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Case file s1812 · Literature and art · 1796
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1796
Robert Burns: Robert Burns, 1759 - 1796. Poet title QS:P1476,en:"Robert Burns, 1759 - 1796. Poet "label QS:Len,"Robert Burns, 1759 - 1
Robert Burns. Alexander Nasmyth. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
21 July 1796
Place
Dumfries, Scotland
Field
poet · Literature and writing on the timeline
Legal tradition
Scots law
Historical event
The phrenology fashion in 1830s Britain
Literature and artBodies, bones and burialsBurned papers and destroyed workEmpires and conquestEuropeUnited Kingdom

Robert Burns's widow died in 1834, and local men opened his tomb at night to cast his skull for a phrenologist

Burns was buried in St. Michael's Churchyard, Dumfries, in 1796. In 1815 his body was moved to a mausoleum in the same churchyard. His widow Jean Armour died on 26 March 1834, and the mausoleum was due to be opened on 1 April for her burial. Before that, a group led by John McDiarmid, editor of the Dumfries Courier, and surgeon Archibald Blacklock opened the coffin at night. An attempt on the evening of 31 March was abandoned because of crowds in the graveyard. McDiarmid reportedly had permission from Jean's brother Robert Armour; historians doubt consent was given. The skull went to plasterer James Fraser on Queensbury Street, who made casts, and it was returned to the tomb. Edinburgh phrenologist George Combe published an analysis of a cast in 1834. Six casts are known, held by the University of Edinburgh Anatomical Museum, the Hunterian in Glasgow, the Writers' Museum, Dumfries Museum, East Ayrshire Museums and the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum. The number Fraser made is unknown; some sources say three.

What the law took from it

A reburial opens the grave, and the people who control access can do more than rebury.

Sources
  1. Project GutenbergScholarship
  2. heritage.rcpsg.ac.ukScholarship
  3. nts.org.ukPress
  4. Wikipedia (English)Encyclopedia

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “Robert Burns's widow died in 1834, and local men opened his tomb at night to cast his skull for a phrenologist,” story s1812, https://www.celebrity.estate/robert-burns-1796, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

Literature and artBodies, bones and burialsBurned papers and destroyed workEmpires and conquestEuropeUnited Kingdom