Peggy Thompson
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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 Fillette' 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 ...
fame and her husband was an old acquaintance of the poet. It was on 23 August 1775 that she was first seen in her garden by Burns when he was out at noon in the school's backyard measuring the altitude of the sun. Peggy in later life moved to
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 council area and the historic county town of Ayrshire. With a population ...
where her children still lived in 1840.


Association with Robert Burns

As stated Burns first met her when he was studying at Kirkoswald school in the summer of 1775 under the schoolmaster Hugh Rodger (1726-1797). She lived with her parents, next door to the school, and Robert Burns recorded that she ''"over-set my trigonometry, and set me off in a Tangent from the sphere of my studies"''. Robert Burns met Peggy Thompson frequently at Tarboth or Tarbolton Mill and they attended the same kirk. They developed a degree of intimacy even though she was engaged at the time. Burns said ''"Peggy was my Deity for six or eight months"''. He also states that - ''"I met with my Angel.... It was vain to think of doing any more good at school. The remaining week I staid, I did nothing but craze the faculties of my soul about her, or steal out to meet with her; and the two last nights of my stay in the country, had sleep been a mortal sin, I was innocent. I returned home very considerably improved..."'' Thomas Orr, a fellow pupil at Kirkoswald, stated that he carried letters between Burns and Peggy in the summers of 1782 and 1783. Upon her marriage Burns wrote ''"I am very glad that Peggy is off my hands as I am at present embarrassed enough without her"'' .. no doubt a reference to Elizabeth Paton's pregnancy. In 1785, ten years later, while he was making plans to emigrate, Burns presented Peggy with a copy of his poems, having composed a special inscription for her on the fly leaf, namely ''"To an old Sweetheart."''World Burns Club
Retrieved : 2012-02-07
Hunter, Page 282 The poem ''"Composed in August"'' is said to have been inspired by Peggy when he met her again later as Mrs. Neilsen. Written in the first volume of the Glenriddell Manuscript, with a note in Burns's hand is to be found: ''"... Poor Peggy! Her husband is an old acquaintance and a most worthy fellow. When I was taking leave of my Carrick relations, intending to go to the West Indies, when I took farewell of her, neither she nor I could speak a syllable. — Her husband escorted me three miles on my road, and we both parted with tears."''


Micro-history

Peggy's surname is given the spelling 'Thomson' by some authors.Dougall, Page 93 Burns did not lodge in Kirkoswald during his stay in 1775, instead he lodged at Ballochneil Farm about a mile away from the village with his uncle, Samuel Broun.


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 *
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 ...
*
Jean Gardner Jean Gardner or later Jean Hill, was ''"a young woman of very surpassing beauty,"'' with a ''"light foot and an ensnaring eye,"''
*
Nelly Kilpatrick Nelly or Nellie Kilpatrick, Helen Kilpatrick or later Nelly Bone (1759–1820). Nelly (usually short for "Helen") was possibly Robert Burns's first love and muse as stated by Isabella Burns. Early life Nelly is usually used as a nickname for "H ...
* Jessie Lewars *
Agnes Maclehose Agnes Maclehose (26 April 1758 – 23 October 1841Scotland's People, Death record of Agnes Craig or McIhose (OPR Deaths 685/03 0340 0368 CANONGATE)), or Agnes Craig, known to her friends as 'Nancy'
* Ann Park *
Elizabeth Paton Elizabeth "Betsey" Paton or later Elizabeth Andrew of Lairgieside (1760 – c. 1799) was the daughter of James Paton and Eleanor Helen Paton of Aird Farm, Crossroads, Ayrshire. Following an affair with Robert Burns she gave birth on 22 May 1785 ...
*
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 ...
*
Kate Kemp Kate Kemp of Barskimming lived with her father at the Bridge House on the northern side of the single span Barskimming Old Bridge (Barskimming Auld Brig), River Ayr, Scotland. Both Robert Burns and James Andrew, the miller at Barskimming Mill, ...


References

;Notes ;Sources # Carroll, David (2009). ''Burns Country''. Stroud : The History Press. # Chambers, Robert, Editor (1891). ''The Life and Works of Robert Burns''. Edinburgh : W & R Chambers. # Dougall, Charles S. (1911). ''The Burns Country''. London: A & C Black. # Chambers, R. (1840). ''The Land of Burns.'' Glasgow : Blackie & Son. # Hill, John C. Rev. (1961). ''The Love Songs and Heroines of Robert Burns.'' London : J. M. Dent. # Hunter, Douglas & McQueen, Colin Hunter. (2009). ''Hunter's Illustrated History of the Family, Friends, and Contemporaries of Robert Burns''. Published by the authors. . # Mackay, James (2004). ''Burns. A Biography of Robert Burns''. Darvel : Alloway Publishing. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Peggy Robert Burns History of South Ayrshire 18th-century Scottish women