William John Burn was born in 1851 at South Moor, Sunderland, England. He graduated with mathematical honours from St John’s College, Cambridge. In 1876 he was appointed first incumbent of St Peter’s, Jarrow-on-Tyne and continued in that postion for more than 10 years when he resigned due to ill-health. In 1890 he was appointed to the vicarage of Coniscliffe, near Darlington where he was when he was offered the position of Bishop of Qu’Appelle.
Bishop Burn was consecrated in Westminster Abbey on March 25, 1893 by the Bishop of Canterbury, assisted by the Bishop of London and by Adelbert Anson, who had resigned the Bishoporic of Qu’Appelle 3 months earlier.
The diocese was in debt, so the property at Qu’Appelle, including the college and see house had to be relinquished. Bishop Burn removed to Indian Head where Lord Brassy, an extensive landowner built a residence, a church and a girl’s school. Bishop Burn died suddenly of heart failure on June 16, 1896 at Indian Head, Saskatchewan.