Death of Lady Isabel Burton

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Death of Lady Isabel Burton (1896)
938547Death of Lady Isabel Burton1896

In speaking of the death of Lady Isabel Burton, widow of Sir Richard Burton, the explorer, who died at her house in Baker-street, London, on 22nd March, the Westminster Gazette says: - "Lady Burton, a most devoted wife, never thoroughly recovered the shock of her husband's death a few years ago. Everyone remembers the sensation caused by her announcement that she had burned the manuscript of a certain work left by her husband, because she did not deem it right to publish it. The destruction meant at least 6000 guineas loss to the plucky widow, but not for 6,000,000 guineas—so she said at the time—would she have brought it out. Lady Burton's stately figure will not be so widely missed now as it would at one time, for she had lived in retirement since her great loss. The tomb of her husband was prepared by her with a view to its reception of her own remains. It is in the Catholic cemetery at Mortlake—Lady Burton was a devout adherent of that faith—and takes the form of an Arabian tent. Her lonely visits to it of late have been numerous".