Burns Love Life

 

Margaret Chambers

Burns love life is highly complex and complicated!  He wrote some of the most famous love songs ever written. He loved often. His first famous poem, written when Burns was sixteen was Westlin Winds for Peggy. 

As a teenager he fell in love often, after reading a book of French love letters given to him by mistake by his tutor John Murdoch! Burns’s first child, Elizabeth Burns was born to his mother’s servant Elizabeth Paton. 

There was the Mauchline Belles! Many years later when he was twenty two, Burns moved to Mossgiel farm near Mauchline in 1782, where he met his bonny Jean. She was a great singer and knew all the auld Scots ballads like his mother. 

At this time he also met his Highland Mary: after Jean suddenly left for Paisley. He pledged his love for her over a bible and later wrote the poems Highland Mary and To Mary in Heaven to her. Also – “Will ye go to the Indies, my Mary, And leave auld Scotia’s shore?” However Mary suddenly died in Greenock from Typhus, she had contracted from her uncle. Burns was devastated.  Machine was a crossroads town, with many travellers and walks fo life. 

Burns also greatly enjoyed educated, cultured women he met on his travels, who he felt a kinship with. First he met Margaret Chambers in Edina, a farmers daughter who was his equal in education and conversation. 

January 1787, Burns wrote to her, Dear Dr. Countrywoman. I know you will laugh at it, when I tell you that your playing and you together have played the deuce somehow, about my heart. I could sit down and cry like a child……’Personal attractions, Madam, you have much above par, Wit and understanding & worth, you possess in the first class. ‘   

 

Burns spent two more winters in Edina in 1787 and 88, and late in 1788 he met the elegant culture Agnes McLahose, his Nancy who was also well educated and a poet too.  He walked under Clarinda/ Nancy’s window. ‘tis the star that guards. My queen of poetesses empress of the poets soul. I gave her two wineglasses with the toast. ‘Long may we love, and long may we be happy.’ 

Clarinda needed the support of her uncle for her annuity. They wrote over 300 letters correspondence to each other from 1788 to 1791 – when he wrote his great song of parting for her Ae Fond Kiss. Clarinda was to leave and told Burns that he must go back to Jean, that there was not likely any future. Burns heart was broken. 

She left for the West indies.

After his Scotia travels (1786-1788) and his time in Edina having his poems published, Burns returned to Ayrshire and married Jean Armour in April 1788, when they moved to the Ellisland farm. They had three surviving sons. He wrote the poem I Love my Jean for her.  Also in 1791, Elizabeth Burns was born to Anna Park, a barmaid at the Globe Inn in 1791. Jean took her in and looked after her. 

Because of his education Burns straddled all walks of life, from the poor he met in Mauchline to the great and good of the Edina’s literati, the academics and the enlightenment writers.  

*In 1791 he was inspired to write one of the greatest love songs ever written, Red Red Rose.

O my Luve is like a red, red rose

That’s newly sprung in June;

O my Luve is like the melody

That’s sweetly played in tune.

 

So fair art thou, my bonnie lass,

So deep in luve am I;

And I will luve thee still, my dear,

Till a’ the seas gang dry.

 

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,

And the rocks melt wi’ the sun;

I will love thee still, my dear,

While the sands o’ life shall run.

 

And fare thee weel, my only luve!

And fare thee weel awhile!

And I will come again, my luve,

Though it were ten thousand mile.

 His stay in the Edina resulted in lifelong friendships - with Lord Glencairn and Francis Dunlop (1730-1815) 

who became a mentor and sponsor and with whom he corresponded. 

*      *      *      *      

Farwell to Clarinda, the mistress of my soul,

The measured time is run

The wretch beneath the dreary pole

So marks his latest sun.

*      *      *      *      *

 

My Peggy’s face, my Peggy’s form,

The frost of hermitage might warm,

My Peggy’s worth, My Peggy’s mind,

Might charm the first of human kind,

I love my Peggy’s angel air,

Her face so truly heavenly fair,

Her nature grace so void of air,

And I do love my Peggy’s heart.   RB

 (Published 1802)

 

A Letter from Mrs Dunlop - She feared I might loose being this ‘rustic bard’ in Edina. She wrote such high praise, and told me, I was the best bard ever to have adorned my country. 

