Elizabeth Burns | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 31 March 1791 |
| Died | 13 June 1873 Crossmyloof, Scotland |
| Occupation | Housewife |
Elizabeth Burns, Elizabeth Park or Mrs John Thomson [2] known as Betty Burns, was born in 1791 in Leith, Scotland. She was the illegitimate daughter of Robert Burns and Anna Park who was a barmaid at The Globe in Dumfries. [1] She married John Thomson in 1808 to become Elizabeth Thomson. [3]
Elizabeth's mother Anna Park first met Burns when she was only 21 [4] and following an adulterous affair with the poet whilst Jean was away visiting relatives at Mauchline, gave birth to Elizabeth on 31 March 1791 [5] [2] [6] just a few days before his wife Jean Armour gave birth to his legitimate son, William Nicol Burns.
Anna Park is said to have given up Elizabeth to Robert Burns in 1793 when she was seeking a position as a domestic servant. [7] The birth is said to have taken place in Leith where she was sent so that the birth would not lead to Burns being the subject of scandal. One other tradition is that Anna died whilst giving birth to Elizabeth or soon after, [8] and it is on record that Maria Riddell wrote that Jean Armour was a generous person for having taken in an illegitimate child "... who had lost her mother." [9] Anna vanishes from history in the early 1790s.
Elizabeth "Betty" Burns is said to have been born on 31 March 1791 in Leith, Midlothian, Edinburgh. Elizabeth was without doubt the daughter of Anna Park and Robert Burns. [10] Jean Armour brought up Elizabeth, as one of her own family, [11] commenting that "Our Robin should hae had twa wives." [6] She received, at the age of 21, the sum of £200 from the fund raised by her father's admirers as organised by Sir James Shaw. [11] A sum of £260 was raised by public subscription that helped her and John in their declining years. [12]
Betty had her father's looks and the neighbours at Leith were aware of her parentage. [13] Jean gave her granddaughter the surname 'Burns' after her husband's death. [13] She is said to have resembled Burns more than any of his other children. [14]
It is recorded that she visited Janet Little, the 'Scotch Milkmaid' poet at Loudoun Castle shortly before she died in March 1813. [15]
Elizabeth or 'Betty' Burns as she was known, married Private John Thomson of the Stirling Militia. John was the son of William Thomson and Agnes Adam, and had been born in Glasgow in 1788. They married on 2 June 1808 in Dumfries at Robert Burns's house [16] and the very next day he was ordered with his regiment to Berwick-on-Tweed where he was based for a year [3] and his son William was born there. [17] John was moved again and sent Betty and William to stay with his parents in Pollokshaws, Renfrewshire, later to become part of Glasgow city, until he left the militia in 1814, taking up the trade of handloom weaving, and remaining in Pollockshaws until their deaths. The £200 she received from the fund set up by Sir James Shaw enabled her to rent and furnish their first house [11] and she worked at needle-flowering for a local warehouses. [18]
Their children were William Thomson b. 23 March 1809, d. 22 May 1855; Jean Armour Thomson b. 27 July 1815, d. 22 January 1891; Robert Burns Thomson b. 16 December 1817, d. 14 April 1887; Agnes Thomson b. c 1821, d. 6 May 1865; Sarah Burns Thomson b. c 1825, d. 15 December 1885; James Glencairn Thomson b. 19 October 1827, d. 9 July 1911; Elizabeth Thomson b. 26 July 1830; and Margaret Thomson b. 3 May 1833, d. 23 November 1896. [19]
Robert Burns Thomson wrote the words to the popular Crimean War song "My Daddy's Awa' at the War" however he never published his poems in book form. He married Elizabeth McNaught, [17] had nine children and worked as a handloom and power-loom weaving becoming a manager at Scott's textile factory and later setting up his own brush manufacturing business in Stockwell Street. James Glencairn Thomson died aged eighty-four in 1911. The brothers lie beside their parents. Margaret Thomson died aged sixty-three in 1898 and married David Wingate the 'Collier Poet, a colliery manager. [3] Jean Armour Thomson married a weaver named John Thomson and died on 22 January 1892 aged seventy-five. [17]
Janet Elsie-May Coom, the great, great, great-granddaughter of Robert Burns, through Anna Park, was made an honorary member of the Irvine Burns Club in January 2009. [20]
John died on 22 February 1869 and Betty died on 13 June 1873 in Crossmyloof at the age of 82. They are both buried in the Thomson family lair at the Old Burgher churchyard at the Vennel, known today as the Kirk Lane Burial Ground in Pollokshaws [11] and Robert Burns Thomson, their second son, composed stanzas that are carved on their gravestone. [16]
"Worn and weary, home at last, Sweetly tranquil be thy rest, |
Robert Burns Thomson died in 1887. James Glencairn Thomson died aged eighty-four in 1911, the last survivor of the family, and the two brothers lie beside their parents. Margaret Thomson died aged sixty-three in 1898. [3] Jean Armour Thomson died on 22 January 1892 aged seventy-five. [17] All are recorded on the memorial stone at the lair.
Betty kept in contact with the family and in November 1819 Isobel Begg, Burns's youngest sister, relates in a letter that Betty's husband had been out of work for some time and was now working as a labourer earning nine shillings a week except for when the weather was bad. She wrote "God help them! Poor creatures! I have not filled my mouth once but I have thought of them." [21] In 1843 she wrote to Isobel Begg née Burns recalling that she had named her children James and Sarah at the behest of Jean Armour and that in 1833 Jean had sent her £2 to purchase a frock for her youngest child. The letter to Isobel dated from after Jean's death and in it she was highly complimentary about Jean, the lady who had raised her. [22] Saying that she was "a woman whose memory I will ever cherish with fond remembrance for her many good qualities, but more especially for the prudent and motherly manner she always conducted herself towards me. The more I live the more I admire her character the more." [14]
She felt that the Burns family did not accept her, most notably through her exclusion from the Burns Festival in Ayr of 1844. [23] Significantly her son Robert was rejected upon trying to greet his father's sons, his uncles, at the Ayr Festival. [24] She stated that her 'unfortunate' birth was the greatest stain by far on her father's character. [13]
Elizabeth Riddell Burns died close to her third birthday and Robert wrote in several letters that she was his only daughter.
Brown records that two of Anna's grandsons were however feted at the 1859 Glasgow Anniversary Celebrations held at the King's Arms Hall in the Trongate, [25] being the sons therefore of her daughter Betty and John Thomson. The toast at the event was to the "Surviving Members of the Burns Family" and Robert Burns Thomson answered the toast on behalf of the Burns family. [3] James Glencairn Thomson sang "A Man's a Man" and his brother Robert sang "Scots Wha Hae". [26] Agnes Watson, née Thomson, was also a guest at the celebrations as was her sister Margaret. [27]
Agnes Broun, Agnes Brown or Agnes Burnes, was the mother of Scotland's national poet, Robert Burns. Agnes's father, Gilbert (1708–1774), was the tenant of the 300-acre (120 ha) farm of Craigenton, in Kirkoswald parish, South Ayrshire, Scotland.
Jean Armour, also known as the "Belle of Mauchline", was the wife of the poet Robert Burns. She inspired many of his poems and bore him nine children, three of whom survived into adulthood.
Nelly or Nellie Kilpatrick, Helen Kilpatrick or later Nelly Bone (1759–1820). Nelly was possibly Robert Burns's first love and muse as stated by Isabella Burns.
Elizabeth "Betsey" Paton or later Elizabeth Andrew of Lairgieside was the daughter of James Paton and Eleanor Helen Paton of Aird Farm, Crossroads, Ayrshire. Following an affair with Robert Burns she gave birth on 22 May 1785 to his first child, Elizabeth "Bess" Burns, the "Dear-bought Bess", who was baptised when only two days old. Betsey met Robert Burns when she was employed as a servant girl at the Burns's Lochlea Farm during the winter of 1783–84. When the Burns family moved to Mossgiel Farm in March 1784, Betsey returned to her own home, where Robert Burns visited her later that year. In 1786, Elizabeth made a claim on Burns, but accepted a settlement of twenty pounds which the poet paid out of the profits of the Kilmarnock Edition. Loving Burns with heartfelt devotion, she continued to see him after the Burns family had moved to Mossgiel Farm, and he returned these sentiments with more physical than spiritual devotions. Isabella Begg, Burns's youngest sister, stated that although Robert did not love her, "he never treated her unkindly."
Lesley Baillie (1768–1843), later Mrs Lesley Cumming, was born at Mayville, Stevenston, Ayrshire. She was a daughter of Robert Baillie and married Robert Cumming of Logie, Moray. Her lasting fame derives from being Robert Burns's 'Bonnie Lesley', "the most beautiful, elegant woman in the world". On her tombstone her name is given as Leslie Baillie.
Helen Anne Park, known as Anna Park or Ann Park, was born in 1769 at Moffat, Scotland. She was thought to have been the daughter of Joseph Park, an Edinburgh coachmaker, and Jean Dick. However, recent research has shown that she was actually the daughter of Walter Park and Elizabeth Blacklock. Margaret Ewing née Park, a onetime landlady of 'The Globe', was her sister and she worked there as a barmaid. Anna bore the poet Robert Burns an illegitimate child named Elizabeth 'Betty' Burns as a result of an adulterous affair.
