Robert Burns had contact with members of Lodge Canongate Kilwinning long before he ever set foot in Edinburgh. Perhaps the first was Sir John Whitefoord of Ballochmyle, who was initiated into Freemasonry in Lodge Canongate Kilwinning on 12 February 1765. There is an unsigned letter in Robert Burns's handwriting to Sir John Whitefoord, presumably written for the Senior Warden of Lodge St James Tarbolton, Burns's adopoted lodge, lamenting the difficulties that the Tarbolton Lodge had got into and requesting him to help.
The Ballochmyle Estate owned by Sir John Whitefoord was close to Mossgiel and Robert Burns frequently walked in the grounds. Sir John was probably the first of the landed gentry whom Robert got to know personally and his contacts were later to be of benefit to Robert.
However, Sir John Whitefoord lost a great deal of money in the collapse of the Ayr bank, Douglas, Heron & Co, to the extent that he had to sell the Ballochmyle estate to Sir Claud Alexander. Therefore, by the time that Robert Burns arrived in Edinburgh in November 1786 and wrote to him, Sir John acknowledged that his influence was not what it once was.
The second member of Lodge Canongate Kilwinning who had an influence on Robert Burns was Dugald Stewart, Professor of Mathematics at Edinburgh University. He had heard of Burns when his blind friend Dr Thomas Blacklock (a member of Lodge of Holyroodhouse (St Luke) No 44) had asked him to read him some poems from the Kilmarnock Edition which had been sent to Blacklock for his opinion by the Rev George Lawrie, minister of Loudoun parish close to the Burns farm at Mossgiel.
Prof Dugald Stewart had an estate in Catrine on the River Ayr near Mossgiel and was a close friend of Dr John Mackenzie, Burns's family doctor. Through Dr Mackenzie, Prof Stewart invited Robert Burns to dinner at Catrine on Monday 23 October 1786. Just over a month later, Robert Burns arrived in Edinburgh. Although there were many factors in his decision to go there, the influence of these two members of Lodge Canongate Kilwinning was significant. According to the minute books, Professor Dugald Stewart was initiated into Freemasonry in Lodge Canongate Kilwinning on 4 December 1775.
Other Freemasons involved with Lodge Canongate Kilwinning who were influential in persuading Robert Burns to investigate a second edition of poems to be published in Edinburgh were James Dalrymple of Orangefield and his first cousin, the Earl of Glencairn. We believe both were members, but neither appears in the minutes of the Lodge. As they spent considerable time in Edinburgh, given their Ayrshire connections it is highly likely that they were at least regular visitors to Lodge Canongate Kilwinning.
Robert Burns arrived in Edinburgh on 28 November 1786 and wrote to John Mackenzie on 6 December, listing the Literati to whom he had been introduced which included Professors Stewart, Blair, Greenfield, Henry Mackenzie, Duchess of Gordon, Countess of Glencairn, Lord Glencairn and Lady Betty (Glencairn's sister), Sir John Whitefoord, Henry Erskine and several others. Of the ten mentioned, three were female, and four of the remaining seven are recorded as members in the minute books of Lodge Canongate Kilwinning.
Robert Burns certainly attended Lodge Canongate Kilwinning and was assumed a member. The minutes of the meeting on 1st February 1787 record the event: "The RW Master having observed that Brother Burns was at present in the Lodge, who is well known as a great poetic writer, and for a late publication of his works, which have been universally commended, submitted that he should be assumed a member of this Lodge, which was unanimously agreed to and he was assumed accordingly".
There is no other reference to Robert Burns in the minutes of the Lodge during his lifetime. This is not unusual and does not necessarily imply that he only made one visit to the Lodge. Some biographers suggest that he attended the meeting of the Lodge on 7 December 1786 but there is nothing in the minutes to support this. While the minutes in the 1750s and 1760s listed each member and visitor attending each meeting, this practice unfortunately died out in the 1770s, probably because of the increasing work involved as meetings became more and more popular.
Tradition has it that Robert Burns was inaugurated as Poet Laureate of the Lodge on 1st March 1787 (see About The Inauguration Painting) The minute of that date does not mention Robert Burns and it is unlikely that such a grand event as that depicted in the painting would have gone unrecorded.
In any event, the presence of The Grand Master Mason at the supposed Inauguration would have required the minute to have been written up by the Grand Clerk and signed by the Grand Master Mason, just as he had done when the Grand Master Mason and Grand Office Bearers visited the Lodge on 7th December 1786. The minute of the meeting on 1st March 1787 was signed by Alexander Fergusson of Craigdarroch as Master and Charles More as Depute Master suggesting that it was simply a Regular Meeting of the Lodge.
While controversy has raged for over two centuries over whether or not Robert Burns was Poet Laureate, the minute books of the Lodge confirm that Burns was made a member, and that many of the people who played a significant part in his career were also members of Lodge Canongate Kilwinning. We trust that this will become apparent as we detail the characters in the painting in the coming weeks and months.
