Robert Burns (25 Jan 1759 - 21 Jul 1796)

This national poet of Scotland was born in Alloway, Ayrshire in 1759 to a struggling tenant farmer William Burnes, William was thwarted at every turn, dogged by bad luck with every venture. He and his wife Agnes married 13 months before the birth of Robert, Agnes was 5 years younger than her husband, she was 26 when they wed, and although Agnes had been taught to read but not to write, she knew all the old songs and ballads off by heart and the Burns' household was filled with her singing, they were also determined that their little brood would have a decent education.

At this time the family lived at Alloway and at 6 years old Robert was sent to school at Alloway Mill, when the teacher left to go to Ayr, William Burns clubbed together with several neighbours to hire a new teacher, John Murdock. Murdock taught the Burns boys English and English language, Robert Burns borrowed books and became an avid reader. Even after the family moved in 1766 to Mount Oliphant the Burns boys continued the 2 mile journey to Murdock's school. When Murdock moved to Carrick, Burns Senior overtook the education of his sons.

William was able to integrate their learning with farm work, discussing the subjects while tending the land, under his watchful eye they learnt geography, natural history, astronomy and studied the Bible.

When he was 13/14 Robert and Gilbert, his brother, attended the parish school at Dalrymple and when Murdock became a teacher at Ayr, Robert travelled there to his former tutor and amongst his reading of many classical works was taught French. He later stated himself that his Latin levels were nothing more than the understanding of "Amor vincit omnia" [Love Conquers All], although he apparently turned to reading latin again whenever he felt low.

However the Oliphant farm was bad for Robert's health, by the age of eighteen he was already beginning to suffer from depression, headaches, heart palpatations and night time faintness and feeling of suffocation, which led to his habit of having a tub next to his bed, which he would plunge into when these episodes occured.

In the late 1770s the Burns moved to Lochlea Farm and Robert fell in love with a girl from his school and penned his first poems, the family were poor but content.

The Burns family were at Mossgiel when Burns Senior died in 1784, a broken man, run down by his years of labour, worry and debt, (Only saved from debtors prison by consumption). Robert and his brother Gilbert took over the farm tenancy.

When he put his mind to it Robert was adept at the physical side of farming and could turn a plough with the best of them, but he was often distracted by socialising, he lacked also the accumen in animal husbandry, crop rotation and markets, luckily Gilbert was good in the areas that Robert lacked.

The death of his father after all the struggles and stigma, left Robert as something of a rebel and satirist, disliking the class society he was also passionate and ambitious.

After Robert wrote his first poem in 1775 for his then sweetheart he wrote others for anything that made him passionate - this meant many lines for the lassies!

Burns is famous for his promiscuity and numerous illegitimate children, his first child was born in 1785, to Elizabeth Paton, a servant at the farm.

Burns attended the same penny dance as the daughter of a Master Mason of Mauchline village, Jean Armour, although they did not partner each other in a dance, she did hear his quip about his faithful dog, saying that he wished he could get a woman to love him as much as his dog did ( it followed him everywhere - including round the dance hall)

Robert saw Jean again in Mauchline Green, she was bleaching clothes and he was passing through, when his dog started running around and she asked him to call the dog off, she then asked if he had managed to get "any of the lassies to love him as much as his dog" and they fell into conversation and then in love.

Jean fell pregnant and this time Burns was planning to marry and they plighted their troth, exchanging Bibles as tokens of their promise, but her father forbade it, even though under Scots Law mutual consent and consummation constituted marriage. So the promise was broken.

There is a wonderful comment in the biography by Rev. Gilfillan that although Jean was the moon in his sky, she was "not altogether unattended by sister planets".

Robert found comfort in the arms of others, including one Mary Campbell and having been jilted by Jean he was engaged to Mary, in one song he asks

Lacking funds, to raise the fare a friend suggested that he should publish a book of poetry, which Burns did and it was an overwhelming success but Mary contracted typhus from her brother and died in October 1786 at Greenock.

He postponed his journey to Jamaica in September 1786 ( maybe due to the illness of Mary?), even though his trunk was already on it's way to Greenock Seaport, when he received a letter requesting another volume of poems. (He also became the father of twins when Jean gave birth on 3rd September a boy and a girl, the girl died a few days later.)

It seems that Robert had finally found his vocation, he composed poems and adapted well known age-old folk songs, new poems and set them to old tunes.

Robert travelled to Edinburgh in November 1786, but some sources state he was uncomfortable, trying to find a niche in Edinburgh's society.

