Burns and Fife

 

Robert Burns did not spend much time in Fife but there are strong links between him, his friends, his works and the Kingdom!

Some of these are detailed here and we hope to add to them so if you know any Fife/Burns gems PLEASE send them to the webmaster.

 

Burns and Thomson

George Thomson was the son of the Limekilns Schoolmaster: Limekilns being a small village on the shores of Fife near Dunfermline. He was a passionate amateur musician and in 1792 proposed taking Scots songs and setting them to accompaniments by the leading masters of the day. He approached Burns and asked him to collaborate, which he willingly did - refusing payment for all his compositions. These were subsequently published in five volumes of Select Scottish Airs between 1793 and 1818. Thomson's collection was aimed at a middle-class audience; it had accompaniments by Ignaz Joseph Pleyel, Johann Anton Kozeluch and eventually Haydn and Beethoven. More can be read about Thomson here

 

Burns and Lunardi

Burns uses the name 'Lunardi' in his poem To a Louse but many fail to understand the significance. The Lunardi was a ladies' hat - very much in fashion during Burns' time and named after Vincenzo Lunardi - as explained below. Ceres is of course in Fife: a small village near the town of Cupar.

You can read more about Lunardi here

Other Fife connections

  Jenny Clow with whom Burns has an affair and a child, was from Newburgh.

   Mrs.Armour was visiting in Fife in July 1796.

   The "Murison Collection" housed in Dunfermline library.

The Murison Collection of Burns's books and manuscript. Presented to the Carnegie library by Sir Alexander Gibb.

Burns visited Dunfermline Abbey on his Highland tour. He mounted the cutty stool and kissed the grave of King Robert The Bruce.

   There are several Burns' busts in Fife "eg Cupar Corn Exchange, Dunfermline Library.
( At one time, every library in the U.S.A. established by Andrew Carnegie was provided with a bust of Robert Burns…that amounted to 3,460 busts of the Scottish poet in American libraries around the U.S.A. There are also almost 200 statues of Burns around the world - more than any other poet - see our statue quiz)