John Burns was born on 8 March 1894 at Sidcup, Kent; he was the son of John and Rose Burns of Lewisham.  He joined the Royal Navy on 3 January 1913 at Portsmouth as a Stoker 2nd Class.  He was advanced to Stoker 1st Class on 14 March 1914 while serving in the battlecruiser HMS PRINCESS ROYAL in which he saw action at the battle of the Dogger Bank in January 1915 and the battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916.

He was drafted to HMS DOLPHIN for submarine training on 10 February 1917 after which he was drafted to the depot ship HMS MAIDSTONE at Harwich, after which he had spells in HMS E42, HMS E44 and HMS L5.  He was serving in HMS L5 at the end of the first world war.  Further drafts to the submarine depot ships HMS MAIDSTONE, HMS ARROGANT and HMS INCONSTANT were followed by a loan draft to HMS K5 which foundered during an exercise in the Western Approaches to the English Channel on 20 January 1921.

He was married to Ethel Lydia Burns of Forest Hill, London and is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.