I wrote to her, ‘I have long studied myself and I think I know pretty exactly what ground I occupy, both as a man and a poet….Poets are such outré beings, so much the children of wayward Fancy and capricious Whim, that I believe the word generally allows them a larger latitude in the rules of Propriety, than the sober sons of Judgement and Prudence. ‘ 

 

I Love My Jean

Of a' the airts the wind can blaw,

I dearly like the West;

For there the bony Lassie lives,

The Lassie I lo'e best:

There's wild-woods grow,

and rivers row,

And mony a hill between;

But day and night my fancy's flight

Is ever wi' my Jean.

 

I see her in the dewy flowers,

I see her sweet and fair;

I hear her in the tunefu' birds,

I hear her charm the air:

There's not a bony flower that springs

By fountain, shaw, or green;

There's not a bony bird that sings

But minds me o' my Jean.

RB

 

 

A Scots Media II

That’s the big question I ask myself often. Why are at least half of Scots still supportive of the clearly failing union, when we’ve recently suffered so many disasters and chaos in recent years? I believe it’s all about the lack of any serious Scottish media. I remember my son made this comment in 2014 “ how can we win independence with no media? “  

Of course younger Scots get their media and press from a variety of sources and their support for Indy is around 70%. But the over 50s still look to the mainstream unionist media and press. BBC Scotland for instance totally ignores any serious failings in England, such as England’s disastrous water scandal. (This is covered by channel Four news which is more balanced than the BBC.) 

Back in 1707 Scotland kept its own Kirk - which in those days was the media (they preached against the French terror!)  We had Scottish newspapers by 1700s. The problem started with broadcast media around the 50s, which is totally controlled from London. Even Catalonia has four tv channels, two news and two entertainment. The UK is now a highly centralised state, which is not healthy for the north of England either. 

Today Scotland only has the one Indy supporting Newspaper, the National that represents half of Scots. There are not one but 4 English political parties in Scotland who support the union. It’s all quite bazaar and unbalanced. With Reform a far right, English nationalist party. (Why don’t we stand a Scottish political party in England?) Scotland must move on from any mind-set of ‘too wee and too poor.’” We’re a third of the UK landmass and 66% of UK seas and equal to many other European nations. 

Scotland is asking for normal self-determination, that’s normal across the developed world - then again Edinburgh must not be a new centralising London. The central government should only decide on federal roads, foreign policy, certain economic levers - otherwise decisions should be made at a local level on say education, health, local infrastructure etc. The economy should work for the people not against us! The politicians in London are totally out of ideas and controlled by dirty money and Trump's America. 

Why are there so many Scots in thrall to the supposed ‘union’ with England? A good read is “DeColonizing Language” by Ngugi Wa Thiong’O recommended by Alan Riach - how language repression is much cheaper and easier than military control. Colonisation of the mind. I think of how children were belted if they spoke in their native Scots at school, how clan chiefs had to have their son’s educated in England. This also happened in Africa - where children had to learn ‘To a Daffodil’ even though they had never seen one! 

In 1700s we had a Scottish Kirk and Scottish newspapers but since the war we’ve had totally biased news reporting that focuses on London and the UKs foreign owned press, that is not balanced. John Swinney should pursue legal means to regulate for a balanced press! They do this in other countries. I went to a talk at Edinburgh book festival about this issue: Ruth Wishart was there.

 

Is there a reason Scots vote to be a colony of London? I’ve been trying to find out. Scotland used to benefit from the exploiting of the British empire countries, but since the Second World War the BE has ceased to exist. Now Scotland is the last colony being exploited. Some Anglo Scots view advancement through getting a seat in the House of Lords. Is unionism about your tribe? It used to be about religion. 

Scotland could be as successful as Ireland, Norway or Denmark - instead we’re held back as part of a failing UK model. Don’t tell me the lies of the made up and fake GERS figures - these are the figures Scotland endures being shackled to the UK and treated as a branch economy. London only cares about London property prices. Westminster is shutting down Scotland. 

Since this election 2026, the prospects of the three Celtic nations working together is so positive. Crucially Swinney must appeal to all of Scotland and speak to all Scots, to counter the rise of divisiveness of Reform.

