mother
Agnes Broun. In the early months of 1827, his daughter, Jean and son, John were
to be buried there, and in April of the same year, Gilbert, himself, died aged
sixty six.
Gilbert Burns and Grant’s Braes
“Tam lo’ed him like a very brither;
They had been fou for weeks thegither”
Gilbert Burns (1760 – 1827)
It is perhaps a frustration for Haddington based admirers of our National Bard that the Royal Burgh’s links with Robert Burns is at the very best, tenuous. In fact, when local Burnsians meet, a common topic of debate is whether or not he ever paid us a visit. But that is an argument that can be pursued at another time.
Thank goodness that our links with his younger brother, Gilbert are both robust and highly demonstrable.
Born in 1760, Gilbert was the second child of William Burnes and his wife, Agnes Broun, and being only twenty months younger than his famous big brother, he was to become his constant companion, playmate (if play as we recognise it existed then), co-worker and business partner. As Robert’s fame and ardour meant he was to spread his wings, Gilbert provided a home and Christian upbringing to his firstborn, “the love begotten daughter” Elizabeth and to their widowed mother. Eventually, he was to shed unparalleled light on his brother’s formative years as early biographers clamoured to tell the now familiar story.
Both Robert and Gilbert were to benefit from their father’s belief in education and it is somehow surprising to note that the brothers’ first teacher, John Murdoch, originally earmarked Gilbert as being the one most likely to succeed! Later, described as being methodical, somewhat timid, and determined not to offend the gentry, Gilbert has been somewhat unfairly criticised as lacking his brother’s wit, flair and genius. While this is undoubtedly true, it would be equally true of almost everyone who has ever lived, with the possible exception of Shakespeare!
Gilbert, originally in partnership with Robert, tenanted the farm of Mossgiel in Ayrshire, from 1783 until 1798 before moving to Dinning in Nithsdale for two years.
It was in 1800 that Gilbert and his large family moved to East Lothian to become estate manager to Captain John Dunlop of Morham. Captain Dunlop’s mother, Frances Dunlop of Dunlop was an important figure in the life of Robert Burns having been described as both his mentor and mother confessor and it seems likely that this connection may have influenced Gilbert’s appointment.
In 1884 they made the short move to Grant’s Braes on the Haddington to Bolton road on Gilbert’s appointment as factor to the Lennoxlove estate owned by Lord Blantyre. Gilbert and his wife Jean Breckenridge from Kilmarnock had eleven children of their own and the household was augmented by, his mother Agnes, his sister Annabella, and Robert’s daughter, Elizabeth, whom Gilbert had promised to “bring up as his own”. The family drew their water from a nearby well.
“For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
It’s comin yet for a’ that,
Shall brithers be for a’ that.”
As befitted a man of his position and education, Burns seemed to throw himself into community life and became treasurer of the Bolton Bible society. When the present church at Bolton was erected, in 1809, it was he who acted as unofficial clerk of works, supervising its completion. A subsequent minister at Bolton, was to suggest that “the church stands as a memorial to Gilbert and the Burns family”, but while such a thought may be appealing, it has to be seen as something of an exaggeration. Gilbert was ordained an Elder of the Church in 1808 with responsibility for the areas of Lethington, Colstoun, East and West Bearford, Myreside, Monkrigg, Dalgowrie, Westfield and Begbie.
Gilbert
erected a family tombstone in the churchyard in memory of three of his children,
Isabella, Agnes, and Janet and his (and Robert’s)
mother
Agnes Broun. In the early months of 1827, his daughter, Jean and son, John were
to be buried there, and in April of the same year, Gilbert, himself, died aged
sixty six.
His sister, Annabella who died in March11832 was also interred in the same grave.
Closer inspection of the inscriptions on the tombstone reveals two interesting anomalies. Firstly, unlike so many of their generation, the youthful occupants of the Burns grave did not die in infancy, but with the exception of seven year old Isabella, in young adulthood. The causes of these deaths are unclear.
Secondly, the name of Jean Breckenridge does not appear on the tombstone, and the fate of the mother of Gilbert’s eleven children is unexplained. Additional research reveals that she lived until 1841, dying, aged seventy seven, at the residence of her son, James in Erskine, Renfrewshire. Thus Gilbert and Jean, like his parents before them, are buried in graves separated by the breadth of Scotland, in this case, perhaps, the victims of the tied cottage system which may have necessitated Jean’s removal from the family home at Grant’s Braes.
The cottage at Grant’s Braes is long since demolished, and a roadside monument stands in its place.
Approximately one hundred yards northeast lies the well now dedicated to Agnes Broun and lovingly restored in 1932 by celebrated Burnsian William Baxter FSA. The dedication states:
“Drink of the pure crystals and not only be ye succoured but also refreshed in the mind. Agnes Broun, 1732 –1820. To the mortal and immortal memory and in noble tribute to her, who not only gave a son to Scotland but to the whole world and whose own doctrines he preached to humanity that we might learn”
A son of Gilbert and Jean, the Reverend Doctor Thomas Burns, was one of the founders of the city of Dunedin in New Zealand in 1848 and he is remembered in the slightly misspelt name of its suburb, Mosgiel. Their nephew, Sir James Shaw, became Lord Mayor of London.
In 1999, the Grants Braes Burns Club was registered by the Burns Federation. It meets under the chairmanship of Mr Paul Kinnoch, in the Tyneside Tavern, Haddington some two miles from the monuments and exists to promote and develop interest in Robert Burns and his East Lothian heritage.
Bob Mitchell 2003
The monument, indicating the former site of the Grant's Braes cottage on the A6137 road to Bolton