 His firm made a quarter of the British military uniforms during World War II and a third of demobilisation clothing.Burton declined the offer to be Lord Mayor of Leeds in 1930 but was knighted in 1931 for "services to industrial relations" and was a Justice of the Peace from 1924.He became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries in 1940 and was awarded an honorary doctorate (DLitt) by the University of Leeds in 1944.