in his Life as having "fees [that] were high", and the school as
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1821· 1 entry
Born 1821-03-19.
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1815· 1 entry
Burton's entry into Mecca is the most famous and the best documented of the period
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