Burdekin became a member of Inner Temple. He served in the Royal Field Artillery during World War I and was wounded in action in France.[5][6] In 1920 he went with his family to Sydney, Australia where he was a barrister.
Burdekin married the feminist novelist Katharine Penelope Cade in 1915. They had two daughters, Katharine Jayne (b. 1917) and Helen Eugenie (b. 1920). The marriage ended in 1922.[7]