Barnet Burns

Barnet Burns
Barnet Burns (from his book)
Born	1805? Kirkby Ireleth, Lancashire?
Died	26 December 1860 Eldad, East Stonehouse near Plymouth
Education	Lancasterian School
Occupation	Sailor, trader, showman
Spouse(s)	Te Amotawa Bridget Cain Anne Boval Mrs Rosina Crowther
Children	Mokoraurangi Tauhinu Hori Waiti  ? Henriette Burns
Parent(s)	George Burns? Anne Stewart?

Barnet Burns (November 1805 – 26 December 1860) was an English sailor, trader, and showman who became one of the first Europeans to live as a Pākehā Māori and to receive the full Māori facial tattoo. He travelled to Australia and found employment as a trader of flax in New Zealand in the 1830s. Burns returned to Europe in 1835 and spent most of his remaining years as a showman giving lectures, where he described the customs of the Māori, performed the haka, exhibited his Māori tattoos and recounted his adventures in New Zealand.

It is likely that Barnet Burns was baptised in the parish of Kirkby Ireleth on 25 November 1805. His parents were likely George Burns (born 1770) and Anne (née Stewart).

At the age of 13 or 14 he became a cabin boy and ended up working for Louis Celeste Lecesne in Jamaica. When Lecesne travelled to England to petition parliament over his false arrest and exile, Burns travelled with him. Under the patronage of Lecesne, Burns went to the Lancasterian school at Borough Road in London.

Burns again set sail in 1827 on the brig Wilna and arrived at Rio de Janeiro. Following a dispute between the Captain and crew, all the crew were paid off from the ship and Burns then obtained a berth as steward on the barque Nimrod Captain Eilbeck, which set out for Australia and arrived at Sydney on 22 August 1828.

Barnet Burns worked as a house servant for William Henry Mackenzie of the Bank of Australia. He commenced employment at about the time of the Bank of Australia robbery on 14 September 1828. Burns also worked with other prominent businessmen of colonial Sydney who supported Burns' application for a land grant in May 1830. A plot of 10 acres (40,000 m²) was granted at Tambourine Bay on the Lane Cove River.