Kotah in 1857

Major Charles Aeneas Burton was born in Dinapore in 1812, the eldest son of Captain Charles William Burton and his wife, Mary Anne (née Gilchrist). Her father, John Borthwick Gilchrist, had arrived in India as a surgeon’s mate in 1782, but the medical profession held little interest for this particular man. Instead, he wrote the A Dictionary: English and Hindoostanee. To Which Is Prefixed a Grammar of the Hindoostanee Language, which was published in instalments, by subscription, between 1786 and 1790. The book proved to be a success, and it was through the efforts of Gilchrist that Hindustani would eventually be recognised as the administrative language in British India. Like many men of his time, Gilchrist most likely had an Indian wife, and he fathered numerous children. Three of his India-born daughters returned to England with him, but Mary Anne remained in the land of her birth.

Meanwhile, Captain Charles William Burton had arrived in India in 1802, the third son of Reverend James Burton, senior canon at Christchurch, Oxford. In his short life, Charles Burton had seen just about as much war as a man could want, beginning with the operations in the Jumna Doab in 1803 and right through the Second Maratha War, including the capture of Dieg and the Siege of Bhurtpore. As Captain in the 8th NI, he was involved in the Nepal War of 1816, but it would be his last fight. He died in Mirzapore on the 30th of October in the same year. His sons would be sent to England, but it is unclear if their mother went with them.

Young Charles Aeneas was educated at Charterhouse from whence, in 1828, he entered the services of the EICo army, and was appointed to his father’s old regiment. Ensign Burton arrived in India in 1829. He was a diligent student of languages and most likely completed his first examinations at Fort William College, Calcutta, set up so many years before by his grandfather, and he would later be employed as a regimental interpreter. His career, however, suddenly stalled. Sent home on sick certificate in 1831, he would not return to India until 1833, by which time he was married.

His wife, Elizabeth Jane Bradley (née Barton), was the widow of Henry Bradley, a merchant of St. Swithin’s Lane, who died in 1829. She was left caring for her young daughter, Mary and two children from Henry’s first marriage, who both adopted the Burton surname. Although she had never been to India until she married Charles Aeneas, she would remain there for the rest of her life, dying in Jalandhar in 1881. Besides being a cousin of Charles’ father (her father was her husband’s uncle), Elizabeth was also 12 years older than her husband. However, the marriage was a happy and most fruitful one — she would bear him a further 8 children, two of whom were twin boys. The Burtons were lucky with their children — they would all reach adulthood, except for an infant girl who died at sea and a second daughter who died in Kota in 1854. They would also all be born in India except one son, Francis Clerke, who was born during the family furlough in South Africa.

On the 2nd of August 1832, Charles Aeneas transferred to the 40th NI, but he appears to have spent much time on detached duty. Following his return from the Cape, a furlough which lasted 2 years, from 1840 he was Acting Interpreter and Quartermaster for the 28th NI, which was rapidly followed by a position as Assistant to the Agent and Commissioner in Delhi from 1841 to 1843. He then went off to the 73rd NI as interpreter and quartermaster, but not to be undone, he quickly joined the 1st Light Cavalry on the 11th of September 1843 to take part in the Gwalior Campaign, for which he earned a Bronze Star. While he never left the 40th NI, Charles Burton became Assistant to the A.G.G. of Rajputana in 1848, while already the Political Agent to the court of Kotah, a position he would take up in 1845, thus serving the EICo both as a soldier and as an administrator, depending on which they required, until his death in 1857. Major Burton and his family resided in the Residency, which his son fondly called the “old home.” The oldest of the Burton boys, also named Charles, who at 23 was Assistant to the Superintendent of Neemuch, was stationed at Jawad; the rest of the children were at home in Kotah.