John Burns

Rev Dr John Burns (13 February 1744 – 26 February 1839) was a Church of Scotland minister, who served a Glasgow cure longer than any minister on record, in the Barony Church for sixty-nine years.

Burns was born in Stirling, Scotland, the son of John Burns of Stirth, a schoolmaster, and his wife Janet Young of Risk. He was educated at the University of Glasgow, and first appointed to the Barony in 1770, as assistant to Lawrence Hill. He was ordained on 26 May 1774,

He married Elizabeth Stevenson, daughter of John Stevenson, brewer in Glasgow. Among Burns's nine children, John Burns (1775–1850) became Regius Professor of Surgery at the University of Glasgow, Allan Burns (1781–1813) was a physician to the Imperial Court of Russia, James Burns (1789–1871) was a shipowner and George Burns (1795–1890) was his partner in G & J Burns.

A portrait by John Graham-Gilbert, painted in 1830, is in the collection of the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery of the University of Glasgow.