Alexander Cunningham was one of Robert Burns's closest friends from his time in Edinburgh. They stayed in contact, through at least 19 letters from the poet; and Cunningham was the ardent admirer who encouraged and joined others such as John Syme to raise funds for the poet's family after his death.[1] Cunningham was one of the small group of associates whom Burns actively approached for constructive criticism of his work.[2]
He was the eldest son of James Cunningham of Hyndhope near Ettrickbridge in the Borders,[1][2] and the nephew of William Robertson the historian.[1] He practised law in Edinburgh and was a member of the Crochallan Fencibles[1] where he socialised with Burns having met him at Masonic meetings in Edinburgh.[3] As a student he had lived at No.6, St James's Square in Edinburgh and his near neighbours were George Thomson the music publisher, John Beugo the engraver, Robert Ainslie the lawyer and Alexander Nasmyth the painter, all closely associated with Burns's career.[4]
In 1798 he became a Writer to the Signet, but later went into partnership with his uncle Patrick Robertson as a jeweller.[5][6]
Cunningham courted Anne Stewart of East Craigs, however she married Dr Forrest Dewar in 1788 and the couple had a son and three daughters, having "prostituted her character" as Burns put it.[6] Said to be devastated, he did however in 1792 marry Agnes Moir of Auchtertool, daughter of the Rev Henry Moir and the couple had two sons.[2] Through his wife's dowry he inherited part of a valuable estate in South Carolina.[5][6] Cunningham died in 1812 and was buried in the Greyfriars Kirkyard, Edinburgh.[1]
The San Antonio Museum of Art in Texas holds a portrait of Alexander Cunningham by the famous artist Henry Raeburn.
Dugald Stewart, the eminent Scottish philosopher and mathematician, commented that Burns was keeping 'not very select society' however it was a matter of degree, Cunningham, Peter Hill, Ainslie, etc. being respectable, but not of the literati.[7] Robert Ainslie, also training to be a lawyer, was a close friend of Cunningham and Burns.[4]
Burns sent a version of "The Banks o'Doon" on 11 March 1791 inviting his 'strictures,' making him one of very few whose opinion he valued to that extent. He sent many other poems and songs to Cunningham, such as in the autumn of 1794 when he sent him a copy of "A red red Rose". His enclosed works were usually accompanied by letters.[2]
In 1788 Burns said of Cuningham:
"My godlike Friend - nay do not stare, You think the phrase is odd like; But "God is Love," the Saints declare, Then surely thou art godlike." [8]
It was Cunningham who on 10 April 1792 put Burns's name forward to the Royal Company of Archers for a diploma, probably in recognition of his role in capturing the 100-ton schooner, the Rosamund and her cargo of contraband goods, in the Solway Firth on 29 February 1792.[9]
The room in his home at Dumfries in which Robert Burns died
In September 1792 George Thomson had finalised his plans for his Select Collection of Scottish Airs and it was Cunningham to whom Thomson turned to enlist the services of Robert Burns and in due course a letter of introduction together with details of the proposed publication was winging its way to Burns with positive results.[10]
Robert Burns Junior wrote about life at the Mill Street house in Dumfries, recalling the arrival of the occasional barrel of oysters from Peter Hill the book seller or from Cunningham.[11]
Burns had written to Cunningham on 7 July 1796 saying that he intended that his soon to be born child, if a boy, would be named 'Alexander Cunningham Burns' however Jean Armour seems to have been unaware of this and named their son 'Maxwell Burns' after Dr Maxwell who attended the birth.[5] He was to die on 25 April 1799.
