George Borrow was born on the 5th July, 1803, at Dumpling Green, East Dereham. He was the second son of Thomas Borrow, a Cornish Captain of the West Norfolk Militia; his mother was Anne Perfrement, of Huguenot descent, and native of Norfolk.

In 1810 he met Ambrosio Smith, the Gypsy marked in Borrow an imperishable fingerprint. He decided to go with him to a Gypsy camp, where he learned their customs and language. In 1824, the death of his father, he moved to London with the intention of launching a literary career. There he studied philology under the leadership of William Taylor, but failed to finish any university studies. Languages and literature became his main interests. At the age of eighteen he understood twelve languages (English, Welsh, Erse, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, German, Danish, French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese), when he died more than 100.

The great change in Borrow's life occurred in 1833, when he requests employment in the British and Foreign Bible Society . His first destination was Russia. There he worked at the transcription and collation of the New Testament translated into Manchu and in print.

In October 1835 returned to England and the Biblical Society sent him to Lisbon for spreading the Bible in Portugal. After a short stay in Lisbon, Borrow decided to enter Spain with the intention of spreading the New Testament. There begun a period of five years in which he effected three trips along the peninsula in that his missionary activity was accompanied by a large number of adventures. In 1840 he returned to England and finished his work with the Bible society, marrying the widow Mary Clarke.

There Borrow began to write his books. The Zincali (1841), The Bible in Spain (1843), his more popular work where he

shows a romantic view of the country and its people, Lavengro (1851), The Romany Rye (1857), Wild Wales (1862), and the last one Romano lavo-lil, word book of the Romany or English Gypsy language (1874).

He died in Suffolk on July 26, 1881 at the age of 78 years.