Burton, James

British Egyptologist and traveller. Born, London 1788. Died, Edinburgh 1862. Educated Trinity College, Cambridge. BA, 1810. MA, 1815. Worked initially for the architect Sir John Soane, 1819-22. Burton then travelled to Italy where he met Sir W. Gell, E. W. Lane, and Sir J. G. Wilkinson. In 1822 he was engaged to survey for coal as part of the Geological Survey of Egypt. He accompanied Wilkinson on his exploration of the Eastern Desert, 1824, then travelled with Lane, 1825. During his time in Egypt, he cleared parts of Karnak, Medînet Habu, and tombs in the Valley of the Kings, as well as assembling a large corpus of material comprised of drawings, plans, copies of inscriptions, and notes. He collected antiquities, which he sold via Sotheby's in 1836. He remained in Egypt until 1834, returning to England, 1835. Many of Burton's drawings and maps are among the Hay MSS.

• Who Was Who in Egyptology (4th ed. 2012), 96-7 fig. (portrait).