Western Reserve University
20 August 1938
CHRONOLOGY OF BURNS’S LIFE
I. AYRSHIRE
1759. Jan. 25. Robert Burns born at Alloway; eldest son of William Burnes (1721-1784) and his wife Agnes Broun (1732-1820). The other children were Gilbert (1760-1827), Agnes (1762-1834), Anabella (1764-1832), William (1767-1790), John (1769-1785), and Isabella (1771-1858).
1765. Robert and Gilbert sent to school to John Murdoch.
1766. William Burnes rents Mt. Oliphant farm.
1768. Murdoch gives up Alloway school. The Titus Andronicus incident.
1772. Robert and Gilbert attend Dalrymple parish school, week about, during summer quarter.
1773. Robert studies grammar and French with Murdoch for three weeks; writes his first song, ‘Handsome Nell’, for Nellie Kilpatrick.
1774. Hard times begin at Mt. Oliphant.