George Borrow Biography Quotes 8 Report mistakes

Early Life
George Henry Borrow was born in 1803 in East Dereham, Norfolk, into a family shaped by the movements of the British military. His father, Thomas Borrow, served as a soldier and drill instructor, which meant frequent relocations around Britain and Ireland. His mother, Ann, was of Huguenot descent and contributed a steadiness that balanced the restlessness of the household. An older brother, John, inclined toward the military as well, and the brothers grew up amid barracks towns and parade grounds. The mix of constant travel, exposure to varied dialects, and encounters with people on society's margins helped form the imagination of a future linguist and travel writer.

Language and Literary Formation
Norwich became an anchor in Borrow's youth, and it was there that he drew close to the polyglot writer William Taylor of Norwich, who encouraged his appetite for languages and European literature. Even while apprenticed to a Norwich solicitor, Borrow spent much of his energy on philology, reading grammars and lexicons and testing himself on new tongues. He gravitated to the Romany people in East Anglia and beyond, learning their language and forming friendships that would echo through his books. Among those acquaintances, Ambrose Petulengro (also known as Ambrose Smith) looms large, providing companionship, conversation, and a window into Romany lifeways. Borrow's early publications included translations of Scandinavian and other northern European ballads, a sign that the young enthusiast had already found an idiom that combined scholarship with narrative flair.

British and Foreign Bible Society
Borrow's linguistic zeal drew the attention of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and he was taken into its service as a translator and emissary. In the early 1830s he worked in St Petersburg in connection with the printing of a Manchu version of the New Testament, absorbing Russian and expanding his acquaintance with scholars and printers. He soon moved on to the Iberian peninsula as a society agent, tasked with distributing the Scriptures and negotiating the religious and political crosscurrents of Portugal and Spain. In Spain he crisscrossed cities and countryside, met clergy, officials, smugglers, and Romany communities, and from time to time ran afoul of authorities wary of proselytizing and foreign influence. The society's secretary, Andrew Brandram, appears frequently in his correspondence, alternately supporting and restraining the author's independent streak. These years gave Borrow the human and linguistic material that would define his most celebrated books.

Major Works
Borrow emerged from his travels with manuscripts that London publisher John Murray was willing to back. The Zincali (1841), an account of Spanish Romany life and language, mixed ethnography with anecdote and offered word lists and observations that were novel to English readers. The Bible in Spain (1843) became an immediate success; its vivid episodes of travel, negotiation, and danger, presented with humor and self-possession, made Borrow one of the most talked-about writers of his day. He later turned to an autobiographical mode in Lavengro (1851) and its companion, The Romany Rye (1857), works that blend fact and fiction in a manner that provoked debate then and now. Admirers praised their energetic prose, their scenes of pugilists, tinkers, and travelers, and their keen ear for speech; detractors complained about elisions and masks. Borrow carried his love of Celtic languages into Wild Wales (1862), a book built on long pedestrian tours, inn conversations, and enthusiastic attempts to converse in Welsh. He continued his linguistic work with Romano Lavo-Lil (1874), a compilation devoted to Romany vocabulary and lore. Across these books runs a distinctive voice: skeptical of cant, fascinated by marginal lives, and driven by a desire to capture the spirit of languages as living things.

Marriage and Personal Circle
In midlife Borrow married Mary, a widow of means, which brought him a degree of domestic stability. Her daughter, Henrietta, became part of his household and travels, and the trio spent much time in East Anglia, especially around Oulton, as well as in London when publishing and business required it. Mary's support helped give Borrow the space to revise manuscripts, deal with publishers such as John Murray, and shoulder the financial uncertainties of a professional author. The household preserved links to the friendships that had shaped him, including continued contact with Romany acquaintances and with literary and evangelical circles formed during the Bible Society years. The push and pull between a quiet home life and the lure of the road remained a constant theme.

Later Years and Reputation
Borrow's later decades were quieter than his period of sudden fame in the 1840s. He continued to walk Britain's byways, read widely, and correspond with friends and former colleagues. Critical response to Lavengro and The Romany Rye remained divided, and he often defended the integrity of his portraits of Romany companions such as Ambrose Petulengro. Yet even detractors conceded the originality of his prose and the sharpness of his ear. His Welsh journeys sustained the work that became Wild Wales, and the philological pursuits of a lifetime culminated in further notes and vocabularies that circulated among readers interested in Romany and lesser-known languages.

Legacy
George Borrow died in 1881, his reputation secure as one of the most singular English prose stylists of the nineteenth century. He left a body of work that stands at the intersection of travel writing, autobiography, and linguistic scholarship. He brought to English readers a view of Spain in a moment of political flux, the voices of Romany communities at home and abroad, and the feel of languages spoken on roads and in marketplaces rather than confined to classrooms. The people around him formed the texture of that achievement: his parents, who gave him restlessness and resilience; his brother John, a foil in discipline and duty; William Taylor of Norwich, who opened the doors of European literature; Andrew Brandram and the Bible Society, which provided both opportunity and constraint; John Murray, who understood how to present Borrow to the public; friends among the Romany such as Ambrose Petulengro, who offered both companionship and subject; and Mary and Henrietta, who gave him a household from which to set out and to which he could return. Through them, and through his own roaming curiosity, Borrow fashioned a literary life that continues to attract readers to the road.

Our collection contains 8 quotes who is written by George, under the main topics: Witty One-Liners - Wisdom - Writing - Peace - Youth.

• 1862 Wild Wales (Non-fiction)
• 1857 The Romany Rye (Novel)
• 1851 Lavengro (Novel)
• 1843 The Bible in Spain (Non-fiction)
• 1841 The Zincali: An Account of the Gypsies of Spain (Non-fiction)