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Helen Anne Park,Burns Encyclopedia
Retrieved 27 February 2012 known as Anna Park (used throughout for consistency) or Ann Park, was born in 1769 at
Burns first met Anna Park at the Globe Tavern in Dumfries, where she worked as a barmaid. She was Burns's ''"Anna of the gowden locks"'' although when the song was first published in 1799 the subject of the song had "''raven locks.''"
Anna may also have been the inspiration of ''"Yestreen, I had a pint of wine,"'' the lovesong that Burns considered his best. In his totally unrepentant postscript the poet wrote:
Very little primary evidence survives about the relationship between Burns and Anna Park who vanishes from the records after their child 'Betty' was born. Local tradition relates that Anna ''"had other pretty ways to render herself agreeable to the customers at the inn than the serving of wine"'', however no real evidence exists to confirm this.
Some confusion exists over Anna Parks first name and surname in the various sources, with variations such as Ann Hyslop, Helen Anne Hislop, Etc. The variation Helen Hyslop adds to the confusion as a 'beauty' of this name from Moffat is said to have had an affair and a daughter, also Helen, by the poet.
A letter of 1792 to Maria Riddell has led to speculation that she had been asked by Burns to carry out a task regarding Elizabeth, Ann's daughter.
Janet Elsie-May Coom, the great, great, great-granddaughter of Robert Burns, through Anna Park, was made an honorary member of the Robert Burns World Federation
Retrieved 6 April 2012
Photograph of Betty Park or BurnsAnna Park's daughter Betty and family
{{DEFAULTSORT:Park, Anna Robert Burns 18th-century Scottish women 1769 births Year of death unknown
Retrieved 27 February 2012 known as Anna Park (used throughout for consistency) or Ann Park, was born in 1769 at
Moffat
Moffat is a burgh and parish in Dumfriesshire. Part of the Dumfries and Galloway local authority area in Scotland, it lies on the River Annan, with a population of around 2,500. It was a centre of the wool trade and a spa town.
Moffat is arou ...
, Scotland. She was thought to have been the daughter of Joseph Park, an Edinburgh coachmaker, and Jean Dick. However, recent researchGreenshields, p.22 has shown that she was actually the daughter of Walter Park and Elizabeth Blacklock. Margaret Ewing née Park, a onetime landlady of 'The Globe', was her sister and she worked there as a barmaid. Anna bore the poet Robert Burns
Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the List of national poets, national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the be ...
an illegitimate child named Elizabeth 'Betty' Burns
Elizabeth Burns, Elizabeth Park or Mrs John ThomsonBurns Encyclopedia
Retrieved : ...
as a result of an adulterous affair.
Retrieved : ...
Life and character
Anna was a niece of Mrs Jean Hyslop (born Jean or Jane Maxwell), who had been the landlady at the Globe Tavern inDumfries
Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...
before Anna's sister Margaret Ewing née Park took over. Anna had five sisters in all, namely Margaret, Janet, Betty, Elizabeth and Janet. Anna's father was a servant and later a chaise driver.
Anna first met Burns when she was only 21 and, following an adulterous affair with the poet, gave birth on 31 March 1791Douglas, Page 224 to Robert Burns's daughter Elizabeth 'Betty' BurnsHecht, Page 186 just a few days before his wife Jean Armour
Jean Armour (25 February 1765 – 26 March 1834), also known as the "Belle of Mauchline", was the wife of the poet Robert Burns. She inspired many of his poems and bore him nine children, three of whom survived into adulthood.
Biography
Born in ...
gave birth to his legitimate son William Nicol Burns. Anna Park is said to have given Elizabeth to Burns in 1793 when she was seeking a position as a domestic servant. The birth is thought to have taken place in Leith
Leith (; ) is a port area in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith and is home to the Port of Leith.
The earliest surviving historical references are in the royal charter authorising the construction of ...
where she was sent so that the birth would not lead to Burns being the subject of scandal at this stage.
One other tradition is that Anna actually died whilst giving birth to Elizabeth or soon after, and Maria Riddell wrote that Jean Armour was a generous person for having taken in an illegitimate child "''... who had lost her mother.''" She certainly vanishes from history in the early 1790s.
Brown records that two of Anna's grandsons were at the 1859 Glasgow Anniversary Celebrations, sons therefore of her daughter Betty and John Thomson.
Association with Robert Burns
Burns first met Anna Park at the Globe Tavern in Dumfries, where she worked as a barmaid. She was Burns's ''"Anna of the gowden locks"'' although when the song was first published in 1799 the subject of the song had "''raven locks.''"
