John Burns (surgeon)

Burns became a visiting surgeon at Glasgow Royal Infirmary and the proprietor of the College Street medical school.

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.

[3] 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.

Their first child, John (born 1806) was a member of the 78th Highlanders and later Lieutenant-Colonel of the 2nd Royals and died in service at the Cape in 1853, unmarried.

Their second son, Allan (born 1819), was a physician and died in 1843 by typhoid fever which he caught from a patient.