Robert Burns, grandson of the poet

A monochrome photographic print on glass of the grandson of Robert Burns.   This is a portrait of Robert Burns, who was the son of the poet's eldest son, also Robert Burns. Robert Burns junior was the eldest of the five surviving children born to the poet and his wife, Jean Armour Burns. He was educated at Dumfries Grammar School and at Glasgow and Edinburgh University. He obtained a position in the Stamp Office in London offered to him by the Prime Minister and retired to Dumfries in 1833.   He did not marry her, but had a family of four children by Emma Bland, of Dumfries. The subject of this photograph was the youngest of this family and worked in the town as a school teacher. His only son was also called Robert Burns and it is his photograph which has been inserted into the frame.   This photograph is a collodion positive on glass. These early prints were always small portraits and due to their delicate nature were often presented under glass in a hinged leather case. They are distinguished by their sharply defined images. By the 1860s they were rapidly replaced by cartes-de-visite, albumen prints on card.