W. K. Burton

William Kinnimond Burton
William Kinnimond Burton
Born	11 May 1856 Edinburgh, Scotland
Died	5 August 1899(1899-08-05) (aged 43) Tokyo, Japan
Nationality	British
Fields	sanitary engineering

William Kinnimond Burton (11 May 1856 – 5 August 1899) was a British engineer, photographer and photography writer, born in Edinburgh, Scotland, who lived most of his career in Meiji period Japan.

Burton was born in Edinburgh to John Hill Burton, a lawyer and amateur historian, who had written two books on economics, which had received attention in Japan. His mother was Katherine, daughter of Dr Cosmo Innes, one of Scotland's foremost amateur photographers. He was also a childhood friend of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who turned to him for background information for The Engineer's Thumb; Doyle's book, The Firm of Girdlestone, is dedicated to Burton.

Burton studied at Edinburgh Collegiate School, but instead of going on to university, from 1873 he signed up for a five-year apprenticeship with the innovative hydraulic and mechanical engineers Brown Brothers & Co. Ltd at the Rosebank Ironworks in Edinburgh. Rising to become chief draftsman, he left the firm in 1879 to enter partnership with his uncle Cosmo Innes in London designing water systems. In 1881 he became Resident Engineer to the London Sanitary Protection Association.

In May 1887 he was invited by the Meiji government to assume the post of first unofficial professor of sanitary engineering at Tokyo Imperial University (he lectured as an engineer), at a time when the country was dealing with several serious epidemics, notably cholera. His appointment was unusual in that Burton was largely self-educated, and did not come with the impressive educational or professional credentials that many of his contemporaries had. It is not known who recommended Burton to the Japanese government, or what inspired him to leave a promising career in London for what he believed to be a temporary assignment in Japan. He met Nagai Kyuichiro, an officer of the Sanitary Department of the Japan Home Ministry and of the Tokyo Imperial University, while Nagai was staying in London. Nagai invited him to Japan.