, D. D. archdeacon of Leicester and vicar of Greenwich, was born in 1732, at Asfordby
, D. D. archdeacon of Leicester
and vicar of Greenwich, was born in 1732, at Asfordby in
Leicestershire, of which place his father, grandfather,
and great grandfather, were in succession patrons and
rectors, as his youngest brother is at this time. He was
elected into Westminster college in 1748, but removed
from that school, and was entered of Queen’s college,
Cambridge, where he took his bachelor’s degree in 1754,
and his master’s in 1757. After having travelled through
the middle settlements in North America in 1759 and 1760,
Dr. Burnaby was appointed chaplain to the British factory
at Leghorn, were he resided five years; in occasional excursions visited Corsica, and almost every part of Italy;
and during the last of those years (sir John Dick having obtained his majesty’s leave to return to England for his private concerns) had the honour to do the consular business, by the appointment of government, under the denomination of proconsul. In 1769 he was presented to the
vicarage of Greenwich; and in 1786 the archdeaconry of
Leicester was conferred on him by bishop Thurlow, without the least expectation or solicitation on his part; both
which preferments he enjoyed till his death, March 9, 1812.
His widow, the heiress of John Edwyn, esq. of Bagrave in
Leicestershire, died on the 16th of the same month, aged
seventy-six. Dr. Burnaby was distinguished by the purest
integrity and benevolence of heart, the most unaffected
urbanity of manners, and a lively and ardent zeal for his
profession. His principal works were, 1. “Travels through
the middle settlements in North America in the years 1759
and 1760, with observations upon the state of the colonies,
”
A Journal of a Tour to Corsica in the year 1766, with a
series of original letters from general Paoli to the author,
referring to the principal events which have taken place in
that island from the year 1769 to 1302, with explanatory
notes,
”