Mary Campbell (Highland Mary)

Mary Campbell
Memorial to the parting of Robert Burns and Highland Mary
Born	March 1763 Scotland
Died	1786 Greenock, Scotland
Occupation	Nursemaid and dairymaid

Mary Campbell also known as Highland Mary, (was christened Margaret, March 1763 – 1786) she was the daughter of a sailor in a revenue cutter named Archibald Campbell of Daling, whose wife was Agnes Campbell of Achnamore or Auchamore, by Dunoon on the Cowal Peninsula in 1762. 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, the parting took place on 14 May. Her pronunciation of English was heavily accented with Gaelic and this led to her becoming known as 'Highland Mary.'

Mary lived with her parents, first, near Dunoon, in 1768 the family moved to Campbeltown, and finally at 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 married into the Eglinton family.

According to Grierson, who met Mary's sister, Mrs Anderson, in 1817, Mary was 'tall, fair haired with blue eyes'. She was also described by Miss McNeill to have been "a great favourite with everyone who knew her, due to her pleasant manners, sweet temper and obliging disposition. her figure was graceful; the cast of her face was singularly delicate and of fair complexion, and her eyes were bluish and lustrous had a remarkably winning expression."

Mary Campbell died at the age of 23, around 20 October 1786, probably from Typhus contracted when nursing her brother Robert. She was buried in the old West Kirk churchyard at Greenock, in a lair owned by her host and relation Peter Macpherson. A story is told that some superstitious friends believed that her illness was as a result of someone casting the evil eye upon her. Her father was urged to go to a place where two streams meet, select seven smooth stones, boil them in milk, and treat her with the potion. An 1842 monument in her memory was designed by John Mossman. It was asserted by some older inhabitants of Greenock that the monument was not erected in the right spot, and that her body had been interred closer to the kirk. A statue of her was also erected at Dunoon on the Castle Hill.