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  1745 The Jacobite Uprising attempts to restore a Stewart king to the British throne
       
  1748 The Burnes(or Burness) family leave Kincardineshire - William to Edinburgh
       
  1750 Burns' father moved to Alloway
       
  1757 William Burnes marries Agnes Brown of Kirkoswald
       
  1759 Robert Burns born in Alloway, 25 January
       
  1760 Birth of Robert's brother Gilbert: other children follow
       
  1766 The Burnes family move to Mount Oliphant, near Alloway
       
  1772 James Murdoch employed to teach Burns
       
  1776 The American War of Independence begins. The Burns family move to Lochlie farm
       
  1777 William Burnes moved family to Lochlie
       
  1780 Bachelors' Club formed
       
  1781 Robert Burns becomes a Freemason. Burns moves to Irvine to learn the trade of flax-dressing
       
  1784 Death of William Burnes. Robert moves his family to Mossgiel and changes the spelling of the family name to Burns; probably meets Jean Armour in this year
       
  1785 Burns completes many of the poems for the Kilmarnock edition including The Cotter's Saturday Night
       
  1786 The Kilmarnock edition of Burns' poems is published; Jean Armour gives birth to twins; death of Highland Mary; Burns goes to Edinburgh
       
  1787 First Edinburgh edition of poems published by William Creech; first volume of the Scots Musical Museum (edited by Burns) published - five more follow
       
  1788 Burns returns to Dumfriesshire and takes lease on Ellisland; marries Jean Armour
       
  1789 Storming of the Bastille and the start of the French Revolution; Burns becomes an Exciseman
       
  1791 Burns gives up Ellisland and moves his family to Dumfries (11 Bank Street)
       
  1792 Burns promoted to Dumfries Port Division; on 29 February the smuggling ship Rosamond is seized
       
  1793 The Burns family move to Mill Vennel, now 24 Burns Street; The Second Edinburgh edition of his poems published by William Creech - this includes Tam o'Shanter; Thomas Muir of Huntershill is sentenced to 14 years' transportation; King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette are executed in France
       
  1794 Burns promoted to Supervisor; re-issue of the Second Edinburgh edition
       
  1795 Burns joins the Royal Dumfries Volunteers; in September his daughter Elizabeth dies and Burns becomes gravely ill with rheumatic fever
       
  1796 Meal Riots in Dumfries; Burns continues to work until June in rapidly deteriorating health; on 3 July goes to Brow on Solway on medical advice but fails to revive; dies in Dumfries on 21 July
       
  1817 On the night of 19 September, Burns' remains moved to the Mausoleum in St Michael's Kirkyard from their original resting-place
       
  1834 Death of Jean Armour, who is buried beside Burns in the Mausoleum
       


  All information courtesy of Goblinshead, publishers of the Wee Guide To Robert Burns



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