Robert Burn

Born in Shropshire in 1829, he studied at Shrewsbury School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he became a celebrated classicist and later a fellow of the college. He spent much of his life at Cambridge, teaching and lecturing on classical subjects, and was known for his strong gifts as a scholar as well as for his skill in Latin verse.

He became especially important as one of the first English scholars to study the archaeology of Rome and the Campagna in a serious, sustained way. Frequent visits to Italy shaped his best-known books, including Rome and the Campagna, Old Rome, and Ancient Rome and its Neighbourhood, works that helped readers understand the ancient city through its monuments, landscape, and literature.

Beyond scholarship, he also had a hand in the committee that produced the 1863 Cambridge football rules. In later life he was in poor health for many years, but his intellectual interests remained active until his death in 1904.