Jean Armour Burns informed John Syme that Burns, on his death bed a day before he expired, was continually calling for him and Cunningham.[12]
The James Armour punch bowl
Of the many surviving Robert Burns artefacts few have such distinguished provenance as the punch bowl that was a nuptial gift in 1788 from James Armour to his daughter Jean and her new husband Robert Burns. As a stone-mason James had carved the bowl himself (22cm x 14cm ) from dark green Inveraray marble and after residing at their various homes, Jean in 1801 presented it to her husband's great friend and Burns family benefactor whilst she was on a visit to Edinburgh and staying with George Thomson. Cunningham had it mounted with a silver base and a rim, engraved upon which are “Ye whom social pleasure charms .. Come to my Bowl! Come to my arms, My FRIENDS, my BROTHERS!” taken from Burns's “The Epistle to J. Lapraik.” [5][13]
Alexander died in 1812 and the bowl was then sold at auction in 1815 for the impressive price of 80 Guineas to a London publican who, falling upon hard times, sold it to Archibald Hastie Esq of London. A copy is held by the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum at Alloway, whilst the original is in the British Museum in London, presented to that institution by Archibald Hastie in 1858.[5][13]
Correspondence with Burns
Burns shared with Cunningham many of his intimate thoughts and opinions on family life and his relationship with Jean, with comments such as informing Cunningham of his marriage and saying "When I tell you that Mrs Burns was once, 'My Jean,' you will know the rest. Of four children she bore me, in seventeen months, my eldest boy only is living."[14] Cunningham in 1791 was involved in the onslaught of letters that Burns wrote to several of his friends and contacts in defence of his friend James Clarke, schoolmaster at Moffat. James was accused of using excessive corporal punishment and was eventually found innocent of the accusations.[15] Burns sent several of his songs to Cunningham, such as "Here's a Health to Ane I Lo'e Dear" posted a few days before his death.
The Advertisement for the First Edinburgh Edition of 1787.
On July 27 1788 Burns wrote to Cunningham regarding his first love:
"And is thy ardour still the same? And kindled still at Anna? Others may boast a pastoral flame, But thou art still a volcano.[2]
On 8 August 1788 Burns wrote a diatribe against those with inherited rank and title saying "How wretched is the man that hangs on & by the favors of the Great! To shrink from every dignity of Man at the approach of a lordly piece of Self-consequence, who, amid all his tinsel glitter & stately hauteur, is but a creature formed as thou art - & perhaps not so well formed as thou art - came into the world a puling infant as thou didst, & must go out of it as all men must, a stinking corpse - & should the important piece of clay-dough deign to rest his supercilious eye over you, & make a motion as if to signify his tremendous fiat - then - in all quaking pangs & staring terrors of self-annihilation, to stutter in crouching syllables - 'speak! Lord! for thy servant heareth!!!' If such is the damned state of the poor devil, from my soul I pity him!".[16]
On 4 May 1789 sent Cunningham a copy of "On Seeing a Wounded Hare limp by me, which a Fellow had just Shot" referring to the incident at Ellisland Farm involving James Thomson that nearly came to blows. Of the work Burns commented that "You will guess my indignation at the inhuman fellow, who could shoot a hare at this season when they all of them have young ones; & it gave me no little gloomy satisfaction to see the poor injured creature escape him. Indeed, there is something in all that multiform business of destroying for our sport individuals in the animal creation that do not injure us materially, that I could never reconcile to my idea of native Virtue & eternal Right."[17]
The pro-Jacobite song "There'll Never be Peace Till Jamie Comes Hame" recalls the death of seven sons killed fighting for the Jacobite cause and was sent to Cunningham in 1790 with the comment that "When Political combustion ceases to be the object of Princes and Patriots, it then, you know, becomes the lawful prey of Historians & Poets."[18]
On 24 January 1789 upon reading of Anne's marriage to Dr Dewar, Burns wrote:
"When I saw in my last Newspaper that a surgeon in Edinburgh was married to a certain amiable and accomplished young lady ..... I sincerely felt for a worthy much-esteemed friend of mine."[2]
On 25 September 1789 Cunningham sent Burns a gift of the six volume set of Dr Samuel Johnson's 1781 Lives of the Poets.[2] In the accompanying letter Cunningham wrote "Accept the copy of 'Lives of the Poets.' In addition to your value as my friend, it is a small tribute of the sincerity with which I admire you as one of their number. Let me indulge your every wish of my heart for your prosperity and happiness .... not always realised in the lives of those who have written for the instruction and entertainment of mankind."[2]
As stated, on 5 February 1792, Burns wrote to Cunningham asking for his assistance in the case of James Clarke, the Moffat schoolmaster who was threatened with dismissal for his alleged cruelty to pupils in his charge.
