Borrow, George, 1803-1881

George Borrow, British author and translator.

British author.

George Henry Borrow was a Victorian author, linguist, and translator. He made an early sensation with The Bible in Spain, an auto-biographical travel book. His character in his works is competent, eccentric, and endlessly adaptable; he was talented and attractive, but also a chaste and devout Protestant. He was unable to repeat his early success, and spent his later years translating literature from a variety of languages into English.

George Henry Borrow was an influential Victorian author, linguist, traveller, and translator. He made an early sensation with The Bible in Spain, an auto-biographical travel book. His character in his works is competent, eccentric, and endlessly adaptable; he was talented and attractive, but also a chaste and devout Protestant. He was unable to repeat his early success, and spent his later years translating literature from a variety of languages into English.

British author and translator.

English author.

George Henry Borrow (1803-1881) was an author and traveller. For details of his life and work see the Dictionary of National Biography

Scottish author.

English philologist, traveler, and novelist.

Author, Linguist, Traveler

Borrow possessed a gift for languages plus an interest in the vagabond life in general, and gypsy language and culture in particular. His best known work, THE BIBLE IN SPAIN, appeared in 1843.

George Borrow was born at East Dereham, Norfolk in 1803. He was educated at the High School in Edinburgh, where the family settled for a period of time. At the age of seventeen Borrow was articled to a solicitor at Norwich. Borrow also studied philology and began to consider literature as a profession.

In 1825 Borrow published Faustus translated from the German of F M von Klinger. Borrow went on to undertake a tour of England and Europe and, whilst in St Petersburg, Borrow published Targum or Metrical Translations from Thirty Languages and Dialects . Borrow also acted as an agent for the British and Foreign Bible Society while he travelled through Europe and he became one of the first correspondents to write letters for the Morning Herald .

With the proceeds from the sale of his works, Borrow purchased an estate on Oulton Broad, Norfolk. At Oulton, Borrow befriended gypsies and permitted them to live on his estate. While living at Oulton, Borrow wrote, Lavengro (1850), The Romany Rye (1857), Wild Wales: Its People, Language and Scenery (1862), Romano Lavo Lil: Word Book of the Romany , (1872) and other works. Borrow won acclaim for his publication of two works in particular, Gypsies in Spain (1841) and an account of his travel in Spain The Bible in Spain (1843). George Borrow died at Oulton in August 1881.