Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burgess, Richard

by James Mew

BURGESS, RICHARD (1796–1881), biblical scholar, was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated, and was ordained deacon in 1820, priest 1823, by Dr. Vernon-Harcourt, archbishop of York. In 1828 he was domestic chaplain to Lord Aylmer, and chaplain to the English residents at Geneva. In 1831 he became chaplain to a Church of England congregation at Rome. He was made rector of Upper Chelsea in 1836. He continued his incumbency for twenty-five years. In 1861 a testimonial worth 1,200l. was presented to him by his parishioners and friends. Mr. Gladstone, on behalf of the crown, presented him in 1869 to the rectory of Horningsheath-with-Ickworth, near Bury St. Edmunds, and the prebendal stall of Tottenhall in St. Paul's Cathedral was conferred upon him in 1850. He died on 12 April 1881 at Brighton, aged 85. Burgess was honorary secretary to the Foreign Aid Society, honorary member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, corresponding member of the Pontifical Archæological Academy at Rome, and for eight years the honorary secretary to the London Diocesan Board of Education. He was deeply interested in the subject of national education, and wrote several pieces on national schools, school teachers, education by rates or taxes, besides letters to Sir James Graham, Sir George Grey, Dr. Hook, the Bishop of London, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, on kindred subjects. He was a voluminous writer. In addition to a variety of sermons, his chief works are:

1. 'Description of the Circus on the Via Appia near Rome, with some account of the Circensian Games,' Lond. 1828, translated into Italian in 1829 by Giuseppe Porta.
2. 'The Topography and Antiquities of Rome, including the recent discoveries made about the Forum and the Via Sacra,' 2 vols. Lond. 1831.
3. 'Lectures on the Insufficiency of Unrevealed Religion, and on the succeeding influence of Christianity, delivered in the English Chapel at Rome,' Lond. 1832.
4. 'Greece and the Levant, or Diary of a Summer's Excursion,' 2 vols. Lond. 1835.
5. 'An Enquiry into the state of the Church of England Congregations in France, Belgium, and Switzerland,' Lond. 1850.
6. 'Sermons for the Times,' Lond. 1851.
7. ‘The Confessional,’ Lond. 1852.
8. ‘Constantinople, and Greek Christianity,’ Lond. 1855.
9. ‘A City for the Pope, or the Solution of the Roman Question,’ Lond. 1800.

[Cooper's Men of the Time (10th edit); Brit. Mus. Cat.; Times, 19 April 1881.]

J. M.