Lawrence Burness's direct descent from James Burnes, grandfather of Robert Burns, influenced the twin features of his life's work. He was one of Scotland's most notable twentieth-century genealogists, and he remained a lifelong scholar of the bard.
His practical work in the 1960s ensured that the Burns family gravestones in Kincardineshire were preserved, as well as securing the establishment and endowment of a centre devoted to genealogy and the study of Burns.
Burns and genealogy ran in the Burness line. His father, William, inherited a graphic family tree from Lawrence's grandfather, tracing the line to the seventeenth-century Robert Burnes in the croft of Bogjorgan in Kincardineshire. Lawrence remembers being fascinated by this at 16.
Immersed in matters Burnsian and ancestral, Burness had made valuable pre-war contacts in the wider Burns world. These he nurtured in the post-war climate, especially the American benefactor William Coull Anderson. By 1967, an obelisk on the A90 in Kincardineshire overlooking the lands of Clochnahill, the home
of William Burnes, Robert's father, had been unveiled
With Charles Easton (later president of the Burns Federation), Fenton Wyness and Norman Marr, Burness established the Glenbervie Burns Memorials Association, designed to draw attention to the decaying condition of Burns's family gravestones in Glenbervie Kirkyard.
With Anderson's financial assistance, the stones were removed and placed upright inside all-weather frames. The relationship prospered once more, when Anderson endowed the Coull Anderson Genealogical Library in Arbroath for the study of
family history, with Burness installed as keeper.
Tall and ascetic with wavy brown hair, Burness met demands on his time with patience and courtesy. The Burns season each January weighed heavily, particularly in his time as president of Aberdeen Burns Club, and during his involvement with Stonehaven (Fatherland) Burns Club. For his lifetime work in the field, the Burns Federation appointed him an honorary president.
Lawrence was born in Surrey, and he worked in London for a Scots company of importers. He was transferred in 1936 to Burma. At the outbreak of war, he volunteered for the Burma Navy and, in 1940, was one of the first officers to be commissioned. He saw service with bases in Akyab, north Burma and Calcutta, before taking command of his
own vessel in Bombay, patrolling rivers and creeks of the Irrawaddy river. He finished the war ashore in
Rangoon as lieutenant-
commander.
Always the ''ardent Scot'' and intent on returning to Scotland, he settled in Aberdeen. He made the Granite City his home, setting up as a west-end grocer and playing the organ in local churches.
For half a century, he contributed to the journal of the Scottish Genealogy Society, and at the SGS golden jubilee in Edinburgh in November, was presented with an illuminated scroll. He was also a vice-president of Tay Valley Family History Society and travelled the world lecturing and researching.
In sorties away from Burns and genealogy, he was knowledgeable about railways. He took particular care to travel in 1966 on the last train to ply the Bervie line near the Burns fatherland in the Mearns.
He was also an early visitor, in 1973, to the headquarters of the then newly-established Greater Glasgow Passenger Transport Executive.
He died in Dundee after a short illness, and is survived by his younger sister, Elma Burness, formerly a Methodist missionary in West Africa.
Lawrence Ruxton Burness FSAScot, genealogist and Burns scholar; born July 24, 1910, died February 17, 2004.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article