On 20 February 1793 Burns wrote:
Quere, What is Politics? Answer, Politics is a science wherewith, by means of nefarious cunning, & hypocritical pretence, we govern civil Politics for the emolument of ourselves & our adherents.
Quere, What is a Minister? Answer, A Minister is an unprincipled fellow, who by the influence of hereditary, or acquired wealth; by superior abilities; or by a lucky conjuncture of circumstances, obtains a principal place in the administration of the affairs of government. [19][20]
Brow hamlet and well
In July 1796 Burns wrote to Cunningham in an effort to use his friends influence, as a lawyer, to petition the Excise to pay him his full basic salary of £50 rather than his sick pay of £35.[21]
Cunningham had thoughtfully written a flattering and comforting letter to Burns at the Brow Well for which he was deeply grateful.[22]
On 7 July 1796 Burns wrote from Brow Well saying "Alas! My friend. I fear the voice of the Bard will soon be heard among you no more! For these eight or ten months I have been ailing, sometimes bed-fast & sometimes not; but these last three months I have been tortured with an excrutiating rheumatism which has reduced me to nearly the last stage. You actually would not know me if you saw me, pale, emaciated, & so feeble as occasionally to need help from my chair - my spirits fled!"[5] He had made it clear that he was taking the cure at Brow on doctor's orders "The Medical folks tell me that my last and only chance is bathing & country quarters & riding."[23]
The song "Here's a Health to Ane I Lo'e Dear" was his last correspondence with his long term friend, written on 10 July[24] together some thoughts on how he could get his full pay from the Excise. Burns died on 21 July however Cunningham proved to be a friend to his memory and to the Burns family for many years after.[5]
Correspondence with John Syme
Some ninety letters passed between John Syme and Cunningham between 1786 and 1811 and after 120 years they were uncovered in the Cunningham family archives and gave many interesting insights into the life of the poet.[25]
In 1797 Cunningham and Syme appealed for the loan of Burns's letters for a posthumous publication, only to receive a letter from Agnes Maclehose requiring the return of her letters and a visit from Robert Ainslie to force home the demand. The trustees did return them eventually following her pledge to release his letters with hers remaining unpublished. James Currie did not even mention the relationship of Sylvander and Clarinda in the biography of the poet.[26]
Cunningham, John Syme and James Currie, through his biography, were central in raising the funds needed to build a suitable mausoleum to which Burns's body was moved in September 1815.[27] Cunningham had helped secure James Currie's services as Burns's biographer.[28]
Cunningham wrote to John Syme and expressed his sorrow and grave disappointment at the number of Burns's supposed friends and admirers who would not donate to the fund and instead gave him "cold civility and humiliating advice."[29]
James Armour was a master mason and father of Jean Armour, and therefore the father-in-law of the poet Robert Burns. His birth year was shown here as 1730. The Scotland's People database has no record of this year of birth for a James Armour. Wikitree and several other data sources have his birth date as 10th/24th January 1731. The Scotland's People database has this record but showing his baptism on 24 January 1731. His birth on the original Old Parish Record is shown as 15 January 1731 to John Armour and Margrat(sic) Picken in Kilmarnock. James named his first son John which would normally be after James's father i.e. John. The chances of there being two James's born on exactly the same date exactly one year apart appear very remote and the naming of the first child seems to validate the conclusion that James Armour was born in 1731 and not 1730.
Handsome Nell was the first song written by Robert Burns, often treated as a poem, that was first published in the last volume of James Johnson's Scots Musical Museum in 1803 (No.551) with an untitled tune. Burns recorded in holograph on page three of his first Commonplace Book that he wrote the song or Rhyme at the age of only fifteen whilst living at Mount Oliphant Farm, it is regarded as his earliest production, inspired by a farm servant aged fourteen, named either Nelly Kilpatrick or Nelly Blair. Some confusion exists as he also gave his age as 16 in his autobiographical letter to Dr. Moore; the autumn of 1774 is generally accepted.
