Hair bracelet, with a lock of Mrs Jean Armour Burns hair encased inside

Key details

Object number: 3.8512
Date: 1800 to 1829
On display: No

Description

Bracelet made of hair, in cotton-mesh style, with lock of Jean Armour's hair held within square gold clasp.

The hair bracelet, with a lock of Mrs Burns` (Jean Armour) hair, is a memento donated to the Burns Cottage Museum in Alloway. Jean Armour (1765-1834), a stone-mason's daughter from Mauchline became the wife of the Poet in 1788. Jean gave birth to nine of Robert Burns' children and survived the Poet by almost forty years.

The lock of Mrs. Burns' hair was removed during her years in Dumfries. Jean in her widowed years became a local celebrity. A large number of important visitors to the town would call on her to pay their respects.

Shaw mair