Dr Gavin Hamilton Popular Books

Dr Gavin Hamilton Biography & Facts

Gavin Hamilton was one of Robert Burns's closest friends and a patron. The first 'Kilmarnock Edition' of his poems were dedicated to Gavin Hamilton. Life and character He was born in 1751 in Mauchline, Scotland. His father, John Hamilton of Kype near Strathaven in Lanarkshire, was a lawyer in Mauchline and clerk to the regality of Mauchline. His mother was Jacobina Young, his father's first wife. Gavin became a writer or lawyer in Mauchline and a factor or clerk to the Regality of Mauchline to the Earl of Loudoun. Gavin had purchased the Abbot's Tower or Castle of Mauchline and constructed a modern villa adjacent to it, but later sold the property to the Earl of Loudoun and leased it back. Gavin was appointed the collector of stent in 1775 and administered the collection of poor relief within the parish. Gavin was a fifth son and married Helen Kennedy, eldest daughter of Robert Kennedy of [[Daljarrock on 10 July 1775, having eight children of his own. He brought up his family in the house attached to the old Abbot's Tower or Castle of Mauchline. He was a 'New Licht' in his religious views and is described as high spirited, generous, kind, open and engaging, characteristics, all of which endeared him to Burns. Gavin's great grandfather had been the curate at Kirkoswald and was an ardent Episcopalian who was thought to have been central in the 1677 incursiom by the 'Highland Host' into Ayrshire, a thousand strong and the cause of such physical damage and financial consequence that Ayrshire had not fully recovered in Burns's day. The evidence for this is however is less than certain. John Kennedy, Factor to the Earl of Dumfries at Dumfries House was Gavin's brother-in-law as well as a close friend and correspondent of Burns. Burns refers to two of his children, John and "..little Beennie" or Jacobina. The Gavin Hamilton family memorial at the kirk in Mauchline was erected in 1919 by the Partick Burns Club and was restored by the club in conjunction with the Mauchline Burns Club in 2003 as recorded on the monument. On 12 April 1919 a memorial to Gavin Hamilton was unveiled at the Burns House Museum in Mauchline by Charles Cowie and possession handed to the Glasgow and District Burns Association. Association with Robert Burns Burns is thought to have first met Gavin Hamilton in 1783, introduced by fellow lawyer Robert Aiken of Ayr. Gavin at first worked with his father and then set up his own office that is thought to have either been in Back Causeway (Castle Street) or Loudoun Street. Burns dedicated his Kilmarnock edition of Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect to Hamilton who was a subscriber to forty copies as well as distributing many of the 96 proposal forms. In 1786 a letter in the Edinburgh Evening Courant stated "that "not one" of Ayrshire's "Peers, Nabobs, and wealthy commoners" had "stepped forth as a patron" to Burns". Hamilton responded by saying that "the greatest part ... were subscribed for, or bought up by, the gentlemen of Airshire (sic)". In 1784 Hamilton leased the 118 acre Mossgiel Farm, previously known as Mossgavil, from the Earl of Loudoun with the intention of using it as a summer retreat. His wife, however, was not keen on the arrangement. Mossgavil, as Burns knew it, stands on a ridge of trap or basalt. The name may derive from the Gaelic Mas-geal, pronounced Maos-gheul, 'bleak or fallow ridge', referring to bleak and uncultivated moss. Gavin instead sub-let the farm to Robert and Gilbert Burns in November 1783 for £90 a year. At this time when their father William Burnes was in litigation with David McLure over the conditions of the lease of Lochlea Farm and had only a few months to live. Mossgiel had been built, at least in part, by Gavin Hamilon only a few years before and was a comfortable residence with a modern spence or parlour. Hamilton may have given legal advice to his friend Burns that this arrangement would best protect the family's financial interests and the sub-let was kept from the brother's father. Between 1785 and circa May 1786 Gavin employed Mary Campbell, better known as 'Highland Mary', as a nursery maid and Burns probably first met her at his home. Hamilton drew up a document for Burns that gave the date of 22 May 1785 for the birth of Elizabeth Bishop (Burns), better known as Dear-bought Bess, his daughter and first child with Elizabeth Paton. Hamilton is said to have encouraged Burns in his plans to emigrate to Jamaica and Captain Smith, master of the ship that Burns intended to travel to Jamaica in, was a good friend of Gavin Hamilton. With the printing and success of 'The Kilmarnock Edition' he advised the poet to stay and suggested employment in the excise. It was Hamilton in 1786 who delivered the letter from Dr Blacklock to Burns that praised the poets works and gave him further encouragement to stay in Scotland. Hamilton, like Burns, was a Freemason and accompanied the poet to the Newmilns Lodge in March 1786. Hamilton was a subscriber to 40 copies of the 'Kilmarnock Edition'. Correspondence His half-brothers and sisters lived on the Harvieston estate near Dollar where Burns visited them, writing a detailed record of his visit to Gavin mentioning Grace Hamilton and paying particular attention to Charlotte Hamilton who he named the "Maid of Devon" and later addressed in "The Banks of Devon". He told them that "..the wee curlie John", was "..so good a boy and so fine a scholar". When in 1786 Burns first arrived in Edinburgh he shared a room with his 'Mauchline' friend John Richmond, a solicitors clerk, who had once worked for Gavin Hamilton and would later become a lawyer in Mauchline himself. Burns wrote revealingly to Hamilton about Jean Armour during his stay in Edinburgh saying "To tell the truth among friends, I feel a miserable blank in my heart, with want of her, and I don't think I shall ever meet with so delicious an armful again .." Burns in December 1786 wrote again from Edinburgh saying that "For my own affairs, I am in a fair way of becoming as eminent as Thomas à Kempis or John Bunyan; and you may expect henceforth to see my birthday inscribed among the wonderful events in the Poor Robin and Aberdeen Almanacks along with the Black Monday, and the Battle of Bothwell Bridge." In February 1788 he writes to Agnes Maclehose that he is on his way to visit Gavin Hamilton and that "I hate myself as an unworthy sinner, because these interviews of old, dear friends make me for half a moment almost forget Clarinda". Gavin Hamilton and Burns's published works In 1786 Burns wrote the following "Epitaph for Gavin Hamilton Esq"; He also oddly placed on page 185, a significant way through the 'Kilmarnock Edition', "A Dedication to Gavin Hamilton Esq." as well as making reference to Gavin in "Holy Willie's Prayer" and describing him in "To the Rev. John McMath". He wrote "To Mr Gavin Hamilton Esq., Mauchline. Recommending a boy, Mossgaville, May 3, 1786" and dedicated "Nature's Law" to him, not printed .... Discover the Dr Gavin Hamilton popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Dr Gavin Hamilton books.