Robert Burns and Highland MaryThis statue, by local Eaglesham artist William Gemmell, is of the Scottish poet Robert Burns and his partner Mary Campbell.
Robert Burns met Mary Campbell in 1786 shortly after his enforced separation from Jean Armour. Their relationship was brief but intense, lasting from 23rd April to 14th May. Mary and Robert exchanged matrimonial vows according to Scottish Law (marriage was legal at that time providing vows had been exchanged and the relationship consummated) and parted to make arrangements to emigrate to Jamaica. Burns, however, postponed his plans and unfortunately Mary died in Greenock in October 1786, possibly in premature childbirth, induced by typhus.
Mary Campbell was born in 1763, the daughter of Archibald and Agnes Campbell of Cowel in Argyle. She worked first as a nursemaid in the home of Gavin Hamilton, a lawyer in Mauchlin, and then as a dairyman at Coilsfiled, near Mauchline.
Burns wrote four poems about her:
My Highland Lassie, c1786
Thou Lingering Star, 1789
Will Ye Go To The Indies, My Mary, 1792
Highland Mary, c1792
