W. K. Burton

William Kinnimond Burton (11 May 1856 – 5 August 1899) was a British engineer, photographer and photography writer, born in Edinburgh, Scotland and based in Japan.

Burton began his career as a water system engineer in London. In 1887 he was invited by the Meiji government to assume the post of first professor of sanitary engineering at the Imperial University, Tokyo, at a time when the country was dealing with several serious epidemics. Burton helped train a number of prominent water system engineers for 9 years, and became the sole consultant engineer for the Sanitary Department of the Home Ministry, planning and managing the water and drainage systems of several cities, including Tokyo. His achievements are considered the starting point of Japan's environmental and sanitary engineering.

Burton was a noted photographer in Europe and made a substantial contribution to Japan's photographic history. Burton also designed Japan's first skyscraper, Ryōunkaku in Asakusa, Tokyo. He was closely associated with Japanese photographer Ogawa Kazumasa. With Ogawa, Burton was a founding member of the "Japan Photographic Society," Japan's first organization for amateur photographers. In 1896 Burton went to Taiwan, where he made an outstanding contribution to the environmental improvement of Taiwan. He then returned to Japan in 1899. He had married a Japanese woman, with whom he had a daughter, and intended to return with them to Scotland to meet his mother, but suddenly fell ill and died on 5 August 1899 at the age of 43. A monument to him was erected at the Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo.

References

* [http://authorities.loc.gov/webvoy.htm Anglo-American Name Authority File, s.v. “Burton, W. K.”, LC Control Number n 90612141] . Accessed 11 January 2007.
* [http://www.baxleystamps.com/litho/ogawa/ogawa_volcanoes1.shtml#burton Baxley, George C. Baxley Stamps, "The Volcanoes of Japan, Part 1, Fujisan, by John Milne & W.K. Burton, Collotype Plates by K. Ogawa, ca 1892"] . Accessed 11 January 2007.
* [http://www.uknow.or.jp/be_e/embassy_news/E000453.htm British Embassy, Japan. "The 150th Anniversary of W.K.Burton’s Birth to be Celebrated"] . Accessed 11 January 2007.