Victorian explorer’s tomb to be renovated

The Burtons’ Memorial in Mortlake, an unusual Catholic mausoleum that combines Christian and Muslim symbolism, is being fully renovated for the first time in more than three decades to save it from falling into disrepair. 

The mausoleum was designed by Lady Isabel Burton as a tomb for her husband, Sir Richard Burton, a prominent Victorian explorer, soldier, linguist, and writer.

The work on the Grade II-listed monument, which stands in the graveyard of St Mary Magdalen Church in Mortlake, Richmond, is expected to be completed by the end of the year, led by Habitats and Heritage, a Richmond-based charity that protects the historic and natural environment of south and west London. 

Habitats and Heritage has been awarded a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant of £249,000 for the project: £80,000 for the restoration and the rest for an educational programme to communicate the history of the Burton Mausoleum. 

Lady Burton, also a writer and explorer, and a devout Catholic, based the design on the Bedouin tent that she and her husband had used during their excursions into the Syrian desert following his appointment as British Consul in Damascus in 1869. 

Sir Richard Burton rose to fame after publishing his Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah, his account of undertaking the Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to Islam’s holiest site, Mecca, in disguise. He wrote many books about the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, introducing Victorian England to the Islamic world. His works remain important, although controversial, historical accounts, with some of his deceptive practices being considered unethical today.

Fr Adrian McKenna, the parish priest of St Mary Magdalen’s Church, said, “In 1877, Sir Richard agreed to let his wife arrange for his baptism in the Catholic Church and to call upon a Priest if he was in danger of death, so that he could receive the last rites. His considerable interest in religion seems to have been more anthropological rather than a matter of faith, but God alone knows the real and conscious choices Sir Richard made in life. 

“Visitors find the Mausoleum in all sorts of ways, some just stumble across it whilst strolling along the Thames towpath and others seek it out. In the past six months alone, we’ve had just under 11,000 individual visits to our Google Maps site to view details of the Mausoleum.”

Dr Helen Brown, conservation and interpretation officer at Habitats & Heritage, said, “Its unique structure and fascinating contents make it a nationally important heritage site.” She expressed a hope that the renovations “will allow visitors to engage more closely with the site while also enabling greater conservation and ongoing maintenance of the interior and collection”.

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