*John Irwin (British Army officer) (1727/8–1788), British soldier, Commander-in-Chief of Ireland and Member of Parliament for East Grinstead, 1762–1783
*John Irwin (director), Irish film, television, and radio director, see ''Badger's Green''
*John Irwin (politician) (1869–1948), Canadian politician, member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta
*John Irwin (producer), American television producer, president of Irwin Entertainment
*John Irwin (writer), British writer, see ''The Big Fun Show''
*John Keith Irwin (1929–2010), American sociologist known for his work on subcultures and on the prison system
*John N. Irwin (1844–1905), American politician, governor of Idaho Territory, 1883–1884, and Arizona Territory, 1890–1892
*John N. Irwin II (1913–2000), American Deputy Secretary of State and Ambassador to France, 1973–1974
*John Rice Irwin (born 1930), American cultural historian