Background
Burchnall was born on 8 December 1892 the son of Walter Henry Burchnall a schoolmaster and Ann Newport in Whichford, Warwickshire.
Burchnall was born on 8 December 1892 the son of Walter Henry Burchnall a schoolmaster and Ann Newport in Whichford, Warwickshire.
Around 1900 the family moved to Butterwick and thereafter Joseph was educated at Boston Grammar School, then progressed to Christ Church, Oxford graduating Bachelor in 1914 and Master of Arts (in absentia) in 1915.
He was the eldest of six children. He was wounded three times and lost a leg in March 1918. After the war he joined Durham University as a Reader in Mathematics then progressed to be a Lecturer.
He became a professor in 1939 and continued this until retiral in 1959.
He wrote many mathematical papers in conjunction with Theodore William Chaundy. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1953.
He was awarded an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1956 for services to education and the community. He was President of the Old Bostonian Association (his old school) from 1967 to 1969.
He died on 29 April 1975 in Southwold, Suffolk.
He is buried in Street Edmunds Church Cemetery in Southwold.