Richard Burton

Captain Richard Burton (1821-1890) was a British diplomat, an orientalist, and a linguist. He occupied, among others, the position of Great Britain's consul in Damascus from 1869 to 1871. The Ottoman Empire and Great Britain enjoyed cordial relations throughout most of the 19th century. The British assisted the Ottomans during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign from 1798 to 1801 and helped them evict Ibrāhīm Pāšā and the Egyptian army from Syria in 1841. The second half of the 19th century witnessed renewed British-Ottoman collaboration against Russia's incursions. The Turks used to affectionately call the British ambassador in Constantinople "the Great Elchi."

Burton mastered several languages. He wrote and translated several books. He had enough acquaintance with the religion of Islam that many assumed he was a Muslim, which enabled him to enter the holy city of Mecca. His stay in Damascus was a busy and fruitful one despite political upheavals and sectarian tensions—the memory of the 1860 massacre was still fresh. He befriended quite a few Damascene notables and had a close relationship with Emir ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Ǧazāʾirī. He also made several powerful enemies on account of his proverbial honesty and impartiality, or so at least was the opinion of his spouse, Lady Isabel Burton, who loved and respected him tremendously. 

Captain Burton was recalled from Damascus by the British Government after a relatively short stay. The reasons—according to Ms. Burton—were threefold:

1. His intervention to protect poor debtors from prominent Jewish usurers who, though Damascene, were British protégés. Lady Burton would not identify them by name. She described them pejoratively as "Shylocks" as she asserted her endless love and respect for Jews in general. Be that as it may, those usurers appealed to leading Jews in Great Britain, namely Sir Moses Montefiore, Sir Francis Goldsmid, and the Rothschilds. It was inevitable that some would suspect the Burtons of harboring anti-Semitic tendencies.

2. Captain Burton's intervention in a dispute between the Jews of Nazareth and its Orthodox Christians. This time he sided with the Jews.

3. The perfidy of Damascus' Ottoman Governor, Muḥammad Rāšid Pāšā (1865-1871), who was to be deposed shortly after the recall of Captain Burton. 

Isabel Burton. The Inner Life of Syria, Palestine, and the Holy Land, Volume 1.

Isabel Burton. The Inner Life of Syria, Palestine, and the Holy Land, Volume 2.