Dunse History SocietyBringing the history of Dunse to life
The Ainslies
Robert Ainslie of Darnchester W.S. (1734 to 1795)
moved from Darnchester near Coldstream to Berrywell to take up the post of factor (estate manager) for Lord Douglas. He was married to Magdeline Elliot of Woolie and had at least five sons, Whitelaw born 1763, Robert born 13.1.1767, Douglas born 23.10.1769 who died in infancy, another Douglas born 6.5.1771, James born c1772 and a daughter Rachael born 19.3.1768.
Whitelaw Ainslie K.B.M.D. 1763 to 1835.
Whitelaw became an assistant surgeon in the East India Company. On 17th. June 1788 he was appointed assistant garrison surgeon of Chingleput and on 17th. October 1794 promoted to surgeon and then in 1810 to Superintending Surgeon to the British Army in India.
In 1799 he married Janet Mary Cunningham daughter of Lt. Col James Cunningham of Balgonie in Fife at Madras and had one daughter Jane Catherine of Darnchester and Dalgety Castle.
He resigned after having served 27 years without furlough and returned to Britain.
Some of his published works are:
- "Materia Medicia of Hindustan Madras 1813".
- "Gemenza or the Tuscan Orphan" a dramatic tragedy in five acts in 1822-23.
- "Observations on the Cholerus Moubus of India 1825.
- "The introduction of Christianity to India 1835.
He died in London on 29th. Aprill 1837.
Robert Ainslie 1766 to 1838 (friend of Robert Burns)
Robert Ainslie was born at Berrywell on 13th. January 1766 and was a law clerk in the office of Samuel Mitchelson in Edinburgh when Robert Burns first met him in 1787. They seemed to form an immediate friendship,
During their tour of the Borders the two were made Royal Arch Masons by the local lodge in Eyemouth, Ainslie paying a fee of one guinea but Burns because of the acclaim in which he was held paying nothing.
His association with Burns secured for Ainslie a cordial welcome in the literary circles of the day, James Hogg the Ettrick Shepherd spoke of him as "Honest Ainslie". Fourteen letters to Robert Ainslie are included in the Burns Collection. In one on these dated at Mauchline of 23rd. July 1787 Burns told him " There is one thing of which I set great store by you as a fried and it is this that I have not a friend upon earth besides yourself to whom I can talk nonsense without forfeiting some degree of esteem"
Robert is the subject of the poem Robert Shure in Hairst . He presented to Sir Walter Scott a manuscript of Tam o' Shanter which he received from Burns at Ellisland .
In 1798 we married Jane Cunninghame by whom he had a son and several daughters
In later life he divided his time between his office in Hill Street in Edinburgh and his estate at Edingham in Kirkcudbrightshire. He contributed to the Edinburgh magazine and other periodicals, became an elder of the Church of Scotland and wrote two books on religion - "A father's gift to his children " and " Reasons for the Hope that is in Us". He died in the Cannongate on 11th. April 1838.
James Ainslie 1772 to 18__
James was possibly born in Jedburgh in 1772. He was a veteran of the Battle of Waterloo during which battle he survived being struck on the head with a sabre. At some point thereafter he emigrated Australia and in 1828 was sent by Robert Campbell an enterprising merchant to collect 800 sheep and to look for suitable pastureland.<.> He stopped at Duntroon now part of Canberra and with the help of aborigines erected the necessary huts and enclosures. However he was robbed by a bushranger but managed to catch the culprit for which he was rewarded by the government. The settlement at Duntroon flourished and in twelve years Ainslie built up the size of his flock from 700 to 20,000 sheep.
He became one of Australia's first immigration agents and recruited labour for Scotland most of them travelling in Campbell's ships. He caused a bit of a scandal by living with an aboriginal woman by whom he had a daughter named Nanny . He returned to Scotland in 1835 and nothing seems known of him subsequently - his name does not appear on the family memorial.
When Canberra was laid out as the Australian capital one area was called Ainslie in his honour as also the mountain facing the city.
Rachael Ainslie 9th. March 1768 to 14th. November 1828,
She was born at Berrywell and died at Cairnbank but otherwise apart from her vignette in the life of Robert Burns little seems known of her. A street in Duns has recently been named after her.