John Martin the Celebrity Delinquent: Part 6: Francis Robert Burton

 

John Martin the Celebrity Delinquent: 

Part 6: Francis Robert Burton

Francis Robert Burton was born in London on 9 September 1840. He was the second son of the surgeon, Dr Richard Burton. The family emigrated to South Australia aboard the vessel, Jane, in 1852, settling in the suburb of Sturt. The Burton’s built ‘Bexley’ in Sturt.

Francis joined the civil service as a clerk to the Northern Drought Commission. He entered the Crown Lands Office in 1865, and a year later, in 1866, was appointed clerk to the immigrant agent at Port Adelaide.  In 1868, Burton was appointed clerk of the Adelaide Local Court, and in 1867, clerk of the Wallaroo court. In 1879, he was appointed clerk of the Port Adelaide court. In March 1894, he was reappointed as clerk to the Adelaide Court.[1]

Burton was well known in Adelaide for his efforts to stop juvenile delinquency. It was written of him in 1890;

“Mr Burton has devoted himself to the self-imposed task with the zeal and whole souledness of a thorough philanthropist, coaxing boys away from idle habits and evil associations into the line of industry, honesty, and truth, not by ordinary mean, but by force of genuine attraction. Kindly by nature, he inspires confidence in boys of a class rendered suspicious of the motives of others by their own experience of deceptive ways. Surely My Burton will yet receive for his scheme the recognition it deserves, for with every boy he rescues from vicious courses and plants firmly on the path of duty, the State gains a useful embryo citizen.”[2]

 

While living in Wallaroo, Burton was inspired to open a youth’s recreation room, with the intention of taking boys off the street and giving them books to read and games to play to pass the time.
 In 1888, Burton opened his private boys’ reformatory at Glanville.

 Burton retired in 1909, at age 75, to his home at Belair. He then moved to Roseville, New South Wales. He died at Roseville, New South Wales in 1915.[3]

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2020

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[1] Dolling, Alison, The history of Marion on the Sturt: the story of a changing landscape and its people, (Frewville, S. Aust., 1981).

[2] 'JUVENILE DELINQUENCY.', The Express and Telegraph, (4 March 1899), p. 5., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article209525608.

[3] 'A FORMER SOUTH AUSTRALIAN.', The Register, (9 July 1915), p. 6., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59411653.