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)
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