He did succeed in some amorous pursuits, fathering another child to the maid of a lady he had tried and failed to seduce.

He left Edinburgh in May 1878 and spent time at Berrywell, near Dunse, then travelled round various places even reaching Carlisle, on 9th of May he visited his mother at Mossgiel and called in at the Armours in Mauchline, he was not made welcome and left "as quickly as he arrived" some say he left for Edinburgh, others to Glasgow. He visited home again, before returning to Edinburgh to plan and take a tour which took in Stirling, Kilicrankie, Linlithgow, the Crook of Devon, Perth, Blair, Culloden and many more. he returned to Edinburgh full of cold on 27th November 1787.

Here we [SilkPixie] have to say that to read exerts of Burns's own journal on electricscotland.com is a revelation.

Love was not a simple matter for Robert, he loved women in different degrees and different manners, while in Edinburgh he struck up affairs with ladies of a "higher style".

Yet these new liaisons did not prevent him from visiting Jean again and whatever animal attraction they had for each other the inevitable happened and Jean once more became pregnant. When Jean's parents found out about her condition they threw her out, in the February of 1788, this was no time to be destitute on the streets in Scotland, a local miller's wife saw her predicament and took her in.

Robert finally stepped up to the mark and found Jean lodgings in Mauchline until they were legally named man and wife.

It was during this time that Robert trained as an excise man.

In March 1788 Robert took Ellisland Farm on the Dalswinton Estate, with a lease of 76 years, ( Rent £50 for the first three years and £70 for the remainder.) The farm is in a very picturesque spot, ideal for the often tortured soul of Robert Burns.

Robert left Edinburgh forever on 24th May 1788 and travelled to Glasgow, during this time Jean again gave birth to twins, both of which died.

The Burns took possession of Ellisland in June 1788, although Jean remained in Ayrshire, but at the August Atonement on 5th August 1788, Robert and Jean were finally legally married, despite any misgivings the Robert may have had on the outset, Jean proved an excellent and devoted wife, marriage obviously suited her and the marriage went from strength to strength. They proved good for each other.

The house was not finished by December, so Jean took up residence on a neighbouring farm, while the house was completed.

However by 1789 Robert began to doubt the viability of the farm and sought a permanent excise position.

Robert sold the farm in 1791 and moved to Dumfries, where Jean bore another daughter.

The devotion of Jean at this time was shown when she took in one of Robert's illegitimate children and raised them as her own.

At this time one of Robert's old flames, nicknamed 'Clarinda' who had written him a farewell letter on his 33rd birthday as she left for Jamaica, was rejected by her husband and returned to Scotland.

It seemed that they were destined never to be together.

Robert at this time was outspoken in his support of the French Revolution and would have lost his position in the Excise Office, if it weren't for the intervention, at Robert's written request, to one of his influential friends, to quote from the biography of Rev. Gilfillan:

1793 was a productive poetry year for Robert and he moved to another area of Dumfries, but the end of the year saw him falling out with a long time friend, Lord Bushby, it is said that a jape with some hot pudding caused the fall out.

One of his favourite haunts at the time was Lincluden Abbey, where he would go when things got too much.

By 1794 however he was at his lowest ebb, his expected promotion did not come, and his poetry and songwriting, was unproductive, former friends spurned him and when walking down the street in the shadows with a companion, who suggested that they should join a party of revellers on the way to a ball, Burn's declined saying:
Nay, Nay my young friend, that's all over now.

Burns' passionate nature was growing evermore despondent, he turned down an opportunity to go to London, and for a while wooed the daughter of a family friend.

However he did buy his wife, Jean the first Gingham gown ever seen in Dumfries, and 1795 had all the promise of being a good year, he joined the Dumfries Volunteers.

But this time of happiness couldn't last and the death of his daughter Elizabeth Ridell in the autumn sent Robert into a decline, from which, this time, he would never recover.

It's said that in January 1796, Burns stayed late at the Globe Tavern, drank too much and fell asleep in the snow on his way home, from this he contracted rheumatic fever.

Ironically his poems at this time were being recited and read in homes throughout Scotland, yet Burns was on a downward spiral, still he continued to write...

In June 1796 he travelled to The Brow on the Solway Firth, in the vain hope of recovering his health, at this time he could only manage to swallow parritch (Porridge) and port.

The visit to the spar had helped a little, although there was no improvement in his appetite, he returned to Dumfries on the 18th July, and penned a last letter to his father in law.

Jean meanwhile was in bed, in confinement and Robert breathed his last on 21st July, as he was laid in the earth on 26th July, his son, Maxwell, was born.