Biography

William Burton (1575-1645), antiquary, was educated at Nuneaton grammar school and then at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he graduated BA on 22 June 1594. He was admitted to the Inner Temple on 20 May 1593 and was called to the bar in 1603, although soon after, because of ill health, he retired to his estate at Fauld in Staffordshire. He wrote an unpublished Latin comedy, 'De amoribus Perinthii et Tyanthes', in 1596 and the following year, with Thomas Creede, published a translation from the Greek of The History of Cleitophon and Leucippe. The publication of The Description of Leicestershire in 1622 further enhanced Burton's reputation and established him as a father figure to the next generation of local historians. Burton died at Fauld on 6 April 1645 and was buried in the parish church at Hanbury, Staffordshire.

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