Anna may also have been the inspiration of ''"Yestreen, I had a pint of wine,"'' the lovesong that Burns considered his best. In his totally unrepentant postscript the poet wrote:
Irvine Burns Club
The Irvine Burns Club, based at the Wellwood Burns Centre & Museum, was founded on 2 June 1826 and is one of the world's longest continuously active Burns Clubs. At least five personal friends of Robert Burns were among the group of local gentl ...
in January 2009.Retrieved 6 April 2012
See also
*Jean Armour
Jean Armour (25 February 1765 – 26 March 1834), also known as the "Belle of Mauchline", was the wife of the poet Robert Burns. She inspired many of his poems and bore him nine children, three of whom survived into adulthood.
Biography
Born in ...
* Lesley Baillie
*Alison Begbie
Alison Begbie, Ellison Begbie or Elizabeth Gebbie (1762–1823), is said to have been the daughter of a farmer, born in the parish of Galston, and at the time of her courtship by Robert Burns she is thought to have been a servant or housekeeper ...
* Nelly Blair
*Isabella Burns
Isabella Burns (Isabella Begg) (1771–1858) or Isobel Burns (Isobel Begg) was the youngest sister of the poet Robert Burns, born to William Burness and Agnes Broun at Mount Oliphant Farm on the 27 June 1771 and christened on 2 July 1771 by Rev ...
* May Cameron
*Mary Campbell (Highland Mary)
Mary Campbell, also known as Highland MaryBurns Encyclopedia
Retriev ...
* Jenny Clow
* Helen Hyslop
*Retriev ...
Nelly Kilpatrick
Nelly or Nellie Kilpatrick, Helen Kilpatrick or later Nelly Bone (1759–1820). Nelly (usually short for "Helen") was possibly Robert Burns's first love and muse as stated by Isabella Burns.
Early life
Nelly is usually used as a nickname for "He ...
*Jessie Lewars
Jessie Lewars, also known as Mrs. James Thomson,Westwood, Page 1 was the youngest daughter of John Lewars, a supervisor of excise. Following the death of her 69-year-old father in 1789, Jessie was only 11 years old, when she and her brother John ...
*Anne Rankine
Anne Rankine was the youngest daughter of a tenant farmer, John Rankine from Adamhill Farm that lay two miles from the Robert Burns's family farm at Lochlea. She married John Merry, an inn-keeper in Cumnock on 29 December 1782,Mackay, Page 72 an ...
*Isabella Steven
Isabella Steven or Tibbie Stein was the daughter of a tenant farmer from Littlehill or Little Hill Farm (NS467305) that adjoined the Burns's farm at Lochlea.Boyle, Page 86 'Stein' is an alternative form of the surname 'Steven'. Littlehill had th ...
*Peggy Thompson
Margaret "Peggy" Thompson, later Margaret Neilson, was the housekeeper at Coilsfield House or Montgomery Castle in Ayrshire, Scotland. She married John Neilsen of Monyfee. The couple lived at Minnybae Farm near Kirkoswald. She was the 'charming ...
*Elizabeth 'Betty' Burns
Elizabeth Burns, Elizabeth Park or Mrs John ThomsonBurns Encyclopedia
Retrieved : ...
*Retrieved : ...
Elizabeth Bishop (Burns)
Elizabeth "Betsey" Paton or later Elizabeth Andrew of Lairgieside (1760 – c. 1799) was the daughter of James Paton and Eleanor Helen Paton of Aird Farm, Crossroads, Ayrshire. Following an affair with Robert Burns she gave birth on 22 May 178 ...
References
;Notes ;Sources # Begg, Robert Burns (1891). ''Memoir of Isobel Burns''. Privately published. # Brown, Hilton (1949). ''There was a Lad.'' London: Hamish Hamilton. # Douglas, William Scott (Edit.) 1938. ''The Kilmarnock Edition of the Poetical Works of Robert Burns.'' Glasgow: The Scottish Daily Express. # Greenshields, G.C. & I.R. (2020). ''Anna Park and the Hyslops of the Globe Inn.'' Burns Chronicle. V. 129. # Hecht, Hans (1936). ''Robert Burns. The Man and His Work.'' London: William Hodge. # Hill, John C. Rev. (1961). ''The Love Songs and Heroines of Robert Burns.'' London: J. M. Dent. # Mackay, James (2004). ''Burns. A Biography of Robert Burns''. Darvel: Alloway Publishing. . # McIntyre, Ian (2001). ''Robert Burns. A Life''. New York: Welcome Rain Publishers. . # Scott, Patrick (2020). ''A Burns Puzzler:What Colour Was Anna's Hair?.'' Burns Chronicle. v.129. # Westwood, Peter J. (1996). ''Jean Armour. Mrs Robert Burns. An illustrated Biography.'' Dumfries: Creedon Publications. ISBNExternal links
Photograph of Betty Park or Burns
{{DEFAULTSORT:Park, Anna Robert Burns 18th-century Scottish women 1769 births Year of death unknown