James Burton (Egyptologist)

[9][10][11] James Burton Junior was educated at Tonbridge School; and at Trinity College, Cambridge (BA, 1810: MA, 1815)[12] at which he read mathematics under George Frederick Tavel;[13] and at Middle Temple[13] and Lincoln's Inn.

[1] None of his explorations from this period have been published,[2][4][3] but the papers of his companion George Greenough, which are kept at University College, London, provide information about Burton's life:[20] "Besides his black slaves before mentioned he has a young Greek purchased by a Scotch renegade by the name of Osman", wrote Sheffield, another Egyptologist.

Burton had a superb French bed with a long looking glass' and spent most his time in 'coffee, smoking and drinking spiritous mixtures'[20] in 'his divan - his harem'.

[20] Burton contracted ophthalmia, lumbago, liver problems, and a scorbutic infection, and consumed opium 'to so great a degree' that his friends feared his 'speedy madness or death'.

[20] He returned to England on Christmas Day 1835 with animals, including a giraffe that died at Calais,[13] and servants, including Andreana who was a Greek translator of Turkish[13] whom he married, for which he was disowned by his father, after which[2][4][3] he impressed the daughter of his cousin Thomas Chandler Haliburton, who wrote, in 1839, "Mr James I admire very much.

He is one of the most well-bred persons I saw &... decidedly the flower of the flock",[20] and who in 1839 asked Burton to check the proofs of his work Letter Bag of the Great Western, and in 1840 those of the third series of The Clockmaker.

[2][6] James Burton Junior is buried near the centre of Dean Cemetery in Edinburgh, where his epitaph reads "a zealous investigator in Egypt of its language and antiquities".