BIRTH: Mar. 19–Richard Burton (Trinity, Oxford)

Sir Richard Francis Burton, 1864.

Born Richard Francis Burton in 1821 in Torquay, Devonshire, England, he was the son of a prematurely retired army officer and had mixed English, Irish, and possibly French ancestry.

His father raised his two sons and daughter in France and Italy, where young Richard developed an unusual talent for languages.

Before entering Trinity College, Oxford, in 1840, he had become fluent in French, Italian, and the Béarnais and Neapolitan dialects, as well as having learned the requisite Greek and Latin.

But his continental upbringing left him ambivalent about his national identity. He complained that “England is the only country where I never feel at home.”

He didn't remember his time at Oxford with joy, but it was there that he, like later T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), learned Arabic. He went on to fight in the East India Company and learned Hindu, Persian, and local Indian languages. He wrote about his travels in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, and he often disguised himself in local clothing. He was the first European to discover Lake Tanganyika.

He first became famous when he published A Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Medinah and Meccah (1855), about disguising himself to make the Hajj to Mecca, forbidden for non-Muslims. He published 43 books on his explorations and almost 30 more books of translations.

He wrote the definitive English translation of A Thousand Nights and a Night, (usually referred to as The Arabian Nights), and introduced The Kama Sutra to Western audiences.

Sir Richard Burton died October 20, 1890 in Trieste, then Austria-Hungary and now Italy.

BIRTH: Mar. 19–Sir Richard Francis Burton, Who Gave Us the Kama Sutra

Biography of Sir Richard
Francis Burton (1821-1890)

This day in 1821 was born, in Torquay, Devon, England a writer, translator, soldier and explorer  named Richard Francis Burton. He soon moved to Borehamwood, Hertfordshire and grew up an Army brat, traveling around with his British officer parents, learning French, Italian, Latin and local dialects as his family moved to different posts around Europe.

He attended Trinity College, Oxford and made the acquaintance of John Henry Newman, a very different person. Burton learned his Arabic at Oxford, but he didn't like the place. He challenged another student to a duel for making fun of his mustache. He  was expelled for attending a horse race and telling the college authorities about it, urging them to change the rules forbidding undergraduates from attending.  On his way out of Oxford, he rode his horse into the Trinity College gardens and trampled the flowers. So there.

He went on to fight in the East India Company and learn Hindu, Persian, and quite a few local Indian languages–29 languages in all, says Wikipedia.  He fought in the Crimean War.

He wrote about his travels in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, and he often disguised himself in local clothing. He became famous when he published A Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Medinah and Meccah (1855), about his experience disguising himself to make the Hajj, which is forbidden for non-Muslims. He wrote the definitive English translations of A Thousand Nights and a Night (The Arabian Nights) and The Perfumed Garden and he introduced The Kama Sutra to Western audiences.

He was honored as a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and he was awarded a knighthood, the KCMG.

He was the first European to see Lake Tanganyika. A movie based on his exploration appeared in 1999 called Mountains of the Moon.  Based on reviews, a remake would be a good project.

(Thanks to Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac, on which much of this post is based.)