Robert Aiken was one of Robert Burns's closest friends and greatest admirers. He was born in 1739 in Ayr, Scotland. His father John Aiken, was a sea captain who owned his own ships and his mother was Sarah Dalrymple, distantly related to the Dalrymples of Stair. He became a writer or lawyer in Ayr and was referred to by Burns as "Orator Bob" in his poem "The Kirk's Alarm". Robert was famous for the power, beauty and quality of his oratory as his nickname infers.
Gavin Hamilton was one of Robert Burns's closest friends and a patron. The first 'Kilmarnock Edition' of his poems were dedicated to Gavin Hamilton.
John Richmond (1765–1846) was one of Robert Burns's closest friends and confidants. He was born in Sorn parish at Montgarswood, Ayrshire, Scotland. His father, Henry Richmond, was a merchant in Mauchline and owned Montgarswood Farm that lies near Sorn. This farm passed to James, John's brother, having once been farmed by William Fisher, Burns's Holy Willie.
James Smith of Mauchline was one of Robert Burns's closest friends and confidants. He was born in 1765, son of a Mauchline merchant, Ayrshire, Scotland. In 1775, when he was only ten years, old his father, Robert Smith, a prosperous local merchant, was killed in a riding accident, falling from his horse whilst returning from Ayr. His mother, Jean Smith, remarried James Lamie who owned the adjoining house.
John Murdoch of Ayr was Robert Burns's most significant teacher or tutor and he was a friend of the Burnes family. He was born in 1747 and first taught Gilbert and Robert Burns in Alloway when he was only aged eighteen. He remained in contact with the Burnes family for several years after leaving Ayrshire for London. Murdoch, William Burnes and Richard Brown were amongst the most significant influences on Burns life during his early years in Ayrshire.
John Ballantine (1743–1812), was a Scottish merchant and banker and one of the greatest friends, admirers and closest confidants of Robert Burns. Significantly Ballantine gave the poet advice on the selection of poems for his First Kilmarnock Edition as well as being asked for his opinion on the bard's poems.
Margaret Chalmers (1763–1843) or Mrs Lewis Hay was a lifelong friend of Robert Burns and had once turned down his offer of marriage. She married Lewis Hay and upon his death in 1800 she emigrated to Pau where she died in 1843. She corresponded with the poet between 1787 and 1792 although most of these letters were destroyed. One of his last completed works,“Fairest Maid on Devon Banks”, may have been written with her in mind, however her cousin Charlotte Hamilton is the stronger contender.
Robert Ainslie (1766–1838) was a Scottish lawyer, and one of Robert Burns's long-term friends from his Edinburgh days. He was probably the closest confidant of Burns, whom he met first at a Masonic or Crochallan Fencibles event. Ainslie accompanied the poet on the first part of his Border Tour. Robert's father, also Robert, was a lawyer a bailie at Duns and a land-steward on Lord Douglas's Berwickshire estates. Robert married Jean Cunningham on 22 December 1798.
John Syme was a Scottish lawyer and one of the poet Robert Burns's closest friends during his time in Dumfries. In the summers of 1793 and 1794 he joined Burns on his two short tours of Galloway. Syme and Alexander Cunningham were amongst the most active of the friends and admirers of Burns's works who raised funds for the poet's family and for his mausoleum with the assistance of others such as James Currie. Together with Dr Willam Maxwell he arranged Burns's funeral.
Robert Graham of Fintry was the 12th Laird of Fintry near Dundee and was one of Robert Burns's most supportive patrons, correspondent and loyal associate. Appointed a Commissioner of the Scottish Board of Excise he assisted Burns with his Excise career and during his 'loyalty' difficulties. He was a great admirer of his poetry and Burns wrote several epistles to him. Burns referred to him as "Friend of my Life - True Patron of my Rhymes."
