The 16 October 2016 marks the 242nd anniversary of the death of Robert Fergusson (1750-1774). Robert Burns (1759-1796) remarked of Robert Fergusson in 1787 that Fergusson was his “...elder brother in misfortune, by far my elder brother in the muse.” On 6 February 1787 Burns petitioned the managers of Canongate Church for permission to erect a monument to the memory of Fergusson and asked how could “...a man whose talent for ages to come will do honour to our Caledonian name, lie in your churchyard among the ignoble dead, unnoticed and unknown.” As a result the managers granted permission for a monument.

We have all heard of Robert, Rabbie Burns, but have you heard of Robert Fergusson?

Robert Fergusson was born in Edinburgh, on 5 September 1750. His parents were William Fergusson (1714-1767) who came from Tarland (Cromar) in Aberdeenshire, and Elizabeth Forbes (1714-1782) who was the daughter of John Forbes of Templeton, Kildrummy, also Aberdeenshire. William and Elizabeth had come from the North East and settled in Edinburgh in the 1740’s where William Fergusson worked as a clerk to various companies.

Robert Fergusson matriculated at St Andrews University in 1765 but had to cut his studies short in 1768 after the death of his father, and returned to Edinburgh. In that period he found work as a copyist – reproducing prints of artists’ work – and also writing Scots airs for the opera in Edinburgh. He had already begun writing poetry while at St Andrews, on people at the university, and largely in English, but he really came into his own when he began writing in Scots. His earliest known poem in the language, The Daft Days, was published in January 1772 and was followed by a collection in 1773. His poem Auld Reekie, in praise of his native Edinburgh, is regarded as one of his finest pieces.

However, as seems tragically typical of poets past, Fergusson was dogged by melancholia, and mental health issues. These became more apparent during the course of 1773 and are reflected in his darker poetic themes. In 1774 it appears that he took a nasty fall down a flight of stairs, and, together with his recent depression, led to Fergusson being forcibly removed to the Darien House hospital where he declined and died on 16 October 1774. He was just 24 years old. Not long after, his body was taken to Canongate Churchyard in Edinburgh and buried in an unmarked grave. In 1787, Robert Burns, fresh from his success as a popular published poet, paid for a memorial stone to be erected at the Canongate church in memory of Robert Fergusson. In doing so, Burns publically recognised that Fergusson had been his inspiration, and in every sense a makar (‘master poet’).

While the reputation of Robert Burns went from strength to strength during the 19th and 20th centuries, the output of Robert Fergusson became obscure and little appreciated beyond small academic circles. During the 20th century a Friends of Robert Fergusson Society was established which sought to re-instate Fergusson as one of Scotland’s leading poets, the superior of Burns in many ways. Fergusson has been recently acknowledged with the erection of a bronze statue by sculptor David Annand outside the Canongate Church in 2004. In 2005 the Friends raised a fund and added paving stones engraved with his name and details of his life.

To mark the anniversary of his death, the Scots Language Centre has reproduced three of Fergusson’s masterful Scots poems. The first is called ‘The Ghaists, A Kirk-Yard Eclogue’ which is an appropriate theme for the Halloween season, though, as visitors will soon find, the poem is only superficially about the supernatural. It is followed in another article by the poem ‘Hallow Fair’ in which Fergusson commented on the great fair held each year in Edinburgh following the Halloween season. The third poem, The Daft Days, celebrates the New Year season.