Edward Burton was an English theologian, Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford.

Life

The son of Major Edward Burton, he was born at Shrewsbury

Shrewsbury

Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England. Lying on the River Severn, it is a civil parish home to some 70,000 inhabitants, and is the primary settlement and headquarters of Shropshire Council...

 on 13 February 1794. He was educated at Westminster School

Westminster School

The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...

, and matriculated as a commoner of Christ Church, Oxford

Christ Church, Oxford

Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...

, on 15 May 1812, gaining a studentship the next year, and in 1815, obtained a first class both in classics and mathematics. Having taken his B.A. degree on 29 October 1815, he was ordained to the curacy of Pettenhall, Staffordshire

Staffordshire

Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...

. On 28 May 1818, he proceeded M.A.

He paid a long visit to the continent of Europe, chiefly occupying himself in work at the public libraries of France and Italy. In 1824, he was select preacher. On 12 May 1825, he married Helen, daughter of Archdeacon Joseph Corbett, of Longnor Hall, Shropshire

Shropshire

Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...

. After his marriage, he resided at Oxford. In 1827, he was made examining chaplain to the bishop, and in 1828, preached the Bampton lectures

Bampton Lectures

The Bampton Lectures at the University of Oxford, England, were founded by a bequest of John Bampton,. They have taken place since 1780.They were a series of annual lectures; since the turn of the 20th century they have typically been biennial. They continue to concentrate on Christian theological...

. On the death of Charles Lloyd

Charles Lloyd (bishop)

Charles Lloyd , Regius Professor of Divinity and Bishop of Oxford from 1827 to 1829, was born in West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire on 26 September 1784, the second son of Thomas Lloyd. Thomas, a 'clergyman and schoolmaster', was Rector of Aston-sub-Edge in Gloucestershire and ran a school at Great...

, bishop of Oxford and Regius Professor of Divinity, Burton was appointed to succeed him in the professorship in 1829, and took the degree of D.D. the same year. As professor, he was also canon of Christ Church and rector of Ewelme

Ewelme

Ewelme is a village and civil parish in the Chiltern Hills in South Oxfordshire, northeast of the market town of Wallingford.To the east of the village is Cow Common and to the west, Benson Airfield, the north-eastern corner of which is within the parish boundary.The solid geology is chalk...

, where, uncommonly for the time, he introduced open seats into the church in the place of pew

Pew

A pew is a long bench seat or enclosed box used for seating members of a congregation or choir in a church, or sometimes in a courtroom.-Overview:Churches were not commonly furnished with permanent pews before the Protestant Reformation...

s. He died in Ewelme on 19 January 1836, in his forty-second year.

Works

Among his works are:

• ‘An Introduction to the Metre of the Greek Tragedians,’ 1814.
• ‘A Description of the Antiquities … of Rome,’ 1821, 1828.
• ‘The Power of the Keys,’ 1823.
• ‘Testimonies of the Ante-Nicene Fathers to the Divinity of Christ,’ 1826, 1829.
• ‘An edition of the Works of Bishop Bull,’ 1827.
• ‘The Greek Testament, with English notes,’ 1830, 1835.
• ‘Testimonies of the Ante-Nicene Fathers to the Doctrine of Trinity,’ 1831.
• ‘Advice for the Proper Observance of the Sunday,’ 1831, 1852.
• ‘The Three Primers … of Henry VIII,’ 1834.
• ‘Lectures on Ecclesiastical History,’ 1831, 1833.
• ‘An edition of Pearson on the Creed,’ 1833.
• ‘Thoughts on the Separation of Church and State,’ 1834, 1868. He also superintended the publication of Peter Elmsley
  Peter Elmsley
  Peter Elmsley was an English classical scholar.He was educated at Westminster and Christ Church, Oxford, and having inherited a fortune from his uncle, a well-known bookseller, devoted himself to the study of classical authors and manuscripts...
  
  's edition of the ‘Medea’ and ‘Heraclidæ,’ 1828, and of some posthumous works of Bishop Lloyd. Among the works on which he was engaged at the time of his death was an edition of Eusebius, published 1838, 1856; the notes of this volume were separately edited by Heinichen, 1840; the text was used in the edition of Eusebius of 1872. Burton was also the author of other smaller works.