A letter by Robert Burns to Mr Peter Hill

Category

Museums & Galleries Item

Item no

21746

Title

Account and Receipt for Robert Fergusson's headstone.

Description

Account and receipt sent to Robert Burns for the erection of a headstone on the unmarked grave of the poet Robert Fergusson (1750 - 1774) in the Canongate Churchyard, Edinburgh, 1789.
The framed manuscript is dated 11th July 1789 and addressed to "Mr Robert Burns, farmer at Mauchline" itemising the work carried out and requesting payment of £5 10s.

Type

Document

Location

Writers' Museum

Robert Burns comissioned the stone during his stay in Edinburgh in 1787.

The account for the carried out was not paid until 5th February 1792, when, in a letter to Mr Peter Hill, stationer, Edinburgh, Burns wrote 'He was two years in erecting it, after I comissioned him for it; & I have been two years paying him, after he sent me his account; so he and I are quits". A copy of the letter is on the reverse of the frame. Gifted by the poet's sons, 1863.

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