A Thomas Annan photograph of a portrait of John Burns (1775-1850). The painting was by John Graham-Gilbert.
Burns was the eldest son of John Burns (1744-1839) who had been the minister of the Barony Church until his death. John Jnr became a visiting surgeon at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, the proprietor of the College Street medical school and a suspected grave robber. In 1815 he was appointed the first Regius Professor of Surgery at the University of Glasgow. He wrote several medical textbooks 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 steamship Orion sank off Portpatrick in June 1850, on its way from Liverpool to Glasgow.
Reference: Mitchell Library, GC 920.041435 COR
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Learning
Keywords:
Barony Church, College Street Medical School, doctors, Glasgow Royal Infirmary, grave robbers, grave robbing, Orion, portraits, Professors, resurrectionists, shipwrecks, steamships, surgeons, Surgery, University of Glasgow