Alexander Findlater was a friend and colleague of Robert Burns and also his immediate superior, as Supervisor, in the Excise service. He knew the poet very well and was a great advocate for Burns after his death and in response to biographies by authors such as Robert Heron, Allan Cunningham and James Currie.
William Nicol (1744–1797) was a Scottish schoolmaster, and, if ill-tempered and vain, one of Robert Burns's close friends. He was born in Annan parish at Dumbretton, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Burns referred to him in one letter as "Kind hearted Willie" and he accompanied the poet on his August 1787 tour of the Highlands. Burns's third son, William Nicol, born at Ellisland Farm in 1791, was named after his friend, the poet commenting that his newborn son had "that propensity to witty wickedness and manfu' mischief, which even at twa days auld I foresaw would form the striking features of his disposition."
Jean Lorimer (1775–1831) was a friend of the poet Robert Burns, often referred to by him as the "Lassie wi' the lint-white locks" or "Chloris". Lorimer was born at Craigieburn House on a small estate near Moffat and from 1788 to 1791 was a neighbour of Burns when he was living at Ellisland Farm, her father's new farm being at Kemmishall or Kemys Hall, Kirkmahoe Parish, two miles to the south of Ellisland on the opposite bank of the Nith. Burns commented "The Lady on whom it was made, is one of the finest women in Scotland" in a letter to George Thomson, enclosing one of the two dozen or so songs that he wrote for her. They first met when she was a teenager through his Excise duties bringing him to their farm.
John McMurdo (1743–1803) was a friend of Robert Burns who became the chamberlain to the Duke of Queensberry at Drumlanrig Castle where the poet was a frequent visitor. His eldest daughter Jean (1777-1839) was also a close friend of Burns, who wrote the song "Bonie Jean" in her honour. As an old Nithsdale family the McMurdo's were related to the Sharpes of Hoddam, the Charteris of Amisfield, the Fergusson's of Craigdarroch, Dr James Currie and the Duncans of Torthorwald amongst others.
Edward Whigham (1750–1823) was the landlord of a coaching inn, a bailie, Provost of Sanquhar, bibliophile and one of Robert Burns's close friends during his Nithsdale and Dumfries days. Edward married Jane Osborne who died on 6 October 1846.
John Burns (1769–1785) was the youngest brother of the poet Robert Burns and the last son born to William Burness and Agnes Broun. John was born at Mount Oliphant Farm on the Doonholm Estate near Alloway on the 12 July 1769. He was christened circa 21 July 1769 by Rev. Rev William Dalrymple.
John Lewars (1769–1826) was an excise officer and land surveyor. He was one of Robert Burns's colleagues and friends during his Nithsdale and Dumfries days. John moved with his sister Jessie Lewars in around 1793 to a house in Millhole Brae that lay immediately opposite that of Robert Burns in Dumfries. Jessie Lewars was a very close Burns family friend and helped the family by nursing Robert in the days leading up to his death, doing the domestic chores and caring for the children.
William Maxwell (1769–1826) was a medical doctor who treated Robert Burns during his final illness. He was one of Robert Burns's intimate friends during his Nithsdale and Dumfries days, noted for his Jacobite links that struck a chord with the poet's own symapthies. His father James Maxwell took part in the 1745 uprising and his grandfather William had fought in the 1715 uprising. Maxwell never married, but fathered a natural daughter, Elizabeth, who lived with him in Edinburgh.
References
Notes
1 2 3 4 5 6 McQueen, Colin (2009). Hunter's Illustrated History of the Family, Friends and Contemporaries of Robert Burns. Messrs Hunter McQueen & Hunter. p.109. ISBN978-0-9559732-0-8.
1 2 3 De Lancey Ferguson, J. (1931). The Letters of Robert Burns. Clarendon Press. p.347 Vol.11.
↑ Mackay, James (2004). Burns. A Biography of Robert Burns. Alloway Publishing. p.291. ISBN0907526-85-3.
↑ De Lancey Ferguson, J. (1931). The Letters of Robert Burns. Clarendon Press. p.237 Vol.11.
