The Burns Supper: A Concise History

This annual celebration of the life and works of the poet Robert Burns is held in Scotland and across the globe around the anniversary of the poet’s birthday in the form of a convivial dinner with particular, some may say peculiar, ritual traditions. Robert Burns: Scotland’s national poet. Burns Supper: the celebration of the life and poetry of Robert Burns, on or around his birthday on 25 January every year. When the Reverend Hamilton Paul agreed to arrange the first anniversary dinner for Robert Burns’ patrons and friends in July 1801, he began a tradition that quite soon became a global celebration. Over two hundred years later, Burns Suppers are held all over the world to commemorate the life and work of a poet beloved wherever people celebrate life, love and liberty. From its beginning with nine Scotsmen in Burns Cottage, to today, where over nine million people join in the Burns Supper festivities, from the USA to Russia, Australia to China, and somewhere near you. The long and happy story of Burns Night is explored in this history of the annual event which has been called ‘the biggest party in the world’.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements 11 Introduction 13 Part One: The Creation and Growth of the Burns Supper CHAPTER ONE: Convivial Club Life in Burns’s Time 23 CHAPTER TWO: The Creation of the First Burns Supper 34 Alloway, July 1801 34 How Hamilton Paul Bonded the Elements of the Burns Supper Together 39 CHAPTER THREE: The Charismatic Period 45 CHAPTER FOUR: The Traditional Period 64 International Scope 64 The United States of America 67 Canada 80 India 82 Australia 87 New Zealand 91 Hong Kong and the Far East 93 Africa 95 Back to the United Kingdom 97 CHAPTER FIVE The Bureaucratic Period 116 CHAPTER SIX: The Burns Supper at War 130 CHAPTER SEVEN: Innovations and the Global Period 144 Communism 144 Broadcasting 150 The Global Period 154 Part Two: The Elements of the Burns Supper CHAPTER EIGHT: The Immortal Memory 160 The Immortal Memory in Prose 161 The Form of the Toast 172 ‘Join Me in a Toast’ 175 CHAPTER NINE: The Haggis 178 The Haggis for Scotland 179 Burns’s Inspiration 185 The Haggis on the Menu 188 The Haggis in Ritual 193 Addressing the Haggis 199 CHAPTER TEN: Ale, Sangs an’ Clatter 204 Drink 205 Entertainment 212 The Songs 214 The Poems 220 CHAPTER ELEVEN: Beginning and Ending the Evening 228 Opening the Proceedings: Saying Grace 228 Closing the Proceedings: Singing Auld Lang Syne 235 CHAPTER TWELVE: Female Participation in Burns Suppers 242 Women Attending the Burns Supper 242 The Toast to the Lass(i)es 254 Conclusion 259 Abbreviations 264 Endnotes & Further Reading 266

About the Author :
Clark McGinn was born and brought up in Ayr, being educated at Ayr Academy where he spoke at his first Burns Supper. He has performed at over 200 Immortal Memory speeches in 32 cities in 17 countries, travelling nearly a dozen times round the globe in the process. He was President of the Burns Club of London during the Burns 250th Celebrations in 2009, when he gave the Eulogy at the National Service of Thanksgiving for Burns at Westminster Abbey. In 2014, he was awarded a PhD by the University of Glasgow for his research into the history of the Burns Supper and has had several peer-reviewed articles published on various aspects of Burns. He has published several books on the Burns Supper, including The Ultimate Burns Supper Book, The Burns Supper: A Comprehensive History and The Burns Supper: A Concise History. Clark lives with his wife, Ann, in Harrow-on-the-Hill and Fowey. Their three daughters live outside London and New York.