John Burns

Who was John Burns?

John Burns FRS, was a Scottish surgeon.

He was the eldest son of Rev. John Burns, who was the minister of the Barony Church until his death.

Burns became a visiting surgeon at Glasgow Royal Infirmary and the proprietor of the College Street medical school. He was suspected in robbing graves to provide cadavres for dissecting studies. In 1799, he became Professor of Anatomy and Theory at Anderson's University, where he published several text books for students and became an international authority on abortion and midwifery.

In 1815 he was appointed the first Regius Professor of Surgery at the University of Glasgow. He wrote several medical textbooks such as Principles of Midwifery, as well as two religious tracts.

Burns, the brother of two senior figures in the MacBrayne's and Cunard shipping businesses, was among fifty people who died when the G & J Burns paddle steamship Orion sank off Portpatrick in June 1850 on its way from Liverpool to Glasgow.

He married Isabella, daughter of Rev. John Duncan of Alva and had two children.