Robert Burns again

  Professor Gillian Black of the Department of Law at Edinburgh University, has been conducting an informal study of some of the heraldry to be encountered in Scottish cemeteries: she has written this post for us.

 Robert Burns and Jean Lorimer

 Perhaps the most famous “faux” arms in Scotland are those designed by Robert Burns – and I was surprised and delighted to find them on a memorial in East Preston Street cemetery, in Newington, Edinburgh:

The stone was erected in 1901 by the Ninety Burns Club, to mark the grave of Jean Lorimer, or “Chloris”. She lived from 1775 – 1831, and inspired at least 24 of Burns’ songs, including (as noted on the gravestone) “The Lassie wi’ the Lintwhite hair”.

 

More information about Jean’s eventful life can be found here:

http://www.robertburns.org/encyclopedia/LorimerJean17751511831.541.shtml

 And as for the arms on the stone: 

 These show the arms which Burns sketched out for himself in a letter to Alexander Cunningham in 1794, although they were only registered in 1988 by the Burns Federation. The blazon is:             “Argent, a holly bush and in chief a club and stock-and-horn saltireways all Proper."

and for crest: "A woodlark perching on a sprig of bay tree Proper."

 A final note is that this stone is also a very rare example (in fact, to date, the solitary example) of arms on a Celtic cross. I am not sure why this should be, but my graveyard ramblings so far have never yet yielded a Celtic cross displaying arms.

Editor's note: here is the painting done in 18th century style by former Ross Herald Extraordinary, Mark Dennis, of the Bard's assumed arms: