Thornhill is a town in the Mid Nithsdale area of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, south of Sanquhar and north of Dumfries on the main A76 road. Thornhill sits in the Nithsdale valley with the Carsphairn and Scaur range to the west and the Lowther hills to the east. It was initially a small village, planned and built in 1717 on the Queensberry Estate on the road linking Dumfries to Glasgow. The Earl of Queensberry initially named the village 'New Dalgarnock' however the name did not achieve popular approval.
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.
Moffat is a former burgh and parish in Dumfriesshire, which is now part of the Dumfries and Galloway local authority area in Scotland, lying on the River Annan, with a population of around 2,500. It was a centre of the wool trade and a spa town.
Jean Glover or Jennifer Glover (1758–1801) was a Scottish poet and singer. She was the daughter of James Glover, handloom weaver and Jean Thomson, born in Townhead, Kilmarnock; was well educated for the time she lived in, clever and sharp-witted. She had a fine singing voice and exceedingly good looks of "both face and figure".
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.
Alison Begbie, Ellison Begbie or Elizabeth Gebbie (1762–1823), is said to have been the daughter of a farmer, born in the parish of Galston, and at the time of her courtship by Robert Burns she is thought to have been a servant employed at Carnell House, then known as Cairnhill, on the River Cessnock, situated about 2 miles from Loudoun Mill. It is thought that Burns's youngest sister Isobel Burns confused her name and that she was actually called Elizabeth Gebbie.
Elizabeth "Betsey" Paton or later Elizabeth Andrew of Lairgieside was the daughter of James Paton and Eleanor Helen Paton. 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 stated that although Burns did not love her, "he never treated her unkindly."
Janet, Jennie or Jenny Clow was a domestic servant to Mrs Agnes Maclehose, née Craig (1759-1841), the Clarinda to Robert Burns' Sylvander. She was the daughter of Andrew Clow and Margaret Inglis from Fife and was the youngest of eight children. Her mistress sent her to deliver a letter to the poet and he seduced her.
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 nee 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.
May Cameron also known as Margaret, Peggy, or Meg Cameron, was a servant in Edinburgh, working at a house close to that of William Creech, Burns's Edinburgh publisher.
Nelly Blair, later Nelly Smith is sometimes suggested as being Scottish poet Robert Burns' first love.
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.
Jean Gardner or later Jean Hill, was "a young woman of very surpassing beauty," with a "light foot and an ensnaring eye," but she may have been thirteen years older than Robert Burns with whom she was on friendly or 'intimate' terms. A strong local tradition in Irvine links her with Robert Burns, however no contemporary written evidence records this relationship and Burns himself is not thought to have written about her, other than a disputed use of her given name as the 'darling Jean' of Burns's 'Epistle to Davie', and most recent writers have considered the reference to be to Jean Armour.
Robert Burnes or Robert Burness was a paternal uncle of the poet Robert Burns. He left the family farm of Clochnahill or Clokenhill in Kincardineshire with his younger brother William Burnes, and found work at the Lochridge or Lochrig limestone quarries and lime kilns that lay near Byrehill Farm near Stewarton. He was a teacher, a gardener later in life and a land steward on the nearby Robertland Estate, possibly through the influence of his nephew. Robert Burns referred to his him as Poor Uncle Robert upon his death in 1789.
The Robert Burns World Federation is a literary society based in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland, aimed at educating the public about the life, poetry and works of the poet Robert Burns. It is a Scottish Charity and a company limited by Guarantee. The Federation links existing Burns Clubs and similar groups, giving a unique number to affiliated Clubs, which is then used by them in their promotion and identification. Their ongoing intent is to provide a way for clubs to link together and enjoy the mutual benefit of association, communication and shared mission. It was founded in 1885
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 (1771–1858) or Isobel Burns 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' life, character and loves. Her siblings knew her as 'Isbal'.
Elizabeth Burns, Elizabeth Park or Mrs John Thomson 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. She married John Thomson in 1808 to become Elizabeth Thomson.
Agnes Burns or Agnes Galt was Robert’s eldest sister 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.
