Agnes Burns
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Agnes Burns or Agnes Galt was the eldest sister of Scottish poet and lyricist
Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...
. She was born in 1762 at the
Alloway Alloway ( gd, Allmhaigh, ) is a village in South Ayrshire, Scotland, located on the River Doon. It is best known as the birthplace of Robert Burns and the setting for his poem "Tam o' Shanter". Tobias Bachope, the mason responsible for the cons ...
Cottage in
South Ayrshire South Ayrshire ( sco, Sooth Ayrshire; gd, Siorrachd Àir a Deas, ) is one of thirty-two council areas of Scotland, covering the southern part of Ayrshire. It borders onto Dumfries and Galloway, East Ayrshire and North Ayrshire. On 30 June 2 ...
to
William Burnes William Burnes or William Burness (11 November 1721 – 13 February 1784) was the father of the poet Robert Burns. He was born at either Upper Kinmonth or Clochnahill Farm, Dunnottar, Kincardineshire, and trained as a gardener at Inverugie Cast ...
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 1804Purdie, p. 60Westwood, p. 13 who had worked for her brother
Gilbert Gilbert may refer to: People and fictional characters * Gilbert (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Gilbert (surname), including a list of people Places Australia * Gilbert River (Queensland) * Gilbert River (South ...
at Dinning Farm in
Nithsdale Nithsdale (''Srath Nid'' in Scottish Gaelic), also known as Strathnith, Stranith or Stranit, is the strath or dale of the River Nith in southern Scotland. Nithsdale was one of the medieval provinces of Scotland. The provinces gradually lost th ...
.Westwood, p. 12


Life and character

Agnes's siblings were
Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...
(b. 25 January 1759); Gilbert (b. 28 September 1760);
Annabella Burns 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 chr ...
(b. 14 November 1764);
William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
(b. 30 July 1767);
John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...
(b. 10 July 1769);
Isabella Isabella may refer to: People and fictional characters * Isabella (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Isabella (surname), including a list of people Places United States * Isabella, Alabama, an unincorpor ...
(b. 27 July 1771). Agnes Broun recalled that her husband only once took a strap to his children and that was to their daughter Agnes when she showed reluctance to pay attention to his reading lessons and that "..it had had a good effect upon the child's temper." Agnes moved in 1817 with William to the Fortescue Estates at Stephenstown in
Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...
, County Louth, Republic of Ireland where he was employed to build two reservoirs to supply water to the estate gardens, orchards, grinding mill, etc. Impressed with his work, Matthew Fortescue offered him the post of Confidential Manager on the Stephenstown Estate for the generous salary of 40 guineas per annum that also came with a tied cottage that was built for them and a plot of land for growing crops, keeping a cow or two, etc. William also stocked the ponds with a number of coarse fish. Stephenstown House had been built in 1785 by Matthew Fortescue for his new bride Marian McClintock. It was sold by the Fortescues in 1974 and was a ruin by the late 1980s. William in the years 1821–1822 planted 53,000 trees on the estate as well as many shrubs and flowers. He also insisted on buying the best farm equipment and as a result in 1847, part of the Fortescue estate was considered to be one of the best farms in the British Isles.Fortescue Stephenstown Estates.
/ref> It is recorded by Major McClintock that she had a strong Ayrshire accent, saying that "she was as unprepossessing a female as one would care to see. But, oh! to hear her read her brother's poems was a caution, with hard rasping delivery, that I question if many out of Ayrshire could make out the meaning of a word she said."
/ref> The couple never had any children and Agnes worked on the estate for many years as a dairy maid. Agnes died in the cottage in 1834 aged 72 and William lived on at the estate at Lakeview Cottage for another thirteen years until he died in 1847.McQueen, p.10


Memorial and association with Robert Burns

The couple were buried in the St Nicholas, Dundalk, Church of Ireland cemetery where a monument was erected by admirers of
Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...
. The inscription on the memorial commemorating the centenary of his birth reads: Agnes's religious education was partly taught at home by her father, using the
A Manual of Religious Belief The surviving manuscript of the instructional work ''A Manual of Religious Belief'' is written in the form of a theological dialogue between father and child written out in holograph by John Murdoch for William Burnes, Robert Burns's father. ...
that
William Burnes William Burnes or William Burness (11 November 1721 – 13 February 1784) was the father of the poet Robert Burns. He was born at either Upper Kinmonth or Clochnahill Farm, Dunnottar, Kincardineshire, and trained as a gardener at Inverugie Cast ...
had written for that purpose, assisted by John murdoch. It was used for her siblings as well as herself.


