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William Burnes or William Burness (11 November 1721 – 13 February 1784), the father of Robert Burns the poet, was born at either Upper Kinmonth〔Mackay, Page 20〕 or Clochnahill Farm, Dunnottar, Kincardineshire, and trained as a gardener at Inverugie Castle, Aberdeenshire, before moving to Ayrshire and becomimg a tenant farmer. His parents were Robert Burnes and Isabella Keith.〔(Calgary Burns Club ) Retrieved : 22 April 2012〕 He retained the spelling 'Burnes' throughout his life, however his son favoured the Ayrshire spelling of 'Burns'.〔Mackay, Page 28〕 ==Life and character== William had three brothers, George died young,〔Mackay, Page 22〕 James and Robert survived into adulthood. He had received a basic education which exceeded that of most boys of his time and was very competent in the three Rs, and displayed a very neat hand.〔 The Burnes family are said to have had Jacobite sympathies, illustrated by the fact that William thought it necessary to get a certificate from three Kincardineshire landlords, testifying that he was 'a very well-inclind lad'. In 1748 his father, Robert Burnes, a gardener, who had ambitions as a farmer, was ruined by the economic depression that followed the Jacobite uprising of 1745.〔 At this time Edinburgh was known to have a demand for gardeners and William Burnes took the opportunity, spending the next two years 'landscaping' for Sir Thomas Hope in the city, part of his work being in Hope Park, later known as The Meadows.〔〔 He next found employment in Ayrshire, working first for the Laird of Fairlie in 1750, and later moving to Carrick and working near Maybole. He was a good worker and received a certificate of good character from the session clerk and minister of Dundonald. In 1754 he was employed by the Crawfords of Doonside〔 for a period of two years, lodging at Doonside Mill and saving for his future, his father having probably died at around this time, freeing him from the maintenance payments he had been making to his retired father back at Denside. He was ambitious to set up as a nurseryman for himself so he feued, from Dr Alexander Campbell of Ayr, seven and a half acres of land at Alloway. Unable to make a living in this way alone, he obtained in the summer and autumn of 1757 a position as head gardener at Doonhom, the estate of a retired London doctor, Provost William Fergusson of Ayr.〔〔Mackay, Page 24〕 Burnes, a tall, shy, and reserved man,〔Mackay, Page 26〕 began building a two-roomed cottage on the nursery land at Alloway in 1757, and courted a girl at Alloway Mill, apparently composing a letter proposing marriage but tearing it up upon meeting Agnes Broun, a lively 24-year-old, 11 years his junior, a vivacious red-head with brown eyes.〔 On 15 December married Agnes Broun, a farmer's daughter who hailed from Craigenton, in Kirkoswald parish, South Ayrshire.〔 They would remain together for 26 years, until his death.〔 Robert was their first child, born on 25 January 1759, followed by Gilbert in 1760, Agnes in 1762, Annabella in 1764, William in 1767, John in 1769 and Isabella in 1771. By 1765, the Alloway cottage had becoming too small, and Burnes approached Provost Fergusson with a view to leasing Mount Oliphant farm, two miles distant. Provost Fergusson allowed him a twelve year lease, with the option of a break at six years, lending him £100 to buy stock.〔 Towards the end of the Mount Oliphant lease period Fergusson died and William fell behind in his rent. The exchanges over these arrears with the factor were alarming for William and the rest of the family, but the debts were settled amicably by the estate taking a mortgage on the Alloway cottage, leaving William free at the end of his lease in 1777 to move to Lochlea, South Ayrshire.〔 ;Litigation William fell into arrears with his rent whilst farming Lochlea, and his landlord, David McLure, put two legal petitions before the Sheriff of Ayrshire over alleged arrears of rent. Burnes eventually won his appeal to the Court of Session on 27 January 1784, and paid in the balance of the rent which had been set against his own expenses in liming, fencing and erecting new buildings. ;Death Upon his death bed William said that he feared for the good conduct of one of his family. Upon enquiry he told Robert that he was referring to him, evoking silent tears of remorse.〔Mackay, Page 130〕 He died from 'physical consumption' and exhaustion on 13 February 1784. William was buried in the abandoned Alloway Kirk which he had helped to preserve, despite dying in the parish of Tarbolton. His present headstone is the third, the previous two having been chipped away by souvenir hunters.〔Mackay, Page 131〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「William Burnes」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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