GRAVE OF SIR RICHARD BURTON MORTLAKE

 

This week marks 200 years since the birth of Sir Richard Burton, in full Sir Richard Francis Burton, (born March 19, 1821, Torquay, England—died October 20, 1890,  Trieste  Italy.

He was an English scholar-explorer and Orientalist who was the first European to discover Lake Tanganyika and to penetrate hitherto-forbidden Muslim cities. He published 43 volumes on his explorations and almost 30 volumes of translations, including an unexpurgated translation of The Arabian Nights and the Karma Sutra.

He may have spent his life exploring exotic places, brothels, temples and hidden cities but Robert Burton is laid to rest in a quiet corner of South West London in the graveyard of the Catholic church of St Mary Magdalene, Mortlake.  But his grave is unmissable in this little churchyard. It is in the form of a Bedouin tent and his tomb and that of his wife can be seen though a window at the back.