 

Tom Nairn’s “The Break up of Britain” is another great read on the archaic politics here. Where are the books on the benefits of the union, where are the songs or celebrities for the union? We are basically fed a bunch of lies constantly by the unionist press - SNP bad etc. etc. it’s very demoralising and isn’t good for anyone all this negativity. Where is the hope?? 

So how does Scotland prosper as part of the UK, what are the benefits? The crash of 2008, showed clearly how the neoliberal economic model is failing people. The politicians in London only claim, “They’ll do more of the same but better.” 

They are stuck in the 80s thinking rather than looking at new ways of modelling and moving to a modern state. This is not good enough when most people here see their standard of living falling. Scotland is stuck in an archaic Britain that is unable to move forward. ….. If you don’t believe me watch the BBCs Question Time each Thursday to hear the lack of any constructive ideas from Westminster MPs! 

Scotland’s freedom and sovereignty in Europe now!!    

 

Shortest History of Scotland Murray Pittock

 

Wars of Bruce and William 13thc and 14thc and the sophisticate political thought, 

 

1760 to 1914 – Scotland that caught up  with rest of UK.  Scottish associations and Burns clubs

 

 

From Columba to The Corries, the Picts to Paisley, Doggerland to Devolution – here is the unmissable story of Scotland.

Scotland is one of the oldest nations in Europe. Its territory remains fundamentally unchanged since the fifteenth century, and its southern border with England has barely altered since 1237.

And yet Scotland – a country with its own law, education and church – is not a state at all. In The Shortest History of Scotland, Murray Pittock argues that this very ambiguity has helped make the nation a central part of the global story.

From first tribes to Scotland’s multicultural present, Pittock unpicks the myths from the reality. He explores the glories – real and imagined – of Scottish history, from the Bruce to Balmoral, William Wallace to Walter Scott, Enlightenment to Devolution. And he asks what this rich past can tell us about what may lie ahead.

 

 The International aspects of Scotland has an unusually distinctive brand 15^th or 16^th brand. 

 

“Culture is resistant to change, and history is being manipulated.” 

“Tribalism based on ignorance is not a good idea.” Murray Pittock

Aly Bain Shetland Fiddler turns 80!

Aly Bain Shetland Fiddler turns 80,

Happy birthday Aly!......He is a leading voice on the Scottish folk scene – unassuming and supremely talented. He learned the Shetland fiddle style on the lap of his teacher. He’s a founder of the Transatlantic Sessions: begun in 2005 and in 2026 in its 31^st year. Along with master dubro player American Jerry Douglas, Bain is a musical director of this classy and accomplished TS band. 

Aly Bain & Nicola Benedetti

Aly performed with the renowned violinist Nicola Benedetti at the Celtic Connections opening concert 2012, along with Phil Cunningham. Benedetti was intrigued to learn the Shetland fiddle techniques. 

Aly Bain Transatlantic Sessions

My Review for The Transatlantic Sessions 2026

Aly Bain drives deep into the emotions, as he played his subtle and expressive Shetland fiddle with his expert ease on Hector the Hero set. 

The quality TS band are always tight and impressive, the glue for this concert. As we leave to brave the cold January night air, we are heartened by the jovial warmth and musical energy of this ever popular concert!

 

Like a musical river from Tennessee to Nashville to west Kerry, than to Shetland and to Pathhead Midlothian. As Mattea described, the colourful, one off collaborating at Celtic Connections lead to arteries “like the roots of a tree that lead to different accents – and make the collaborating more sweet.” Like a fascinating patchwork quilt with the variety and range of musical styles and genres that challenge and add musical colour to our lives.

 

The show's seasoned house band, guided as ever by Aly Bain and Jerry Douglas, features renowned Celtic and Americana roots musicians John Doyle, Michael McGoldrick, Tatiana Hargreaves and Allison de Groot, John McCusker, Donald Shaw, James Mackintosh, and Daniel Kimbro.

I’ve been taking photos at the Transatlantic Sessions since 2008! 

There’s a large archive of TS photos on my website – https://pkimage.co.uk/celticconnections

He continues to tour with accordion player and pianist and composer Phil Cunningham.