{"id":23524,"date":"2025-10-03T20:59:25","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T19:59:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/?page_id=23524"},"modified":"2026-03-03T23:09:50","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T23:09:50","slug":"sir-richard-burton-medal","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/sir-richard-burton-medal\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sir Richard Burton Medal"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Sir Richard Burton Medal<\/h2>\n

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The Award<\/h4>\n

The Sir Richard Burton Medal is given to an individual who has undertaken exploration and research in the East, and more particularly in close association with local people, or in difficult circumstances.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nominations are now closed<\/h4>\n

When the prize becomes open for submission of nominations, details will be\u00a0advised through our website and social media channels.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

About the Award<\/h4>\n

The award was instigated in 1923, in conjunction with the Richard Burton Memorial Lecture Programme, which was set up a few years before to mark the 100th anniversary of Sir Richard Burton\u2019s birth. Historically, the award would be given to the person chosen to deliver the lecture, which was to deal with Burton, his travels or some suitable subject of exploration.[\/vc_column_text][vc_tta_accordion active_section=”0″ collapsible_all=”true”][vc_tta_section title=”About Sir Richard Burton” tab_id=”1759522170957-e8299306-2f73″][vc_column_text css=””]\"Image<\/p>\n

Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821\u20131890) was one of the Society\u2019s most famous and adventurous members.<\/p>\n

Burton joined the Bombay Infantry of the East India Company in 1842. This was the start of his explorations and detailed recording of all that he saw. Burton was a very able linguist passing out top in the Company examinations but he was also interested in geography and ethnography including dialects and customs As part of the Survey Company, Burton made detailed topographical, ethnographic and linguistic notes resulting in the publication of his 1851 book on the history of Sindh.<\/p>\n

His life was full of travel and writing including travelling to Mecca and Medina in 1852, disguised as a Muslim, and an expedition to attempt to find the source of the Nile under the auspices of the Royal Geographical Society of which he was a member. He was a prolific writer and his travels provided him with material for many books. He was also a keen translator including translating The Arabian Nights<\/em> stories and the poems of the Portuguese poet, Cameons.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_accordion][vc_empty_space height=”15px”][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n

Past Recipients<\/h4>\n

Well-known scholars and travellers who have received the award include Freya Stark (1934) and Wilfred Thesiger (1966). It was awarded to Simon Digby in 1999, Professor David Snellgrove in 2004, Ralph Pinder Wilson in 2009 and Professor Caroline Humphrey in 2014.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″ css=”.vc_custom_1759094634978{padding-right: 30px !important;padding-left: 30px !important;background-color: #FFFFFF !important;}”][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n

Latest Recipients<\/h3>\n

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Awarded in 2022<\/h5>\n

Dr. Peter Alford Andrews<\/strong>
\nMrs. M\u00fcg\u00fcl Andrews<\/strong>
\nfor their study on Eurasian tents<\/p>\n

Read an interview here<\/a><\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”23588″ img_size=”180×180″ alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_circle” css=””][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n

Awarded in 2022<\/h5>\n

Pepita Seth<\/strong>
\nfor her exploration of the closed worlds of the Guruvayur Temple and Theyyam Rituals in Kerala<\/p>\n

Read an interview here<\/a><\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”23530″ img_size=”180×180″ alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_circle” css=””][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n

Awarded in 2022<\/h5>\n

Professor Tim Williams<\/strong>
\nfor his exploration, archaeological and documentation projects in Beirut and Central Asia, and for his collaborations with local partners on the Silk Road and for UNESCO and ICOMOS Silk Roads mapping<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text css=””] The Sir Richard Burton Medal [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2\/3″ css=”.vc_custom_1759181596495{padding-right: 50px !important;}”][vc_column_text css=””] The Award The Sir Richard Burton Medal is given to an individual who has undertaken exploration and research in the East, and more particularly in close association with local people, or in difficult circumstances.   Nominations are now closed When the prize…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7635,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":""},"class_list":["post-23524","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"ticketed":false,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7635"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23524"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24666,"href":"https:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23524\/revisions\/24666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}