Mary Campbell

Mary Campbell, also known as Highland Mary (christened Margaret, March 1763 – 1786), was the daughter of Archibald Campbell of Daling, a sailor in a revenue cutter, whose wife was Agnes Campbell of Achnamore or Auchamore. Mary was the eldest of a family of four. Robert Burns had an affair with her after he felt that he had been "deserted" by Jean Armour following her move to Paisley in March 1786. The brief affair started in April 1786, and the parting took place on 14 May of that year. Her pronunciation of English was heavily accented with Gaelic and this led to her becoming known as 'Highland Mary.' Life and character Mary lived with her parents, first, near her birthplace of Dunoon on the Cowal Peninsula. In 1768, the family moved to Campbeltown then later, finally, to Greenock. Her three siblings, Robert, Annie and Archibald, were born at Campbeltown. She is said to have spent some time at Lochranza on Arran, living with the Rev. David Campbell, minister of that parish and a relative of her mother's. She was described as a "...sweet, sprightly, blue-eyed creature." In her early teens, she went to Ayrshire and became a nursemaid in Gavin Hamilton's house in Mauchline. She is said to have worked as a young servant girl in Irvine. Gavin Hamilton's married daughter, Mrs Todd, recalled Mary Campbell coming to look after her brother Alexander as a nursemaid in 1785, describing Mary as 'very pleasant and winning', though not a beauty. From Mauchline, she moved to Coilsfield House, later Montgomery Castle, where she was employed as a dairy-maid or byres-woman. She gained this position through the offices of Miss Arbukle of Campbeltown who had married into the Eglinton family.