Robert Burnes
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.
Life and background
Roberts parents were Robert Burnes and Isabella Keith. He retained the spelling 'Burnes' throughout his life; however, his nephew favoured the Ayrshire spelling of 'Burns' and official records as well as his memorial inscription omit the 'e'.Robert is said to have gone to England or Southern Scotland at first, working for some time as a gardener, having supposedly parted from his brother on the summit of Garvock Tap. He then lived for several years, arriving around 1748, certainly by 1781, in a cot house at Titwood Farm in Dreghorn Parish, where he worked in the summer months as a quarryman and possibly being apprenticed at some point as a stonemason. He would at some stage have been a cotter or agricultural worker. His brother William recorded in a letter dated 1781 that his brother lived in 'Stewarton' and that his circumstances were "rather indifferent." Robert attended his brother William's funeral in 1784.
Robert had severe rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis that prevented him from doing hard physical work in the cold winter months and to maintain himself and his family he opened a school in his home for the sons of local farmers sons. When his condition became too painful and debilitating he moved to a house in the Buck's Head Close or to the Buck's Head Inn itself, located just off the main street in Stewarton and this may have been the house he once occupied mentioned in an 1896 Glasgow Herald article about a dwelling nicknamed the "stane stair", a two story thatched cottages next to the Happy Land lodging house that the Stewarton Town Council in 1910 condemned as “unfit for habitation” and had demolished. It had once had a stone stair that projected onto the street, hence the name. Later he moved to another house in the town with his family. Caldhame Farm on the Robertland Estate was the home of Robert, his wife Agnes Craig and their family whilst he was a land steward between at least 1774 and 1784. The family were said to have been upright, respectable and "..never had much wealth and at times their circumstances were far from affluent." They are said to have kept in close contact with Gilbert and Robert whilst they were living at Mossgiel.
Robert's nephew, the poet, is said to have had a sweetheart in Stewarton who he met at a merry making in Kilmarnock. The girl was keen to marry Burns, but her parents were against it. She married a man named Black and the two raised a large family.
The Caldhame Letters
of Blairquhan uncovered six letters in his family's archive written between 1776 and 1779 by a Robert Burnes to the first baronet from Caldhame near Stewarton; a seventh letter was discovered recently by the Blairquhan Castle archivist. This individual was a land steward at the Robertland estate. William Logan, the Robertland Estate Factor living at Kilmaurs House or Place had employed a Robert Burnes and wrote a series of letters from May 1774 to 1784 to his employer that sometimes refer to a Robert Burnes.This Robert had detailed knowledge of selecting kilned lime and the liming of crops, caring for cattle, and drainage work. Deputising for the absentee factor he collected rents and wrote to the laird. The existence of another person with the same name, approximate age, knowledge of liming, both married, well educated, etc. and living in the same area seems very unlikely and the birth record of Robert Burnes to Agnes and Robert gives the dwelling as 'Caldhame'. Sir James Hunter Blair died in 1787 and this event may have impacted his employment.
The Stewarton Parish Register of Births, Deaths and marriages records that this Robert Burnes had a son that was named Robert, registered on 29 January 1778, the mother being given as Robert's wife Agnes Craig and the residence is given as 'Caldhame'. A duplicate copy of the register confirms these details and gives the spelling 'Burnes'. This confirms that 'Poor Uncle Robert' became for a time the Robertland Estate land steward as related in the 'Caldhame Letters', working under the Factor, William Logan, first of Kilmaurs House and later Thornton House.
Family
Robert married Agnes Craig, on 7 November 1766 at Dreghorn, North Ayrshire. Titwood Farm lies in Dreghorn Parish. Agnes, however, died in October 1786 and was buried in Stewarton, probably in the Burnes family lair, but she is not recorded on the 1910 memorial itself. She died two years after her husband had written of her 'tender' condition.Robert and Agnes had four children of whom John was the oldest son, followed by William and a daughter Fanny . Robert Burnes, baptised on 29 January 1778 is recorded as having died young and certainly before 1784 as his father does not list him in a letter to Robert Burns that year.
Fanny Burnes
Fanny whilst at Stewarton embroidered 'sprigs' on muslin used for babies' robes, veils, etc. The muslin was sent down from Paisley and Glasgow manufacturers and Fanny would work with others in her father's kitchen in the evenings. Robert Burns would sometimes visit them and her father would at times rebuke him for flirting with the ladyfolk.Janet Dean's mother worked with Fanny and recollected that Robert Burns gave her a holograph copy of 'The Holy Fair' which the family treasured, but its whereabouts now is unknown.
Mrs Dunlop records in a letter of 22 January 1789 that Fanny had walked to Dunlop House to deliver a letter from Robert Burns, her cousin. On 17 July 1792 she likewise wrote that she had just seen Fanny who had given her a piece of her wedding-gown and that she would keep this as an important relic of her friendship with Robert Burns who had done so much to help his 'orphan' cousin.
Fanny moved to Ellisland Farm when her father died and married at Mauchline on 5 June 1792. Fanny's husband was Adam Armour, a builder, brother of Jean Armour, thereby Fanny became Jean's sister-in-law as well as her cousin-in-law. The couples children were James; Jean; Robert; Fanny; Adam; Mary Smith; John and William.
Adam Armour was immortalised in the poem "Adam Armour's Prayer" and the couple had five sons and four daughters. Adam was an adherent of the 'Auld Licht' persuasion and as such was in direct opposition to Robert Burns whose poem relates an incident regarding an Agnes Wilson, a maid at Poosy Nancy's, who was thought to be a prostitute. Adam Armour and a group of associates placed her on a pole and rode her out of town, injuring her private parts in the process. George Gibson, the landlord, attempted to take legal action and Adam hid until things quietened down. Burns records in the poem that she would have been hung had she been caught acting again as a prostitute. Fanny died in 1839.
John Burnes
John's birth was registered in the Parish of Irvine. He is known to have helped guard the Stewarton St Columba Church graveyard against the activities of body snatchers or resurrectionists, although it is not known if this was as a volunteer or in paid capacity. For the last sixteen years or so of his life he lodged at the house of the mother of James Colquhoun in Stewarton. Mrs Colquhoun had attended John's funeral.John Burnes may have worked as a farm labourer or as a weaver, but in his final years from 1843 he was a recipient of poor relief from the Stewarton parish as noted in the Heritors Records. He died on 17 February 1846, aged 78, and was buried next to his father under the 1910 memorial.
The Scotsman newspaper paper on 24 August 1844 reported that John was around 76 years old and was nearly bedridden, having broken both his legs in an accident thirty years before. He recalled that whilst living at Ellisland Farm he had been sent for the midwife when 'Colonel Burns' was born. Colonel William Nicol Burns occasionally sent John money and clothing.
Jean Wyllie of Mid Buiston Farm near Kilmaurs recalled that John or Jock worked for her father Hugh as a ploughman and that he was clever, good looking, but a bit of a rascal. John was able to recite 'The Twa Dogs' and 'The Cotter's Saturday Night'. He told a story of helping Robert Burns at Ellisland by burning whin at the entrance to the barn to 'smoke out' a group of Buchanites after they had taken shelter without seeking permission.
John also claimed that he had worked as a 'gaudsman' for his cousin Robert at Mossgiel Farm, assisting with the ploughing.