Robert Graham

Life and character

He was the son of Robert Graham, 11th Laird of Fintry who died in October 1756 when Robert junior was only seven. and John Graham, 1st Viscount Dundee, Bluidy Clavers, persecutor of the Covenanters. His Edinburgh address was George Street.

A 1990s revelation is that Graham was in 1793 paid £26 6s 0d. from Henry Dundas's spy network funding to spread pro William Pitt propaganda. He wrote a series of letters to Robert Dundas about radical activists in the Dundee area where he ran a group of paid informers.

Association with Robert Burns

On 31 August 1787 Graham met Robert Burns in Blair Atholl at Athole House, seat of the Duke of Atholl whilst he was on his Highland Tour.

Writing to Frances Dunlop on 2 August 1787 Burns said of Graham "Mr Graham of Fintry, one of the worthiest and most accomplished Gentlemen, not only of this Country, but I will dare say it, of this age."

Burns commented that Graham was a "Friend of the Poet, Tried and Leal (loyal)."

Burns in July 1789 confided in Graham that "I am deliberating whether I had not better give up farming altogether." By January 1790 he had made up his mind, making him entirely dependent on his Excise career and promotions, which he hoped his patron would assist him with.

In January 1794 Burns wrote to Graham suggesting the abolition of the Second Division of Excise. The war had resulted in a dramatic drop in imports and had lessened the Excise workload. He stated that he was concerned that no public servant should "eat the bread of idleness" but asked that he should not be revealed as the author of the suggestion. Patrick Heron of the Kirroughtree Estate near Newton Stewart was the personage who he hoped would assist him in his quest for promotion to Supervisor.

Graham in 1796 was unable to grant Burns's request to be placed back on full pay during his final illness and instead sent him a private donation of £5.

Correspondence with Robert Graham and family Around twenty letters survive from their correspondence. The letters are held by the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway, South Ayrshire.

On 7 January 1788 Burns wrote to Graham regarding his application to join the Excise "I now solicit your Patronage. You know, I dare say, of an application I lately made to your Board, to be admitted an Officer of Excise. I have according to form, been examined by a Supervisor, and today I give in his Certificate with a request for an Order for instructions."

In September 1788, writing from Ellisland Farm, Burn's commented that he saw his appointment to the Excise "As my sheet anchor in life" and enclosed his "Epistle to Robert Fintry Esq., of Fintry."

Smith was moved, however Burns's machinations have been seen to portray the poet in the poor light of self-interest, however his experience of his father's trials and tribulations regarding farm leases and legal disputes would have preyed upon his mind. The final decision was however that of Collector Mitchell.

One of the reasons for obtaining an Excise post was that the "roving life of a gauger would facilitate the collection of material for a Scottish drama he had then in contemplation."

Burns followed up on 1 September 1789 with "To Mr Graham of Fintry, On being appointed to my Excise Division.": "I call no goddess to inspire my strains, A fabled Muse may suit a Bard that feigns: 'Friend of my life!' my ardent spirit burns, And all the tribute of my heart returns, For boons accorded, goodness ever new, The Gift still dearer, as the Giver You.

Burns wrote to Graham regarding his employment, saying; "I have found the Excise business go on a great deal smoother with me than I apprehended; owing a good deal to the generous friendship of Mr Mitchell, my Collector, and the kind assistance and instruction of Mr Findlater, my Supervisor - I dare to be honest, and I fear no labor."

Another comment shed light on his working practices; "I recorded every defaulter; but at the court, I myself begged off every poor body that was unable to pay, which seeming candour gave me so much implicit credit with the Hon. Bench that with high Compliments they gave me such ample vengeance on the rest that my Decreet is double the amount of any Division in the District."

"Epistle to Robert Graham Esq: of Fintry on the Election of the Dumfries string of Boroughs, Anno 1790":

Fintry, my stay in worldly strife, Friend o' my Muse, Friend o' my Life, Are ye as idle's I am? Come then, wi' uncouth, kintra fleg, O'er Pegasus I'll fling my leg, And ye shall see me try him.

But where shall I go rin a ride, That I may splatter nane beside? I wad na be uncivil: In manhood's various paths and ways There's aye some doytin' body strays.

In September 1790 Burns mentioned to Graham that he would gain essential experience and a better income if he were transferred to a Port Division such as Dumfries, Port Glasgow or Greenock. He had a view to being promoted to a Supervisor post somewhere in the North of Scotland.

In December 1792 Burns became embroiled in accusations of disloyalty to the Crown following an incident at Dumfries's Theatre Royal and he wrote to Graham and appealed for help, writing on the last day of that year: "I believe, Sir, I may aver it, and in the sight of Omnipotence, that I would not tell a deliberate Falsehood... and I say, that the allegation, whatever villain has made it, is a LIE! To the British Constitution, on Revolution principles, next after my God, I am mosy devoutly attached". a formal inquiry was set up by the Excise and he only kept his job through his bond of friendship with his more immediate superiors and his professionalism as an officer that saved him.

The first stanza of the 1791 "Epistle to Robert Graham Esq., of Fintry":

"Late crippled of an arm, and now a leg, About to beg a pass for leave to beg; Dull, listless, teased, dejected, and deprest, (Nature is adverse to a cripple's rest); Will generous Graham list to his Poet's wail? (It soothes poor Misery, heark'ning to her tale), And hear him curse the light he first surveyed, And doubly curse the luckless rhyming trade?"

'Generous Graham' was the recipient of what is effectively a begging letter.

In 1794 Burns wrote the last surviving letter to Graham, again urging promotion, and it finishes: "Should the Chapter of Chances and Changes, which God forbid! ever place a Child of yours in the situation to need a Friend, as I have done; may they likewise find that Generous Friend that I have found in YOU!"

Burns also corresponded with Graham's eldest daughter, Anne, sending her a copy of "Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs" published by George Thomson and inscribed on the blank side of the title page "Here, where the Scottish Muse immortal lives." He also instructed Thomson to send her a copy of his 'Sonatas'. To Elizabeth Graham, Robert's wife, he sent a copy of his "The Rights of Women" and a signed copy of the 1793 Edinburgh Edition of his poems, writing inside that "It is probable, Madam, that this page may be read when the hand that now writes it, is mouldering in the dust."