Author: Borrow, George
Biography:
BORROW, George (1803-81: ODNB)
He was born on 5 July and baptised on 17 July 1803 in East Dereham, Norfolk. His parents were Thomas Borrow, adjutant of the West Norfolk militia, and his wife Ann Parfrement; they had married on 11 Feb. 1793. His father’s occupation meant that the family moved frequently and his schooling was frequently interrupted until they settled in Norwich in 1816 when he attended the Norwich grammar school. In 1819 he was articled to a firm of solicitors but he found the work uncongenial and preferred studying languages and visiting neighbouring gypsies. He published translations in Sir Richard Phillips’s Monthly Magazine. In Apr. 1824, after the expiration of his articles and the death of his father, he moved to London where he hoped to make a living by writing. Although Phillips gave him work he was soon disillusioned with the life of a jobbing writer and for the next few years he alternated between London and Norwich. He published Romantic Ballads in 1826. In 1833 he began working for the British and Foreign Bible Society and was sent to St. Petersburg (1833-35) and to Spain and Portugal (1835-40) to distribute the scriptures. He published two books of verse translations in St. Petersburg. Mary Clarke (Skepper), a widow, and her daughter, Henrietta, began living with him in Spain and, on their return to England, they were married on 23 Apr. 1840 at St. Peter’s, Cornhill, London. Mary had property in Oulton, Norfolk; the 1841 Census shows them living in Oulton with Henrietta and Ann, Borrow’s mother. This was a productive time for Borrow and he published the two semi-autobiographical books by which he is known today: Lavengro (1851) and The Romany Rye (1857). In 1853 the family moved to Great Yarmouth from where Borrow took walking tours throughout the country. His visit to Wales produced Wild Wales (1862). Mary Borrow died in 1869 and the 1871 Census records Borrow as living at 22 Hereford Square, South Kensington, London, although he also retained the Oulton property. The last of his books to be published in his lifetime, Romano Lavo-Lil (1874), was not a success. Borrow died at Oulton on 26 July 1881 and was buried in the Brompton cemetery beside Mary Borrow on 4 Aug. 1881. He left an estate of £519 and his will named his step-daughter as the executor. (ODNB 15 Sept. 2023; ancestry.co.uk 15 Sept. 2023) SR