↑ Hogg, Patrick Scott (2009). Robert Burns. The Patriot Bard. Mainstream Publishing. p.236.
↑ Mackay, James (2004). Burns. A Biography of Robert Burns. Alloway Publishing. p.509. ISBN0907526-85-3.
↑ Mackay, James (2004). Burns. A Biography of Robert Burns. Alloway Publishing. p.532. ISBN0907526-85-3.
↑ Mackay, James (2004). Burns. A Biography of Robert Burns. Alloway Publishing. p.629. ISBN0907526-85-3.
1 2 Lockhart, John Gibson (1914). The Life of Robert Burns. Henry Young and Sons. p.42.
↑ Mackay, James (2004). Burns. A Biography of Robert Burns. Alloway Publishing. p.429. ISBN0907526-85-3.
↑ Mackay, James (2004). Burns. A Biography of Robert Burns. Alloway Publishing. p.492. ISBN0907526-85-3.
↑ Hogg, Patrick Scott (2009). Robert Burns. The Patriot Bard. Mainstream Publishing. p.194.
↑ Hogg, Patrick Scott (2009). Robert Burns. The Patriot Bard. Mainstream Publishing. p.204.
↑ Hogg, Patrick Scott (2009). Robert Burns. The Patriot Bard. Mainstream Publishing. p.220.
↑ Hogg, Patrick Scott (2009). Robert Burns. The Patriot Bard. Mainstream Publishing. p.256.
↑ Mackay, James (2004). Burns. A Biography of Robert Burns. Alloway Publishing. p.524. ISBN0907526-85-3.
↑ Hogg, Patrick Scott (2009). Robert Burns. The Patriot Bard. Mainstream Publishing. p.316.
↑ Mackay, James (2004). Burns. A Biography of Robert Burns. Alloway Publishing. p.620. ISBN0907526-85-3.
↑ McIntyre, Ian (2001). Robert Burns. A Life. Welcome Rain Publishers. p.393. ISBN9781566492058.
↑ Mackay, James (2004). Burns. A Biography of Robert Burns. Alloway Publishing. p.622.
↑ Mackay, James (2004). Burns. A Biography of Robert Burns. Alloway Publishing. p.611. ISBN0907526-85-3.
↑ Mackay, James (2004). Burns. A Biography of Robert Burns. Alloway Publishing. p.375. ISBN0907526-85-3.
↑ Hogg, Patrick Scott (2009). Robert Burns. The Patriot Bard. Mainstream Publishing. p.321.
↑ Mackay, James (2004). Burns. A Biography of Robert Burns. Alloway Publishing. p.273. ISBN0907526-85-3.
↑ Mackay, James (2004). Burns. A Biography of Robert Burns. Alloway Publishing. p.638. ISBN0907526-85-3.
Further reading
Brown, Hilton (1949). There was a Lad. London: Hamish Hamilton.
Burns, Robert (1839). The Poetical Works of Robert Burns. The Aldine Edition of the British Poets. London: William Pickering.
De Lancey Ferguson, J. (1931). The Letters of Robert Burns. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Douglas, William Scott (Edit.) 1938. The Kilmarnock Edition of the Poetical Works of Robert Burns. Glasgow: The Scottish Daily Express.
Hecht, Hans (1936). Robert Burns. The Man and His Work. London: William Hodge.
Mackay, James (2004). Burns. A Biography of Robert Burns. Darvel: Alloway Publishing. ISBN0907526-85-3.
McIntyre, Ian (2001). Robert Burns. A Life. New York: Welcome Rain Publishers. ISBN1-56649-205-X.
McNaught, Duncan (1921). The Truth about Robert Burns. Glasgow: Maclehose, Jackson & Co. ISBN9781331593317
McQueen, Colin Hunter (2008). Hunter's Illustrated History of the Family, Friends and Contemporaries of Robert Burns. Messsrs Hunter McQueen & Hunter. ISBN978-0-9559732-0-8
Purdie, David, McCue & Carruthers, G (2013). Maurice Lindsay's The Burns Encyclopaedia. London: Robert Hale.
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