Burnet, William, 1730-1791

William Burnet (December 13, 1730 – October 7, 1791) was an American political leader and physician from New Jersey. He served in the Continental Army and the Continental Congress.

Born on December 13, 1730 in Elizabethtown in the Province of New Jersey, Burnet graduated from Princeton University in 1749 and studied medicine under Dr. Staats in White Plains, New York before starting his practice in Newark, New Jersey. He was a member of Newark's Committee of Safety in 1775 before he joined the Continental Army as a surgeon. He opened a hospital in Newark for wounded soldiers, and ran it throughout the Revolution. He was appointed Surgeon General for the Eastern Region in 1776, and also held that position until the war ended in 1783.

Burnet was elected to the Continental Congress in 1780 and served from December 11, 1780 until his resignation on April 1, 1781, when he was forced to leave this service by the press of other duties and his wife's illness. Later that year he began serving as a judge in Essex County. Burnet also led the New Jersey Medical Society in 1787. He died in Newark, New Jersey on October 7, 1791, aged 60, and was interred in that city's First Presbyterian Church Cemetery.