News: The legacy of Robert Burns

Robert Burns in the National Archives of Scotland
Burns and his wife, Jean Armour, appear in historical records held by the National Archives of Scotland (NAS) in several capacities. Details of Burns' short career as an exciseman can be gleaned from Exchequer excise salary books (E562/6), Customs and Excise records (CE6/9 and RH1/2/881) and a letter in the Mar and Kellie collection (GD124/15) where the poet explained his near-dismissal from the Excise service and his independence of mind. You can search for more records relating to Burns and Jean Armour in our online catalogue. Three items deserve special mention: the Mauchline kirk session case, the testament in Dumfries Commissary registers and the trust setllement in the Court of Session papers.

Mauchline kirk session case
Robert Burns appeared before the kirk session of Mauchline in 1786 to admit that he was the father of Jean Armour's twin children (CH2/896/12 pages 162-173). Download extracts from Mauchline kirk session minutes (New window, Acrobat PDf 256Kb).

Testament of Robert Burns
A testament for Burns appears in Dumfries Commissary Court records (CC5/6/18, pages 74-75). This is not a will, in the popular sense, but a 'testament dative' whereby his widow had recourse to the commissary court to recover two outstanding debts owing to her husband for which she required legal authority. A digital copy and transcript of this testament can be seen free of charge in the Famous Scots section of the ScotlandsPeople website.

Trust settlement in Court of Session records
Of rather more interest than Robert Burns' testament is the 'State of Gilbert Burns's Acceptance to Mr Burns' Estate' (CS97/Box 101/15). Gilbert was Robert's brother. The account covers the period from December 1793 to May 1798, with copy correspondence to October 1800. The trustees of Robert Burns’ family devised a scheme for the support of his surviving children, Robert, Francis-Wallace, William-Nicol and James Burns. The scheme was to publish a four volume edition of Burns’ complete works – ‘well known as the Ayrshire poet’ – including posthumous poems and a biography written by Dr James Currie, MD, FRS, of Liverpool. Subscriptions were raised to meet the initial cost of publication, which was in the hands of Thomas Cadell and William Davies in London and William Creech, bookseller in Edinburgh. The money raised by publication was to be used for the support of the children and their mother, Jean Armour, Robert Burns’ widow. The factor overseeing the arrangements for their upkeep was William Thomson of Moat, writer in Dumfries. The accounts include an annuity payable to Robert and Gilbert's mother, a year's bed, board and washing for Elizabeth Burns, Robert's natural daughter by Elizabeth Paton, cash given to Mrs Burns while in Mauchline towards the expenses of her daughter's funeral, and some of the expenses of Robert's own funeral. Download a transcript of the trust settlement (New window, Acrobat PDf 300Kb)