Family and Education
A native of London, he was the son of Charles Burney, the music historian, and his first wife Esther Sleepe. He was a brother of the novelist and diarist Fanny Burney and of the explorer James Burney, and a half-brother of the novelist Sarah Burney.
He was educated at Charterhouse School, London, and then at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. However, he was accused of stealing books from the university library, probably to pay debts, and sent down in 1778. He obtained an LLD degree from King's College, Aberdeen in 1781. Ironically, Burney later amassed legally a collection of 13,000 rare books and manuscripts that was ultimately bought by the nation for the British Museum in 1817 for the sum of £13,500. Today, this collection known as The Burney Collection belongs to the British Library.
Read more about this topic: Charles Burney (scholar)
Famous quotes containing the words family and, family and/or education:
“I had rather be shut up in a very modest cottage, with my books, my family and a few old friends, dining on simple bacon, and letting the world roll on as it liked, than to occupy the most splendid post which any human power can give.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“I worry about people who get born nowadays, because they get born into such tiny families—sometimes into no family at all. When you’re the only pea in the pod, your parents are likely to get you confused with the Hope Diamond. And that encourages you to talk too much.”
—Russell Baker (b. 1925)
“In England, I was quite struck to see how forward the girls are made—a child of 10 years old, will chat and keep you company, while her parents are busy or out etc.—with the ease of a woman of 26. But then, how does this education go on?—Not at all: it absolutely stops short.”
—Frances Burney (1752–1840)