Born c1813 in Dublin, John Bourne was the son of Captain Richard Bourne (1772-1851), one of the founders of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. In 1832 he entered the works of John Duffus and Co. of Aberdeen to learn engineering. The following year he moved to Caird and Co. of Glasgow, where Bourne developed ideas about varying the lap in the valves of steam engines and developed a method of reversing engines.

Bourne became something of an authority on the literature of the steam engine, and in 1856 published a volume entitled 'Catechism on the Steam Engine'. In 1865 he published a treatise on the 'Screw Propeller' and proposed an auxiliary propeller for use with sailing vessels in 1859.

He was a founder and proprietor of John Bourne and Co., London, engineers, shipbuilders and contractors. It is believed he died in 1894.