Born at Richmond, Victoria, John Edward Byrne qualified MB BS from the University of Melbourne in 1922 and had his residency training at Brisbane's Mater Misericordiae Hospital and Lady Bowen Maternity Hospital.
In October 1924, he returned to Victoria and practised in Yarraville for over twenty years. He was admitted to the College as a Member in 1946. A few years later he moved to South Kensington, London, with a post at St Leonard's Hospital, Shoreditch, and later to Maida Vale, where he was living at the time of his death.