James Burton (Egyptologist)

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For other people named James Burton, see James Burton (disambiguation).

James Burton
Egyptologist, Explorer.
Parents
(father)
  • Elizabeth Westley (mother)
    • Relatives
    Trinity College, Cambridge
    John Haliburton's grave, Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh
    The inscription on James Haliburton's grave, Dean Cemetery

    James Burton

    Medinet Habu, during which he was part of the team that discovered TT391
    .

    Birth and family

    James was the fourth child and second son of property developer James Burton (formerly James Haliburton) and Elizabeth Westley (12 December 1761 – 14 January 1837), of Loughton, Essex, daughter of John and Mary Westley. The son was christened 'James Haliburton' but his father changed the family surname to Burton in 1794.[1] The son James then changed his surname to Burton also, although he was the only member of the family to subsequently change his surname back to Haliburton (in 1838).[2][3][4] He was an older brother of the architect Decimus Burton, the physician Henry Burton, and the gunpowder manufacturer William Ford Burton.[3][5][6]

    On his father's side, his great-great grandparents were Rev. James Haliburton (1681–1756) and Margaret Eliott, daughter of Sir William Eliott, 2nd Baronet, and aunt of

    Arthur Lawrence Haliburton, 1st Baron Haliburton.[7][8][3]

    James was educated at Tonbridge School, Trinity College, Cambridge (BA, 1810: MA, 1815),[9] and Lincoln's Inn.[2][10]

    Egyptology

    Between 1815 and 1822, Burton worked for the architect Sir John Soane, and travelled in Italy with Soane's secretary, Charles Humphreys, where he met Egyptologists Sir John Gardner Wilkinson, Edward William Lane, and Sir William Gell.[4] His circle of Egyptologists also included Robert Hay and Joseph Bonomi the Younger.[1] Burton lived in Egypt from 1820 to 1834,[1] where he enjoyed marsala, rum, brandy, opium, and the company of slave girls.[1]

    In 1820, he was part of the team that first discovered

    Karnak king list.[15] Between 1825 and 1828 Burton published Excerpta Hieroglyphica, a volume of hieroglyphic inscriptions.[9]

    Little is known of Burton's activities between 1825 and 1834: he disappeared into the Egyptian

    University College, London, provide information about Burton's life:[16] "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. At a birthday celebration for Charles Humphrey, Burton drank 'till he fell off his chair'. Burton was described as having 'a superb French bed with a long looking glass' and spending almost all of his time in 'coffee, smoking and drinking spiritous mixtures'[16] in 'his divan - his harem'.[16] 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'.[16] Burton lost weight and expected to live no longer than five years: one of his friends wrote of him, 'He is reduced to a mere skeleton'.[16]

    James returned to England on Christmas Day 1835 with various animals, servants and slaves including Andreana, a Greek slave girl whom he had purchased in Egypt and subsequently married, as a consequence of which he was disowned by the Burton family.[2][4][3]

    However, Burton impressed the daughter of 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".[16]

    Thomas Chandler Haliburton asked Burton to check the proofs of his work Letter Bag of the Great Western, with which Burton was unimpressed, in 1839, and those of the third series of The Clockmaker in 1840.[17] The pair travelled together to Scotland to investigate their common ancestry, and intended to tour Canada and the United States of America together.[17]

    Auctioning of property

    Subsequent to his death, Burton's notebooks, containing drawings of Egyptian antiquities and plans of monuments, were presented to the British Museum by his brother Decimus Burton. These are useful as they can be compared to the condition of the archaeological sites in Egypt today.[3]

    James also collected Egyptian antiquities, most of which were auctioned at

    Liverpool Museum.[2][4][3]

    He was a Fellow of the Geological Society of London.[2][6]

    Burton is buried near the centre of Dean Cemetery in Edinburgh. His epitaph reads "a zealous investigator in Egypt of its language and antiquities".[4]

    References

    1. ^ a b c d e f Davies 2005, p. 71.
    2. ^ a b c d e f J. Manwaring Baines F.S.A., Burton’s St. Leonards, Hastings Museum, 1956.
    3. ^ a b c d e f g h Cooke 2004.
    4. ^ a b c d e f "Egypt: The Egyptologists". www.touregypt.net. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
    5. ^ "The ancestral pedigree of Decimus Burton, F.R.S." The Weald of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex. Archived from the original on 15 May 2018. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
    6. ^ a b "The ancestral pedigree of James Haliburton (b.1788)". The Weald of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex. Archived from the original on 18 June 2018. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
    7. ^ Davies 2005, pp. 71–73.
    8. ^ Burton, James (1783–1811). "The Diary of James Burton". The National Archives. Retrieved 18 June 2018 – via Hastings Museum and Art Gallery.
    9. ^ a b "James Haliburton, formerly Burton (1788 - 1862)". Victorian Web. 10 December 2002.
    10. ^ "Haliburton (sometime Burton), James (HLBN805J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
    11. ^ "Tomb of Karabasken". Retrieved 17 October 2015.
    12. ^ Reeves 1990, p. 13.
    13. ^ "KV 19 (Mentuherkhepeshef)". Theban Mapping Project. Archived from the original on 13 November 2009. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
    14. ^ "KV 2 (Rameses IV)". Theban Mapping Project. Archived from the original on 6 May 2009. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
    15. ^ Haliburton 1825, Plate Ia.
    16. ^ a b c d e f Davies 2005, p. 72.
    17. ^ a b Davies 2005, p. 73.

    Sources

    External links

    Media related to James Burton (Egyptologist) at Wikimedia Commons

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