Nelly Blair, later Nelly Smith (17591820) is sometimes suggested as being Scottish poet

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 ...

' first love.

The true identity of Nell

Burns himself did not identify his 'Handsome Nell' by name. Nelly Kilpatrick has been suggested as being Burns's first romantic love, but some significant doubts exist about the true identity of this individual. It was thought to be a Nelly Blair until Burns's sister Isabella gave the name Nelly Kilpatrick, however Isobel was only three years old at the time of Burns's association with Nelly and some doubt must be cast on her recollections at this stage in her life.Mackay, Page 51

Life and character

Burns stated that Nelly had a sweet voice and was wont to sing songs as she worked in the fields.Scotland's Culture
6 February 2012 The first reference to Nelly's identity by the Reverend Hamilton Paul of

Ayr Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire Subdivisions of Scotland, council area and the historic Shires of Scotlan ...

in 1819 records that: ''"This nymph was afterwards married to a Carrick farmer, and became the mother of many sons and daughters, and who, when we saw her in 1811, still retained the characteristics of sonsieness, which so fascinated her helpmate in the work of the harvest as to betray him into the sin of rhyme. She sung delightfully, and he wrote a copy of verses to her favourite air or reel."''Mackay, Page 51 A parish record at

Dreghorn Dreghorn is a village in North Ayrshire, Scotland, east of Irvine town centre, on the old main road from Irvine to Kilmarnock. It is sited on a ridge between two rivers. As archaeological excavations near the village centre have found a signifi ...

records that a Helen Blair married a Carrick farmer, John Smith on 13 December 1788 and a daughter Helen was born at

Dailly Dailly ( gd, Dail Mhaol Chiarain) is a village in South Ayrshire, Scotland. It is located on the Water of Girvan, south of Maybole, and east of Old Dailly. "New Dailly", as it was originally known, was laid out in the 1760s as a coal-mining ...

on 18 February 1789. Several other children were born in subsequent years. In 1828 an anonymous letter to ''The Scotsman'' related that a friend of the writer had been a significant landowner in Ayrshire and that Robert Burns had been a frequent visitor to his kitchen and had written many songs about Nelly Blair, a servant in the house.

Association with Robert Burns

When

was 15 he met "Handsome Nell", his first young love, a ''"bonnie, sweet, sonsie lass"'', although he apparently never told her of his love. Nelly Bone, is better known as Nelly Kilpatrick. They are first recorded to have met when William Burns hired some extra help to bring in the harvest while they were at nearby Mount Oliphant Farm and Burns came to be paired with her, following the Ayrshire custom of that time. In his autobiographical letter to Dr Hunter he wrote: ''"Indeed, I did not not well know myself I liked so much to loiter behind with her when returning in the evening from our labours; why the tones of her voice made my heart-strings thrill like an Aeolian harp, and particularly why my pulse beat such a furious rantann when I looked and fingered over her hand to pick out the nettle-stings and thistles"''. He wrote a poem to Nell, unpublished during his life, but it appeared in his Commonplace Book and set to the tune of Nelly's favourite reel. He had heard her singing a song by a local country laird's son who was courting her and felt that he could do better, so it was with Nelly in mind that he wrote his first song " Handsome Nell" –

The tune to the song has not come down to us. Some years later Burns wrote of this song, saying – ''"I never had the least thought or inclination of turning poet till I got once heartily in love, and then rhyme and song were, in a manner, the spontaneous language of my heart. I remember I composed it in a wild enthusiasm of passion, and to this hour I never recollect it but my heart melts, and my blood sallies at the remembrance."''The World Burns Club.
Retrieved : 6 February 2012 Nelly has been said to figure in Burns's poem, ''"Halloween"''
Retrieved : 6 February 2012

and the verse :

References

;Notes ;Sources # Annandale, Charles (Editor) (1890). ''The Works of Robert Burns''. London : Blackie & Son. # Dougall, Charles S. (1911). ''The Burns Country''. London: A & C Black. # Hunter, Douglas & McQueen, Colin Hunter. (2009). ''Hunter's Illustrated History of the Family, Friends, and Contemporaries of Robert Burns.'' Published by the authors. ISBN 978-0-9559732 -0-8. # MacIntosh, Donald (2006). ''Travels in Galloway''. Glasgow : Neil Wilson. . # Mackay, James (2004). ''Burns. A Biography of Robert Burns''. Darvel : Alloway Publishing. . # McMichael, George. ''Notes on the Way Through Ayrshire''. Ayr : Hugh Henry. {{DEFAULTSORT:Blair, Nelly Robert Burns History of East Ayrshire 18th-century Scottish women 1759 births 1820 deaths

The true identity of Nell

Life and character

Association with Robert Burns

See also

References