Tylor, Edward B. (Edward Burnett), 1832-1917

Sir Edward Burnett Tylor was born on October 2, 1832, in London, England.

He was an English anthropologist. He was educated at a Quaker school and went to work in his father's London brass foundry at age sixteen. In 1855, Tylor was diagnosed with tuberculosis and sent abroad, spending some time in the southern United States, and visiting Cuba. This voyage sparked an interest in anthropology and provided the material for his first book, “Anahuac; or, Mexico and the Mexicans, Ancient and Modern” (1861). He continued to study the customs and beliefs of tribal communities, both existing and prehistoric. In 1865, he published his second work, “Researches into the Early History of Mankind and the Development of Civilization,” followed by his most influential work, “Primitive Culture” (1871). Tylor was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1871, and, in 1875, he received an honorary degree of D.C.L. from the University of Oxford. He was appointed Keeper of Oxford University Museum in 1883 and served as a Reader in Anthropology from 1884 to 1895. In 1896, he was appointed the first Professor of Anthropology at Oxford University. He was also elected the first Gifford lecturer at Aberdeen University in 1888. He continued to teach until 1909 and was knighted in 1912. Tylor acted as an anthropological consultant on the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. He is considered the father of cultural anthropology.

In 1858, he married Anna Rebecca Fox (1831-1921). He died on January 2, 1917, in Wellington, Somerset, England.