Frances Dunlop
Frances Anne Wallace Dunlop | |
---|---|
![]() Frances Dunlop | |
Born | 16 April 1730 |
Died | 24 May 1815 | (aged 85)
Nationality | Scottish |
Frances Anne Wallace Dunlop (16 April 1730 โ 24 May 1815) was a Scottish heiress, landowner, and correspondent and friend of poet Robert Burns.[1]
Life
Dunlop was born on 16 April 1730. She descended from a brother of
Relationship with Burns
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0b/Frances_Anna_Dunlop_nee_Wallace%2C_1747.jpg/170px-Frances_Anna_Dunlop_nee_Wallace%2C_1747.jpg)
Dunlop made the acquaintance of Burns in the winter of 1786, shortly after the publication of his first Kilmarnock volume. Having read the
In his last years she deserted him, and he sent her several letters without ever receiving any explanation. In his last written to her, 12 July 1796, he says that having written so often without obtaining an answer, he would not have written her again but for the fact that he would soon be "beyond that bourne whence no traveller returns". When Currie proposed to write the Life of Burns, Mrs. Dunlop refused to permit her letters to Burns to see the light, but agreed to give a letter of Burns for every one of hers returned. As Burns wrote several to her without obtaining an answer, these were not recovered. She died on 24 May 1815.[1]
Family
In 1747 Frances Dunlop married John Dunlop of Dunlop, Ayrshire. They had seven sons (including Lieut. Gen. James Dunlop of Dunlop) and six daughters. Burns, in her honour, named his second son Francis Wallace Burns.[1]
Notes
- ^ a b c d Henderson 1895, p. 205.
References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Henderson, Thomas Finlayson (1888). "Dunlop, Frances Anne Walker". In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 16. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 205. ; Endnotes:
- Robertson's Account of the Families in Ayr
- Paterson's History of Ayr
- Works of Robert Burns.