Robert Burnes or Robert Burness (1719 – 3 January 1789) was a paternal uncle of the poet Robert Burns. He left the family farm of Clochnahill or Clokenhill in Kincardineshire with his younger brother William Burnes, and found work at the Lochridge or Lochrig limestone quarries and lime kilns that lay near Byrehill Farm near Stewarton. He was a teacher, a gardener later in life and a land steward on the nearby Robertland Estate, possibly through the influence of his nephew. Robert Burns referred to his him as Poor Uncle Robert upon his death in 1789.
Life and background
Roberts parents were Robert Burnes and Isabella Keith. He retained the spelling 'Burnes' throughout his life, however his nephew favoured the Ayrshire spelling of 'Burns' and official records as well as his memorial inscription omit the 'e'.
Robert is said to have gone to England or Southern Scotland at first, working for some time as a gardener, having supposedly parted from his brother on the summit of Garvock Tap. He then lived for several years, arriving around 1748, certainly by 1781, in a cot house at Titwood Farm in Dreghorn Parish, where he worked in the summer months as a quarryman and possibly being apprenticed at some point as a stonemason. He would at some stage have been a cotter or agricultural worker. His brother William recorded in a letter dated 1781 that his brother lived in 'Stewarton' and that his circumstances were "rather indifferent." Robert attended his brother William's funeral in 1784.
Robert had severe rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis that prevented him from doing hard physical work in the cold winter months and to maintain himself and his family he opened a school in his home for the sons of local farmers sons. When his condition became too painful and debilitating he moved to a house in the Buck's Head Close or to the Buck's Head Inn itself, located just off the main street in Stewarton and this may have been the house he once occupied mentioned in an 1896 Glasgow Herald article about a dwelling nicknamed the "stane stair", a two story thatched cottages next to the Happy Land lodging house that the Stewarton Town Council in 1910 condemned as “unfit for habitation” and had demolished. It had once had a stone stair that projected onto the street, hence the name. Later he moved to another house in the town with his family. Caldhame Farm on the Robertland Estate was the home of Robert, his wife Agnes Craig and their family whilst he was a land steward between at least 1774 and 1784. The family were said to have been upright, respectable and "..never had much wealth and at times their circumstances were far from affluent." They are said to have kept in close contact with Gilbert and Robert whilst they were living at Mossgiel.
Robert's nephew, the poet, is said to have had a sweetheart in Stewarton who he met at a merry making in Kilmarnock. The girl was keen to marry Burns however her parents were against it and she married a man named Black and the two raised a large family.
The Caldhame Letters
Sir James Hunter Blair of Blairquhan uncovered six letters in his family's archive written between 1776 and 1779 by a Robert Burnes (never Burns) to the first baronet from Caldhame near Stewarton; a seventh letter was discovered recently by the Blairquhan Castle archivist. This individual was a land steward at the Robertland estate. William Logan, the Robertland Estate Factor living at Kilmaurs House or Place had employed a Robert Burnes and wrote a series of letters from May 1774 to 1784 to his employer that sometimes refer to a Robert Burnes.
This Robert had detailed knowledge of selecting kilned lime and the liming of crops, caring for cattle, and drainage work. Deputising for the absentee factor he collected rents and wrote to the laird. The existence of another person with the same name, approximate age, knowledge of liming, both married, well educated, etc. and living in the same area seems very unlikely and the birth record of Robert Burnes to Agnes and Robert gives the dwelling as 'Caldhame'. Sir James Hunter Blair died in 1787 and this event may have impacted his employment.
The Stewarton Parish Register of Births, Deaths and marriages records that this Robert Burnes had a son that was named Robert, registered on 29 January 1778, the mother being given as Robert's wife Agnes Craig and the residence is given as 'Caldhame'. A duplicate copy of the register confirms these details and gives the spelling 'Burnes'. This confirms that 'Poor Uncle Robert' became for a time the Robertland Estate land steward as related in the 'Caldhame Letters', working under the Factor, William Logan, first of Kilmaurs House and later Thornton House.