Stephenstown Pond Project

William and Agnes's cottage at Knockbridge is now a museum and coffee shop in a nature park and conference centre. The cottage's museum section explores the life and works of the poet as well as interpreting his sister's life as a dairymaid on the estate, the estate itself and the Fortescue family. The Belfast Burns Club and the Stephenstown Pond Trust undertook the restoration project in 1996 writing that
We, the Belfast Burns Club, recognised that some form of Peace and Reconciliation Initiative in this island of ours might not go astray, and what better format for it to take but an association with Robert Burns and his work?


See also

*
Jean Armour Jean Armour (25 February 1765 – 26 March 1834), 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. Biography Born in ...
*
Alison Begbie 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 or housekeeper ...
* Agnes Broun (mother) *
William Burnes William Burnes or William Burness (11 November 1721 – 13 February 1784) was the father of the poet Robert Burns. He was born at either Upper Kinmonth or Clochnahill Farm, Dunnottar, Kincardineshire, and trained as a gardener at Inverugie Cast ...
(father) *
Elizabeth 'Betty' Burns Elizabeth Burns, Elizabeth Park or Mrs John ThomsonBurns Encyclopedia
Retrieved : ...
(sister) *
Gilbert Burns (farmer) Gilbert Burns (1760 – 1827), the younger brother of Robert Burns the poet, was born at Alloway. He married Jean Breckenridge in 1791, had 6 sons and 5 daughters, died in 1827, aged 66, and was buried at Bolton, East Lothian, Scotland. Gi ...
(brother) *
Isabella Burns 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 Re ...
(sister) *
May Cameron May Cameron also known as Margaret, Peggy, or Meg Cameron,Burns Encyclopedia
Ret ...
*
Mary Campbell (Highland Mary) Mary Campbell, also known as Highland MaryBurns Encyclopedia
Retriev ...
*
Jenny Clow Janet, Jennie or Jenny Clow was a domestic servant to Mrs Agnes Maclehose, née Craig (1759-1841), the Clarinda to Robert Burns' Sylvander.Nelly Kilpatrick *
Jessie Lewars Jessie Lewars also known as Mrs. James Thomson,Westwood, Page 1 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 ...
*
Anne Rankine Anne Rankine was the youngest daughter of a tenant farmer, John Rankine from Adamhill Farm that lay two miles from the Robert Burns's family farm at Lochlea. She married John Merry, an inn-keeper in Cumnock on 29 December 1782,Mackay, Page 72 an ...
*
Isabella Steven Isabella Steven or Tibbie Stein was the daughter of a tenant farmer from Littlehill or Little Hill Farm (NS467305) that adjoined the Burns's farm at Lochlea.Boyle, Page 86 'Stein' is an alternative form of the surname 'Steven'. Littlehill had th ...
*
Peggy Thompson Margaret "Peggy" Thompson, later Margaret Neilson, was the housekeeper at Coilsfield House or Montgomery Castle in Ayrshire, Scotland. She married John Neilsen of Monyfee. The couple lived at Minnybae Farm near Kirkoswald. She was the 'charming ...


References


Citations


General sources

* Mackay, James (2004). ''Burns. A Biography of Robert Burns''. Darvel: Alloway Publishing. . * McIntyre, Ian (2001). ''Robert Burns: A Life''. New York: Welcome Rain Publishers. . * McQueen, Colin Hunter (2008). ''Hunter's Illustrated History of the Family, Friends and Contemporaries of Robert Burns''. Messsrs Hunter McQueen & Hunter. . * Purdie, David, McCue & Carruthers, G (2013). ''Maurice Lindsay's The Burns Encyclopaedia''. London: Robert Hale. . * Westwood, Peter J. (2008). ''Who's Who in the World of Burns''. Kilmarnock: Robert Burns World Federation Publications. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, Agnes Robert Burns 18th-century Scottish women 1763 births 1834 deaths