Burns was born near Ayr, Scotland 25th of January, 1759. He was the son of William Burnes, or Burness, at the time of the poet's birth a nurseryman on the banks of the Doon in Ayrshire. His father, though always extremely poor, attempted to give his children a fair education, and Robert, who was the eldest, went to school for three years in a neighboring village, and later, for shorter periods, to three other schools in the vicinity. But it was to his father and to his own reading that he owed the more important part of his education; and by the time that he had reached manhood he had a good knowledge of English, a reading knowledge of French, and a fairly wide acquaintance with the masterpieces of English Literature from the time of Shakespeare to his own day. In 1766 William Burness rented on borrowed money the farm of Mount Oliphant, and in taking his share in the effort to make this undertaking succeed, the future poet seems to have seriously overstrained his physique. In 1771 the family move to Lochlea, and Burns went to the neighboring town of Irvine to learn flax-dressing. The only result of this experiment, however, was the formation of an acquaintance with a dissipated sailor, whom he afterward blamed as the prompter of his first licentious adventures.
Robert Burns "Poet - Freemason" 
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Burns
The very mention of the name "Robert Burns"
brings to mind images of red roses, starry-eyed lovers,
Tam-O'-Shanter and the
Cutty
Sark , and the glens of bonnie Scotland. And while these images describe Scotland's "ploughman poet" to some extent, There is another side of Burns that is not as well known: Burns the radical--Burns, the supporter of the French Revolution--Burns, the critic of Religious hypocrisy and Puritanism--Burns, the Freemason.
On his return journey home to Ayrshire as he passed through Dumfries, where he later lived and is the site of the Burns Mausoleum, he was given the freedom of the town. On 25 July 1787, after being re-elected Depute Master he presided at a meeting where several well-known Masons were given honorary membership. A Highland tour followed with many other lodges being visited. During the period from his election as Depute Master in 1784 Lodge St James had been convened 70 times. Burns was present 33 times and was 25 times the presiding officer. On 11 November 1788 was his last meeting at his mother lodge St James Kilwinning.
He joined Lodge Dumfries St Andrew Number 179 on 27 December 1788. This was an unfortunate choice, made perhaps because of the Excise connection. Out of the six Lodges in Dumfries he joined the one which was the weakest of them. The records of this lodge are scant and we hear no more of him until on 30 November 1792 when Burns was elected Senior Warden. From this date until his final meeting in the Lodge on 14 April 1796 it appears that the Lodge met only 5 times. There are no records of Burns visiting any other lodges either.
From a purely Masonic point of view it cannot be said that he was either a great or prominent Freemason. The Masonic events were certainly very important to his life and conspicuous and important influences on his life. His association with Masonry was a means of enabling him to get his works published, to meet persons of a higher social status, and to help to raise himself from obscurity to the place he now holds as the national poet of Scotland.
