Born in Torquay , Devon , Burton joined the Bombay Army as an officer in , beginning an eighteen-year military career which included a brief stint in the Crimean War.
Although he abandoned his university studies, Burton became a prolific and erudite author and wrote numerous books and academic articles on subjects such as human behaviour , travel , falconry , fencing , sexual practices and ethnography. Richard Burton was born in Torquay , Devon , on 19 March ; in his autobiography, he incorrectly claimed to have been born in the family home of Barham House in Elstree , Hertfordshire. Burton's mother, Martha Baker, was the daughter and co-heiress of Richard Baker, a wealthy Hertfordshire squire whom Burton was named after.
Burton's family travelled extensively during his childhood and employed various tutors to educate him. In , they moved to Tours in France. Burton showed a talent for learning languages and quickly learned French , Italian , Neapolitan and Latin , as well as several dialects.
During his youth, he allegedly had a sexual relationship with a Roma girl and learned the rudiments of the Romani language. The peregrinations of Burton's youth may have encouraged him to regard himself as an outsider for much of his life. As he later wrote, "Do what thy manhood bids thee do, from none but self expect applause". On 19 November , he matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford. Before getting a room at the college, Burton lived for a short time in the house of William Alexander Greenhill , a doctor at the Radcliffe Infirmary.
There, he met John Henry Newman , whose churchwarden was Greenhill. Despite his intelligence and ability, Burton was antagonised by his teachers and peers.
