Reginald George Burton was born in 1864, the fourth son of nine sons of General Edmond Francis Burton of the Madras Staff Corps. He joined the 1st West India Regiment on 23 Aug 1884 and later transferred to the 1st Infantry, Hyderabad Contingent (94th Russell’s) in 1889, having served briefly in the 35th Sikh Infantry. He served on the HQ Staff at Simla and was appointed commanding officer of the 94th Russell’s Infantry on 17 June 1909, but was promoted to Brigadier-General in 1913. In 1915 he was on the staff at the Gallipoli landing where he was wounded and invalided home. In 1917 he was Commandant of the Cadet College, Wellington, Nilgiris, and in 1918 he commanded the Madras Brigade Area.
He was a keen big game hunter specialising in tigers. He was a prolific writer and wrote books on tigers and military history as well as a history of the Hyderabad Contingent. After retirement he spent 23 years managing Boy’s Sunday Schools and for 9 years was Vice Chairman of the Hospital at Cheltenham. In 1901 he married Elsie Mary Lumb from Whitehaven. They lived at Bafford Grange, Charlton Kings, Gloucestershire and had one child, a son, Reginald William Boteler Burton who served in WW2 in the RAF. Brigadier-General Reginald George Burton died on 2 February 1951.
