RUFFIAN DICK

Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890) was a notorious superhero (or antihero) and swordsman of the Victorian era. While at Trinity, the half-Irish Burton challenged another student to a duel for mocking his moustache. Burton learned 29 languages and became proficient in fencing. During an expedition to Africa, he was impaled with a native spear, the point entering one cheek and exiting the other, and leaving a scar that can be seen in this photo. He was forced to make his escape with the weapon still stuck through his face. Along with participating in clandestine operations, Burton was renowned for his fighting skills and earned the nickname "Ruffian Dick" because he had "fought in single combat more enemies than perhaps any other man of his time." Burton authored a number of important texts on the sword (including Sword & Bayonet Exercises, a classic book on the history of the Sword, and his "Sentiment of the Sword" about fencing) and translated a number of important Eastern cultural and mythological texts. A scholar, spy, and world explorer, he also had an interest in the occult, native sexual practices, drugs, runes, snake charming, was initiated into an esoteric Sufi brotherhood, as well as into a Hindu sect, all of which made him a subject of controversy and fascination in his time. A linguist, he reportedly learned to identify up to 60 monkey "words," which he recorded in a "monkey vocabulary." In 1886, Queen Victoria made him Knight Commander of St. Michael and St. George.