Captain Burton joined the Army in 1998 becoming the fourth generation of his family to serve in Army music. He completed military training at the Army Training Regiment, Winchester, and musical training at The Royal Military School of Music (RMSM) winning the Denis Brady Memorial Prize for Best Percussionist; he was subsequently posted to the Band of the Welsh Guards in 2000.

Whilst serving with the Welsh Guards, Captain Burton toured extensively throughout Europe (including twice to Bosnia), the United States and Canada. He has taken part in all the major State ceremonial events including State visits, the State Opening of Parliament, the Festival of Remembrance, the National Service of Remembrance, the State Funeral of the Queen Mother and the Queen’s Birthday Parade. He was also lucky enough to share the stage with Dame Shirley Bassey during her performance on the BBC’s Electric Proms series broadcast on BBC television.

Captain Burton was selected for the Bandmaster Course held at the RMSM commencing in 2011 and graduated in 2013 with a Licentiate Diploma in Wind Band Direction and prizes for Band Management, Band Direction and The Worshipful Company of Musicians Medal for Best Overall Bandmaster. He was appointed as Bandmaster of The Band of the King’s Division in February 2014 during the period of re-rolling to become the Army’s first full time professional brass band. In April 2015 he was assigned as Bandmaster to the Band of the Welsh Guards, returning to his roots, where he completed an overseas tour to Australia and New Zealand and defence engagement deployments in Jordan and Uganda. In April 2017, he was assigned to the Band and Drums of The Royal Gibraltar Regiment where he led the unit in all state ceremonial events and was pivotal in organising and directing concerts in St. Michael’s Cave to mark the 80th anniversary of the Regiment, raising over £25k for charity. Subsequently, he was awarded a Commander-In-Chief’s Commendation for excellence by The Governor of Gibraltar, Lieutenant General Edward Davis CB CBE.

Following the assignment to Gibraltar, he returned to RMSM as School Bandmaster in autumn 2019, delivering training to British and International students before moving to Headquarters of the Royal Corps of Army Music in spring 2020 as Corps Bandmaster, the senior appointed Bandmaster in the Army. In May 2022 he left the Regular Army following 24 years’ of service and moved across to serve in the Army Reserve. He was delighted to be selected to take up the appointment as Director of Music with the Royal Welsh Band in July 2022 and was commissioned to the rank of Captain in November 2023.