Lt.-Col. Joseph Netterville Burton (1782-1857)
of the 34th Regiment & Chateau Beausejour outside Tours, France
He was born at Tuam and was a first cousin of Admiral James Ryder Burton. He was commissioned as a Lieutenant in 1805 with the 31st Regiment and fought in Italy and Egypt during the Napoleonic Wars. He was promoted to Captain and Deputy Assistant Quartermaster-General in 1814 before retiring to live in Italy where he was Town Mayor of Genoa during the exile of Queen Caroline. He refused to testify against her in court when her fidelity to her husband, King George IV was questioned, damaging his career. He returned to England in 1819 and rejoined the army with the 37th Foot. In 1820, at St. James' Church, Piccadilly, he married Martha, the daughter and co-heiress of a rightfully suspicious Hertfordshire squire, Richard Baker, of Barham House. To keep clear of his creditors, the family lived in France at the Chateau Beauséjour "on an eminence near Tours" in Touraine, occasionally returning to England. He died at his residence 20 Bennett Street, Bath, by which time (1855) he had been retired with the rank of Lt.-Colonel in the 34th Foot. He was the father of Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton.