Agnes Maclehose, or Agnes Craig, known to her friends as Nancy and to Robert Burns followers as Clarinda, was a Scotswoman who had an unconsummated affair with Burns during 1787-88, on which he based the 1791 song "Ae Fond Kiss". The pseudonyms of her "Clarinda" to his "Sylvander" were adopted by the pair for confidential correspondence purposes. Maclehose, used here throughout, has been various styled, including "McLehose", "MacLehose" and "M'Lehose".
The Irvine Burns Club, based at the Wellwood Burns Centre & Museum, was founded on 2 June 1826 and is one of the world's longest continuously active Burns Clubs. At least five personal friends of Robert Burns were among the group of local gentleman, whose idea it was to form the club. Irvine in North Ayrshire is an old market town and port situated on the west coast of Scotland, approx 14 miles north of Ayr.
Jessie Lewars, also known as Mrs. James Thomson, was the youngest daughter of John Lewars, a supervisor of excise. Following the death of her 69-year-old father in 1789, Jessie was only 11 years old, when she and her brother John moved to a house in Millhole Brae that lay opposite that of Robert Burns in Dumfries. Jessie was a close Burns family friend and when nearly at the age of eighteen helped the family by nursing Robert in the days leading up to his death and doing the domestic chores.
Gilbert Burns (1760–1827), the younger brother of Robert Burns the poet, was born at Alloway. He married Jean Breckenridge in 1791, had six sons and five daughters, died in 1827, aged 66, and was buried at Bolton, East Lothian, Scotland. Gilbert's writings have contributed greatly to the bank of knowledge that exists regarding the life of his famous brother.
Adam Armour (1771–1823) was the younger brother of Jean Armour and therefore the brother-in-law of the poet Robert Burns. In addition, being married to Fanny (Frances) Burnes, he was also related to the poet through his father-in-law 'Poor Uncle Robert', who lived at Stewarton.
Isabella Burns (Isabella Begg) (1771–1858) or Isobel Burns (Isobel Begg) was the youngest sister of the poet Robert Burns, born to William Burness and Agnes Broun at Mount Oliphant Farm on the 27 June 1771 and christened on 2 July 1771 by Rev. William McGill, a friend of her father. When she died she was the last member of Robert Burns's immediate family and when living at Bridge House in Alloway for the last sixteen years of her life she entertained many visitors who were interested in his life and works. She was the source of many published insights into Burns's life, character and loves. Her siblings knew her as 'Isbal'.
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.
Agnes Burns or Agnes Galt was the eldest sister of Scottish poet and lyricist Robert Burns. She was born in 1762 at the Alloway Cottage in South Ayrshire to William Burnes and Agnes Broun. She did not adopt the spelling 'Burnes'. At the advanced age of forty-two, late for the times in which she lived, she married William Galt at Dinning in 1804 who had worked for her brother Gilbert at Dinning Farm in Nithsdale.
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.
Annabella Burns or Nannie Burns (1764–1832) was the second oldest sister of the poet Robert Burns, and the last child born to William Burness and Agnes Broun whilst at the Alloway cottage. She was born on the 14 November 1764 and she was christened on 17 November by Rev. William Dalrymple, the minister of Ayr Parish Church. When she died in 1832 she was the last member of Gilbert Burns's household at Grant's Brae to be buried at the Bolton Kirk family lair. Gilbert Burns had died, also aged 67, five years earlier in 1832.
Francis Wallace Burns (1789–1803) was the second son of the poet Robert Burns, born when the poet was 30 and his wife Jean Armour was 24. Francis was born at Ellisland Farm in Dunscore parish, Nithsdale on the 18 August 1789. His first and middle names were added in honour of Frances Dunlop of Dunlop, Robert's friend, patron and mentor. Her maiden name was Frances Anna Wallace and what is known of his early life comes from the many letters to Frances in which he was mentioned. His father died in 1796 and little is known of Francis's short life after this date.
James Glencairn Burns (1794–1865) was the fourth son and eighth child born to the poet Robert Burns and his wife Jean Armour. James was born at their home in Mill Brae Street, now Burns Street in Dumfries on 12 August 1794. His first and middle name was added in honour of James Cunningham, 14th Earl of Glencairn, Robert's friend, patron and mentor.
William Nicol Burns (1791–1872) was the sixth child, third born and second surviving son born to the poet Robert Burns when he was 32 and his wife Jean Armour was 26. William was born at Ellisland Farm in Dunscore parish, shortly before the family moved to Dumfries in 1791. His first and middle name was added in honour of William Nicol, Robert's friend.
Robert Burns Junior or Robert Burns ll (1786–1857) was the first son and one of the first pair of twins born to the poet Robert Burns and his wife Jean Armour. He was born on the 3 September 1786 and baptised on 5 September. John Tennant of Glenconner was a witness at the baptism. His twin sister was Jean Burns, who died of unknown causes in infancy on 20 October 1787. His father, who often called him 'Bobbie', died when Robert Junior was only nine years old, at which point he was the eldest of a family of five legitimate male offspring.
