Burgess ticket 1

                                Dumbarton Burns Club
                                                              Federation No. 10 ---- Instituted 1859
                                            The Burgess Ticket Story

As you will have read on the page "Burns Dumbarton Connection", Robert Burns was given
                                            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.

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, but 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".

The Ticket measures approximately 8 inches (20cm) square.

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!

Its reappearance seems to have made no more than a passing interest and it was not until 1925 that John Menzies, who was then Secretary of the Dumbarton Burns Club, made an effort to have it returned to the town. With that in mind he entered into correspondence with Violet Burns Gowring, the great granddaughter of the poet and subsequently visited her in Eastbourne. Its reappearance seems to have made no more than a passing interest and it was not until 1925 that John Menzies, who was then Secretary of the Dumbarton Burns Club, made an effort to have it returned to the town. With that in mind he entered into
correspondence with Violet Burns Gowring, the great granddaughter of the poet
and subsequently visited her in Eastbourne.
Handing over Burgess Ticket

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 was                                                                                                                    instrumental 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 the                                                                                                             names of Honorary Burgesses, such as Burns was, were seldom recorded
in the minutes of the Burgh Council
                                                                                                         .

The full text of the engraving on the stone reads :-

                       To the memory of James Oliphant minister of Dumbarton who died the tenth day
                   of April one thousand eight hundred and eighteen years in the 84^th year of his age
                     and ???? licenced to preach the Gospel by the Presbytery of Kintyre. ???? officiated
               nearly a year in Gorbals of Glasgow was ordained by the Presbytery of Irvine and
           Kilmarnock and remained there until 23^rd 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.
Oliphant's gravestone in walled enclosure

The then Provost, the late Pat O'Neill, James L. Hempstead,President James Cardle, Lavinia Drew and family, Lord Lieutenant Donald Hardie.

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.

This is a fitting place as the house was the town house of the Earls of Glencairn, well known to Burns.

Detail of Plaque on Greit House
Unveiling group

Plaque on Greit House Unveiling the Plaque

Oliphant's Gravestone

Gravestone in rain

Glencairn's Greit House

Old print of Greit House