Background
He was the third son of Peter Burrell of Beckenham, Kent, and was born in Leadenhall Street on 10 October 1732.
He was the third son of Peter Burrell of Beckenham, Kent, and was born in Leadenhall Street on 10 October 1732.
He was educated at Saint John"s College, Cambridge, whence he graduated as Bachelor of Laws in 1755, and Doctor of Laws in 1760, and in the latter year (3 November) was admitted as an advocate at Doctors" Commons.
They were edited by Mr. R. G. Marsden in 1885. Burrell was made chancellor of Worcester in 1764, and held the same office in the diocese of Rochester, continuing in both posts till his death.
He was elected Member of Parliament for Haslemere in 1768, and became a commissioner of excise in 1774, being re-elected for Haslemere in that year.
He was also Fellow of the Royal Society and Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and a director of the South Sea Company. From an early period in life he was interested in antiquarian pursuits, and ultimately concentrated his attention upon the history of the county of Sussex.
Nearly every parish of Sussex was personally visited by him, and its records inspected and partly copied. Drawings were made for him of churches, houses, and sepulchral monuments, and he spared no labour in tracing the descent of the county families.
He did not print any portion of his work, but bequeathed the entire collection to the British Museum, where it is now deposited among the Add.
Manuscripts Burrell was seized with paralysis in August 1787, and, though he partially recovered, found it necessary to resign his public appointments. He was buried at West Grinstead, Sussex, where a simple monument to his memory by Flaxman has been placed in the church.