Sir Alan Cuthbert Maxwell Burns GCMG (9 November 1887 – 29 September 1980) was a British civil servant who rose through the ranks to become governor of several colonies.

In 1901 Burns matriculated at St Edmund's College in Old Hall Green, but he had to leave early as his family could not afford the fees.

Burns was Private Secretary to Sir Frederick (later Lord) Lugard then Hugh Clifford during their times as governors of Nigeria.

In 1924 Burns was appointed Colonial Secretary of the Bahamas, where he served until 1929 and carried out the duties of Governor on several occasions.

[6][self-published source] Burns resigned as Governor shortly after the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council rejected the final appeal in the case.

While most people were excluded from the Library by its high subscription fees, it differed from many other similar institutions by allowing Africans to become members.

As colour is the most obvious outward manifestation of race, it has been made the criterion by which men are judged, irrespective of their social or educational attainments.

The light-skinned races have come to despise all those of a darker colour, and the dark-skinned people will no longer accept without protest the inferior position to which they have been relegated.