Freemasonry and Robert Burns

The 18th century was a time that celebrated gentlemen’s clubs throughout Britain, with a great variety of societies available to men of all classes. These clubs were a form of private social gathering, where men could meet, make connections and often discuss the politics of the day.

Although many of these clubs were based in urban centres like London, Glasgow and Edinburgh, smaller communities also offered residents a vibrant scene that provided the opportunity for friendship. Like many young 18th-century Scottish men, Robert Burns was greatly interested in participating in ‘club culture’, as it offered all the promise of intellectual and convivial pleasures that a young farmer could wish for.

In 1780 Robert Burns co-founded the Tarbolton Bachelors’ Club near Lochlea Farm in Ayrshire, where he lived with his parents and siblings. The club was made up of close friends who sought to debate topics of importance to young farmers like themselves. Among the club’s rules was the requirement that ‘every Man proper for a member of this Society, must have a frank, honest, open heart; above anything dirty or mean; and must be a professed lover of one or more of the female sex’.

After leaving the Bachelors’ Club, and with a thirst for more sociability, Burns sought to participate in other clubs and societies on a larger scale. In this spirit, Burns was initiated on 4 July 1781 in Lodge St David no. 174 in Tarbolton, Ayrshire, becoming a Freemason (the first degree of an Entered Apprentice); in doing so, he joined an international association that has its roots in Scotland.

Freemasonry, religion and politics

The first Freemasons grew out of artisanal guilds in 17th-century Scotland, forming associational groups which offered masons (stone masons or bricklayers) the opportunity for social interaction, professional solidarity and a degree of financial security. These early Freemasons were known as ‘operatives’, owing to their actual experience in the trade of stone masonry; non-operative candidates were later admitted as ‘speculative’ members, who quickly became a large part of the society.

One major appeal of Freemasonry was its mysterious set of rites, rituals and practices, loosely created out of some of the architectural tools and principles associated with the practice of stone masonry itself. This created an aura of mystery surrounding Freemasonry as a whole, that persists to this day. The society’s relationship to religion was particularly a source of curiosity to outsiders, with many people suspecting that Freemasons held beliefs contrary to some Christian denominations, ideals and values. As well as this concern, Freemasonry was thought to promote pro-Revolutionary political sentiments. However, such concerns were mostly unfounded in actual masonic practices in Scotland, which primarily focused on promoting their own club culture rather than engaging in issues relating to religion and politics. Robert Burns may have had this aspect of Freemasonry in mind when he joined the society in 1781.

Burns and Freemasonry in Ayrshire

It didn’t take long for Burns to rise in the lodge, just as he had in the Tarbolton Bachelors’ Club. Only three months after his admission, Burns had become a Master Mason and was asked to facilitate contact with the group’s Worshipful Grand Master (usually a nobleman in the speculative rank). At the time he entered Lodge St David, Burns and his family were experiencing financial insecurity, owing to the high rent his father owed for their farm at Lochlea. One of the major attractions of Freemasonry to the working class, like Burns, was the promise of financial aid from the society in case of emergency. Due to financial stresses affecting the lodge, Burns approached the Worshipful Grand Master Sir John Whitefoord, inquiring about access to its monetary fund. Although later Whitefoord would support Burns, he did not address the lodge’s concerns in this case, leaving the group in considerable confusion about how to proceed. Despite this disappointment, Burns continued to serve a prominent role in the lodge; in fact, he was elected to serve as its Depute Master, a post responsible for organizing meetings, keeping records and maintaining order.

The value of Burns’s connection to Freemasonry can also be seen in the poems and songs that he addressed to his fellow Freemasons like ‘Farewell to the Brethren of St. James Lodge’ in 1786. This poem, like other examples of his club verse, testified to the strength of his attachment to Freemasonry, as it was written to express his affections for the group before he planned to leave for Jamaica. However, upon the great success of the Kilmarnock edition of his Poems (1786), Burns chose to stay in Scotland and travelled to Edinburgh to promote his work, where he met with nearly universal acclaim, especially from his fellow Freemasons who eagerly inducted him into their lodges.

Burns and Freemasonry in Edinburgh

In one of his first visits to Edinburgh lodges, Burns experienced a mark of recognition from his fellow Freemasons that amazed him. On 13 January 1787, Burns visited Lodge St. Andrew No. 48 Edinburgh, which he noted in a letter to a friend was attended by members ‘most numerous and elegant’ who came from ‘all the different Lodges about town … in all their pomp’. The Grand Master of Lodge Canongate Kilwinning, Francis Charteris, Lord Elcho, was conducting toasts for the group, which included an impromptu salute for ‘Caledonia’s Bard, brother Burns’. In his letter, Burns notes that the toast was met ‘with multiplied honors and repeated acclamations’, which he confessed left him ‘downright thunderstruck’. This approbation for a previously unknown young farmer from Ayrshire shocked Burns, and is often taken as evidence that he was later crowned the poet laureate of Lodge Canongate Kilwinning. This act was depicted in a painting by Stewart Watson, even though there is no evidence that such an event actually took place. Stewart’s painting along with other Masonic items, like a leather apron purportedly owned by Burns, testify to his enduring influence in the association.

The glorification of Burns continues into the present day, as can be noted in the praise and testimony to his positive influence in still-practising Scottish lodges in Edinburgh and elsewhere. Indeed, Burns might be regarded as the Scottish Freemason par excellence, owing to his ability to embody and represent the group’s highest ideals of brotherhood and equality for all.