Background
Burton was the son of Ralph Burton, and elder brother of Robert Burton, born at Lindley in Leicestershire on 24 August 1575.
Burton was the son of Ralph Burton, and elder brother of Robert Burton, born at Lindley in Leicestershire on 24 August 1575.
At the age of nine he went to school at Nuneaton, and on 29 September 1591 entered Brasenose College, Oxford (Bachelor 22 June 1594). He was admitted, on 20 May 1593, to the Inner Temple. He was one of a group of antiquaries there, including Sir John Ferne, Thomas Gainsford, and Peter Manwood.
On 20 May 1603 he was called to the bar, but soon afterwards, owing to weak health, he retired to the village of Falde in Staffordshire, where he owned an estate.
When the First English Civil War broke out, Burton sided with the royalists, and endured persecution. He died at Falde on 6 April 1645, and was buried in the parish church at Hanbury.
In 1607 Burton married Jane, daughter of Humfrey Adderley of Weddington in Warwickshire, by whom he had a son Cassibelan Burton.