Background
John Elliot Burns was born at Vauxhall, London, United Kingdom, in October 1858, the second son of Alexander Burns, an engineer, of Ayrshire extraction.
John Elliot Burns was born at Vauxhall, London, United Kingdom, in October 1858, the second son of Alexander Burns, an engineer, of Ayrshire extraction.
John Elliot Burns attended a national school in Battersea until he was ten years old, when he was sent to work in Price's candle factory. He continued his education at the night-schools, and read extensively, especially the works of Robert Owen, J. S. Mill, Paine and Cobbett.
In 1872 John Elliot Burns was apprenticed to an engineer. While following his trade he became a very successful outdoor speaker and labor agitator. He read widely, had a powerful voice, and was deeply convinced of the merits of labor socialism. In 1884 he joined the Social Democratic Federation, became an executive of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, and in 1889 was a Progressive member of the London County Council, supported by a weekly allowance subscribed by the Battersea workingmen. With Ben Tillett he organized the London Dock Strike in 1889 and did much during this time to put life and vigor into the trade union movement. In 1892 he became Labour M.P. for Battersea, serving until 1918, and from 1905 to 1914 was in the Liberal cabinet. In 1914 he was made president of the Board of Trade, from which post he resigned in August 1914, as he disagreed with his colleagues' attitudes toward the French alliance, though not on the need for curbing Germany. Soon afterward he retired from public life, largely on account of the death in action of his only son. In 1918 he sought to stand for Parliament from Battersea, but as he was unable to secure local support he retired permanently to private life. He died in London on Jan. 24, 1943. An honest and vehement man, Burns had real power as a speaker on behalf of labor and freedom.
John Elliot Burns was a member of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers from 1879.
Cricket, skating, rowing, boxing.
John Elliot Burns was married to Charlotte Gale, the daughter of a Battersea shipwright.