The Roots Of The Bard
Tracing Robert Burns’ family history proves a revelatory experience
IT’S Burns Supper time and Immortal Memories are in full flow. Some good, some bad, but all giving full vent to the Bard’s works and contributions, and also a bit about the man himself. Much is said about him but often little is recounted of his family, other than he was the son of a humble tenant farmer.
Yet the tales of his family also form part of the story of the poet himself, with their imprint upon him vital to his works. His father William Burnes, born in 1721, was from Kincardineshire in the north east, before moving to a farm in Ayrshire. He steadfastly refused to change the spelling of his surname to the local fashion “Burns”, adopted by his son. However, this is inscribed on his gravestone in Alloway Kirk – when presumably he couldn’t object!
His family was rumoured to have had Jacobite sympathies which may explain the radicalism his eldest son inherited. This was perhaps also the reason Burnes obtained testimonials of good character when departing, initially to work in Edinburgh. Moving thereafter to Ayrshire he obtained a farm and settled down in Alloway, marrying Agnes Brown, a farmer’s daughter from nearby Kirkoswald. She was 11 years younger than him, pretty and vivacious, which may explain Burns’ eye for the ladies and numerous dalliances, immortalised in prose.
The Bard’s parents, though, were to remain happily married for 26 years until his father’s death in 1784. It’s suggested that on his death bed William fretted over the behaviour of his first born, fearing for the family’s good name and bringing tears of remorse from Rabbie.
For Rabbie was the eldest of seven when born in 1759, in the cottage his father had built a few years before. Still standing to this day it now hosts the museum to arguably Scotland’s greatest son. Three brothers and three sisters were to follow him, with Gilbert born the succeeding year, Agnes in 1762, continuing with Annabella, William, John, then Isabella in 1771.
Gilbert and Rabbie were close, not just in age but in their relationship. When their father died they had initially taken on the farm he’d been working and had previously sub-leased parts of his land for themselves. Before that it appeared that even their schooling required to be shared, as work was required from both on the farm.
“In spite of his own dalliances, the Bard’s years” parents were happily married for 26
Gilbert was acknowledged by Rabbie as his intellectual equal and they shared an affection for prose, though the younger sibling lacked the elder’s skill and wit. Doubtless because of that, Gilbert remained on the land but encouraged his brother’s ventures as a poet.
Giving up the tenancy on what was not particularly fertile ground, Gilbert moved south to Nithsdale, before heading to East Lothian. There, in the early 1800s, he became estate manager at Morham West Mains before spending the rest of his days at Lennoxlove Estates at Grants Brae, Bolton, near Haddington.
He didn’t travel alone, though, as both his mother and one of his sisters Annabella, a spinster, moved with him. His mother remained with him until her death in 1820,