Robert Burns

Robert Burns was born on 25 January 1759 to father William Burnes, and mother Agnes Broun.   From humble origins, Robert Burns was born and raised in a small two room clay cottage built by his fathers own two hands in Alloway.

As a child Robert Burns was an excellent student.  He could quickly memorise passages of text from his school books.  His imagination also began to develop as these years formed a solid base of experience to later draw from in his writings.  His mother sing traditional Scots song and a distant cousin would weave tales of ghosts and witches to him.

Robert Burns had to help his family survive from an early age.  He was regularly working in the fields doing anything he could to take some of the burden from his struggling father.  It was in the fields at the age of 15 that Robert Burns found the inspiration for his first song.  Nellie Kirkpatrick was the first woman in a long string to shape his work.  His first song was titled Handsome Nell.

William Burnes, Robert’s father succumbed to a long illness in 1784, leaving Robert and his younger brother Gilbert to care for the family.  Robert received some training as a surveyor, but couldn’t ignore the call of his poetry.  Because of his financial woes, Robert Burns planned to emigrate to Jamaica.  This never happened due to many factors, including romantic troubles.

In July of 1786 Robert Burns’ first collected book of poetry titled the “Kilmarnock Edition” was published.  This catapulted Robert Burns into the public eye making him an instant celebrity.  Even his popularity did not garner the pay required to raise his three children.  Robert Burns became an exciseman successfully securing promotion due to his ability to acquire fines from wealthy defaulters.

On 21 July 1796, Robert Burns died from a disease most likely contracted as a boy working in the fields.