George Borrow

George Borrow (1803–1881) was an English writer and self-taught linguist who, after early attempts at law and hack journalism, travelled through Russia and Spain from the 1830s as an agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society, distributing scripture translations and forming the acquaintance with Romani people that runs through his work. The Bible in Spain (1843), his account of those years, was an immediate success; two autobiographical narratives followed, Lavengro (1851) and its sequel The Romany Rye (1857). He settled at Oulton Broad in Norfolk, where he died.