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BURN—BURNE-JONES

were lying off that city and ready to commence hostilities, the order of the king to his troops to lay down their arms was received. There were three strong forts here, full at that moment with thousands of armed Burmans, and though a large number of these filed past and laid down their arms by the king’s command, still many more were allowed to disperse with their weapons; and these, in the time that followed, broke up into dacoit or guerrilla bands, which became the scourge of the country and prolonged the war for years. Meanwhile, however, the surrender of the king of Burma was complete; and on the 28th of November, in less than a fortnight from the declaration of war, Mandalay had fallen, and the king himself was a prisoner, while every strong fort and town on the river, and all the king’s ordnance (1861 pieces), and thousands of rifles, muskets and arms had been taken. Much valuable and curious “loot” and property was found in the palace and city of Mandalay, which, when sold, realized about 9 lakhs of rupees (£60,000).

From Mandalay, General Prendergast seized Bhamo on the 28th of December. This was a very important move, as it forestalled the Chinese, who were preparing to claim the place. But unfortunately, although the king was dethroned and deported, and the capital and the whole of the river in the hands of the British, the bands of armed soldiery, unaccustomed to conditions other than those of anarchy, rapine and murder, took advantage of the impenetrable cover of their jungles to continue a desultory armed resistance. Reinforcements had to be poured into the country, and it was in this phase of the campaign, lasting several years, that the most difficult and most arduous work fell to the lot of the troops. It was in this jungle warfare that the losses from battle, sickness and privation steadily mounted up; and the troops, both British and native, proved once again their fortitude and courage.

Various expeditions followed one another in rapid succession, penetrating to the remotest corners of the land, and bringing peace and protection to the inhabitants, who, it must be mentioned, suffered at least as much from the dacoits as did the troops. The final, and now completely successful, pacification of the country, under the direction of Sir Frederick (afterwards Earl) Roberts, was only brought about by an extensive system of small protective posts scattered all over the country, and small lightly equipped columns moving out to disperse the enemy whenever a gathering came to a head, or a pretended prince or king appeared.

No account of the Third Burmese War would be complete without a reference to the first, and perhaps for this reason most notable, land advance into the enemy’s country. This was carried out in November 1885 from Toungoo, the British frontier post in the east of the country, by a small column of all arms under Colonel W. P. Dicken, 3rd Madras Light Infantry, the first objective being Ningyan. The operations were completely successful, in spite of a good deal of scattered resistance, and the force afterwards moved forward to Yamethin and Hlaingdet. As inland operations developed, the want of mounted troops was badly felt, and several regiments of cavalry were brought over from India, while mounted infantry was raised locally. It was found that without these most useful arms it was generally impossible to follow up and punish the active enemy.


BURN, RICHARD (1700–1785), English legal writer, was born at Winton, Westmorland, in 1709. Educated at Queen’s College, Oxford, he entered the Church, and in 1736 became vicar of Orton in Westmorland. He was a justice of the peace for the counties of Westmorland and Cumberland, and devoted himself to the study of law. He was appointed chancellor of the diocese of Carlisle in 1765, an office which he held till his death at Orton on the 12th of November 1785. Burn’s Justice of the Peace and Parish Officer, first published in 1755, was for many years the standard authority on the law relating to justices of the peace. It has passed through innumerable editions. His Ecclesiastical Law (1760), a work of much research, was the foundation upon which were built many modern commentaries on ecclesiastical law. The best edition is that by R. Phillimore (4 vols., 1842). Burn also wrote Digest of the Militia Laws (1760), and A New Law Dictionary (2 vols., 1792).


BURNABY, FREDERICK GUSTAVUS (1842–1885), English traveller and soldier, was born on the 3rd of March 1842, at Bedford, the son of a clergyman. Educated at Harrow and in Germany, he entered the Royal Horse Guards in 1859. Finding no chance for active service, his spirit of adventure sought outlets in balloon-ascents and in travels through Spain and Russia. In the summer of 1874 he accompanied the Carlist forces as correspondent of The Times, but before the end of the war he was transferred to Africa to report on Gordon’s expedition to the Sudan. This took Burnaby as far as Khartum. Returning to England in March 1875, he matured his plans for a journey on horseback to Khiva through Russian Asia, which had just been closed to travellers. His accomplishment of this task, in the winter of 1875–1876, described in his book A Ride to Khiva, brought him immediate fame. His next leave of absence was spent in another adventurous journey on horseback, through Asia Minor, from Scutari to Erzerum, with the object of observing the Russian frontier, an account of which he afterwards published. In the Russo-Turkish War of 1877, Burnaby (who soon afterwards became lieut.-colonel) acted as travelling agent to the Stafford House (Red Cross) Committee, but had to return to England before the campaign was over. At this point began his active interest in politics, and in 1880 he unsuccessfully contested a seat at Birmingham in the Tory-Democrat interest. In 1882 he crossed the Channel in a balloon. Having been disappointed in his hope of seeing active service in the Egyptian campaign of 1882, he participated in the Suakin campaign of 1884 without official leave, and was wounded at El Teb when acting as an intelligence officer under General Valentine Baker. This did not deter him from a similar course when a fresh expedition started up the Nile. He was given a post by Lord Wolseley, and met his death in the hand-to-hand fighting of the battle of Abu Klea (17th January 1885).


BURNAND, SIR FRANCIS COWLEY (1836–), English humorist, was born in London on the 29th of November 1836. His father was a London stockbroker, of French-Swiss origin; his mother Emma Cowley, a direct descendant of Hannah Cowley (1743–1809), the English poet and dramatist. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge, and originally studied first for the Anglican, then for the Roman Catholic Church; but eventually took to the law and was called to the bar. From his earliest days, however, the stage had attracted him—he founded the Amateur Dramatic Club at Cambridge,—and finally he abandoned the church and the law, first for the stage and subsequently for dramatic authorship. His first great dramatic success was made with the burlesque Black-Eyed Susan, and he wrote a large number of other burlesques, comedies and farces. One of his early burlesques came under the favourable notice of Mark Lemon, then editor of Punch, and Burnand, who was already writing for the comic paper Fun, became in 1862 a regular contributor to Punch. In 1880 he was appointed editor of Punch, and only retired from that position in 1906. In 1902 he was knighted. His literary reputation as a humorist depends, apart from his long association with Punch, on his well-known book Happy Thoughts, originally published in Punch in 1863–1864 and frequently reprinted.

See Recollections and Reminiscences, by Sir F. C. Burnand (London, 1904).


BURNE-JONES, SIR EDWARD BURNE, Bart. (1833–1898), English painter and designer, was born on the 28th of August 1833 at Birmingham. His father was a Welsh descent, and the idealism of his nature and art has been attributed to this Celtic strain. An only son, he was educated at King Edward’s school, Birmingham, and destined for the Church. He retained through life an interest in classical studies, but it was the mythology of the classics which fascinated him. He went into residence as a scholar at Exeter College, Oxford, in January 1853. On the same day William Morris entered the same college, having also the intention of taking orders. The two were thrown together, and grew close friends. Their similar tastes and enthusiasms were