John Burgwin (1731-1803) was an administrator, politician, attorney, enslaver, and merchant in colonial Wilmington. During the course of his career, he held the following offices or positions: quartermaster of the New Hanover County militia (1754-1755), clerk of the Bladen County court (1756-1759), clerk of the governors' council (1760-1772), private secretary to royal governor Arthur Dobbs (1762), clerk of the superior court for the District of Wilmington (appointed 1768), clerk of the high court of chancery for North Carolina (appointed 1769), Wilmington town commissioner (1769-1775), and representative of Bladen County in the Assembly (1773).