The new Club Badge for the Homecoming Year 2009
Ian Strang's etching
( more information see Club History button, on the left)
Burgess Ticket during his stop-over here. See below for the story of how it was "lost" and
finally returned to Dumbarton.
The history of this Burgess Ticket is both arduous in it's history and interesting.
Burns Burgess Ticket -- the original is about 8 inches square
The coat of arms for Royal Burgh of Dumbarton is an elephant bearing a castle on its back; first seen in 1357 in a document relating to the ransom of King David II. The heraldic device was first registered in 1672 as “Azure, an elephant passant argent, tusked or, bearing on his back a tower proper” This emblem has been the subject of much controversy over the years. An elephant chosen as the device for a medieval Scottish Burgh seems rather odd and a variety of theories have been put forward to explain this. It could be that the rock itself, viewed from a certain angle resembles this device. It has also been thought that the obvious reason is that an elephant represents strength and the castle, an impregnable fortress. The Burgh motto is “Fortitudo et Fidelitas" ( Strength and Fidelity) so this seems to be a better explanation! However, as “Elephant and Castle “ is also the name of a district in London and a popular name for English licensed premises, this merely adds to the confusion. Similarly, the device can be seem carved on the choir stalls of both Exeter and Ripon Cathedrals!
Using the exact spelling, punctuation, capitalisation and line changes of the original, the Burns Burgess Ticket reads as follows:-
At
Dumbarton the Twenty Ninth
day of June
Seventeen hundred and Eight Seven
years ---
In
Presence of
James
Colqhuoun of Newlands
Es:
:quire
Provost of the Burgh of Dumbarton Neil Camp:
:bell and Robert
Gardner
Esquires Bailies Robert
McLintock
Dean
of Guild and John Jarden Treasurer
thereof
Compeared Mr Robert
Burns of Ayrshire
who was
admitted and received an
Burgess and
Guild Brother of the
said
Burgh with power to
him
to use
and enjoy all
the priviledges and Immunities
thereto belonging. Extracted by ---
John McAulay
Note
that a colon [:] was often given (in
handwriting in those days) the additional function of a hyphen at the
end of a
line where a word has not been completed, and at the beginning of the
next line
where the word is completed.
"Compear" was
an old legal term used to mean "appear formally
before an official group of people in order for some
verdict/decision/award to
be made"
Despite
Burns being made a Burgess of the town, no trace of his Burgess Ticket
could be
traced until, in 1911 it was found to have been placed on display at
the
National Exhibition held
in Glasgow, having been lent by the Burns Family of
Cheltenham, England!
The outcome of his perseverance resulted in the Burgess Ticket being returned in time for him to produce it in the course of his “Immortal Memory” speech in 1926. The Ticket was subsequently handed over to the Council for safekeeping. For well over a century tradition had it the the Rev. James Oliphant wasinstrumental in the Ticket being lost. Oliphant had been minister in the High Kirk, Kilmarnock during Burns time in Ayrshire and Burns had lampooned him in “The Ordination”. He was Minister in Dumbarton at the time of Burns visit and is buried in the churchyard here. It is unlikely that this is true as thenames of Honorary Burgesses, such as Burns was, were seldom recorded in the minutes of the Burgh Council.
Oliphant's second wife was the daughter of Humphrey Colquhoun of Barnhill, Dumbarton
The full text of the engraving on the stone reads :-
Sacred
to the memory of James Oliphant,
Minister of Dumbarton who died the tenth
year of his
age day of April one
thousand eight hundred and eighteen years in the 84th and
the 54th of
his ministry. He was
licenced to preach the Gospel by the
Presbytery of
Kintyre in Islay,19th May,1760 ;
ordained nearly a year in
Gorbals of
Glasgow : was ordained by the Presbytery of Irvine at
Kilmarnock and
remained there until 23rd December 1773, when he was ordained
Minister
of the Church and Parish of
Dumbarton, where he
continued to
labour until
removed by death
The
church that stands in the place where Oliphant preached is not the same
building that he preached in but the graveyard contains many
ancient
remains of that era. The church was rebuilt in 1811.
Burns would have been given his Ticket in the Tolbooth but this was demolished in 1830. However, across the High Street Glencairn House still stands and it is here that you will find the plaque. The then Provost, the late Pat O'Neill, James L. Hempstead, President James Cardle, Lavinia Drew, Burns great,great,great grand-daughter, and family, Lord Lieutenant Donald Hardie gathered to unveil the plaque.
This is a fitting place as the house was the town house of the Earls of Glencairn, well known to Burns.
over to the Council
Violet Burns Gowring
circa 1800
circa 1970
Mrs Lavinia Drew and J.L. Hempstead
after the unveiling
Glencairn House
