BURN, DAVID (1805-75) was in early life an officer in the Royal Navy. He married Miss Fenton in Ireland (1832). On retiring he went on the stage and had some reputation as an actor of Shakespearean parts. Indifferent health induced him to emigrate to Australia, where he engaged in journalism and other literary activities. He wrote a number of plays, some of which were produced in Australia and New Zealand; and while in Tasmania he published two volumes of Plays and Fugitive Pieces. Burn came to Auckland in the forties and was associated first with the New Zealander and afterwards with the New Zealand Herald, in which he was part proprietor with Wilson. He edited the Maori Messenger in 1849 and again in the period 1855-63, and was also connected for a while with the Southern Cross. From about 1865 he lived in retirement in poor health. Burn died on 14 Jun 1875.

Hocken, Bibliog.; Morton; Burn, letters in Mitchell Library, Sydney; N.Z. Herald, 27 Aug 1873, 15 Jun 1875.

Reference: Volume 1, page 76

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