Name George Burton | Role Chronologer | |
Died 1791, Bath, United Kingdom Education St Catharine's College, Cambridge | ||
The Reverend George Burton (1717–1791) was an English clergyman and chronologer.
Contents
Life
Burton was the second son of George Burton (1685-1758), who held the manor of Burton Lazars in Leicestershire and in 1710 served as High Sheriff of Leicestershire, and his wife Elizabeth Champion (1683-1739). His elder brother was Philip Burton (1710-1792), a lawyer and writer who inherited the family landholdings and by marrying Felicia Whitfield (1713-1791) became the father of Felicia Elizabetha Burton (1741-1821), the wife of George Horne, Bishop of Norwich.
He was born in 1717 and received his education at Catharine Hall, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1736 and M.A. in 1740, by the latter date having become a member of King's College, Cambridge. In 1740 he was presented to the rectory of Elveden, and in 1751 to that of Herringswell, both in Suffolk, holding both livings for the rest of his life. Burton took pupils, and generally had three or four boarding in his house for instruction.
In London on 9 July 1743 he married Anna Reeve, daughter of the steward of the Burton Lazars estate, John Reeve of Melton Mowbray, and his wife Joanna Hawley. No children are known. Anne's brother William Reeve, a lawyer in Melton Mowbray, acquired by marriage Leadenham House and its estate.
He died at Bath on 3 November 1791, and was buried in the church of Walcot.
Works
He published:
Reputation
The Reverend George Ashby considered him a person of great industry in chronology, but added: 'I could never perceive what his principles or foundations were, though I have attended in hopes of learning them.' He was, however, a friend of the Reverend William Stukeley, the famous antiquarian, who made him a present of The Description of Britain, the ingenious forgery by Charles Bertram.