Sol Plaatje, a founder of the African National Congress, wrote that Burton was "a negrophilist and did a lot for us while I was in Kimberly.

During the Second Boer War, Burton worked as the legal aide of Sir Richard Solomon, Attorney-General of the Cape Colony.

In 1918, he attended the Imperial War Conference in London as a delegate; on his return, his ship, SS ''Galway Castle'', was torpedoed in the Bay of Biscay, and he was rescued from one of the open boats.

His austerity measures, and particularly his taxes on tobacco and patent medicines, were thought to have contributed to the government's defeat, particularly in rural seats.

In 1928, Sol Plaatje asked him to run for Queenstown in the 1929 general election and promised him the support of native voters.

Writing in the Dictionary of South African Biography, N. G. Garson described Burton as "undoubtedly one of the abler members of the early Union governments" but "having an unfortunate and rather brusque public manner" as well as being viewed as arrogant, though he was admired by many who knew him personally.

[1] Burton was married to Helen Marie Kannemeyer, one of the founders of Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden; they had nine children.

[5] Another son, Flight Lieutenant William Westbrooke Burton, RAFVR, was killed during a bombing raid on Cologne.