History of the Buchanites by Richard Hopkins

Crocketford owes its foundation as a village mainly to the Buchanites. I was unaware of theBuchanite sect until I read the Crocketford Millennium Book in 2000 which had a very interestingitem about them written by Ann Botel. At that time I found the story very interesting but it was notuntil Saturday 7th October 2006 when my wife Maggie and I went to see a play called TheHeretics Tale written by Hamish MacDonald and performed by the Dogstar Theatre Companythat my interest was re kindled. The performance was excellent with very basic staging, lightingand props. The characters portrayed were played by Annie Grace as Elspeth Buchan andMatthew Zajac as Andrew Innes, music was by Amy Geddes, program photography by LaurenceWinram, graphic design by Karen Sutherland,

Andrew Innes was interviewed many times by Joseph Train a lawyer and writer of TheBuchanites First to Last who encouraged him to write down his memories of Elspeth and the sect.It transpired that Andrew had quite a collection of letters and other documents, some written byElspeth Buchan. It is this book and a book called History of The Buchanite Delusion written byJohn Cameron, which I have used to research this story.

Elspeth Simpson (1738-1791) was born in the parish of Fordyce, Banffshire. Her father, JohnSimpson, owned a small public house on the road between Banff and Portsoy at a place calledFatmacken; her mothers name was Margaret Gordon. It is interesting to note that within a ten totwelve year period of Elspeth Simpsons birth two other women were born, who would go on tobecome well known for their strange religious beliefs.

The first of these was Ann Lee (1736-1784) who was born in Manchester. She came from a poorfamily. She was responsible for founding the “Shakers”, an offshoot of the Quakers. The nameShakers came from the tendency of its members to shake violently during prayers, “an epidemicform of religious hysteria not unknown to history” which would eventually subside into a uniformrhythmic dance with hand clapping as they sang their hymns. They migrated to Watervliet, NewYork, in May 1774 due to persecution. The Shakers are are still thriving in America.

The second of these unusual ladies was Joanne Southcott (1750-1814) who was born in Exeter.She had a normal life for that time as a domestic servant and at about the age of 40 she met aman who claimed to be the spirit of prophesy. Joanne caught the bug, feeling that she had asmuch right to the claim as he and in 1792 declared herself a visionary prophetess. Local harvestfailures and food riots as well as international war and revolution provided the backdrop for hermission to proclaim these disasters as signs that the Second Coming of Christ was imminent.Provincial preaching tours, numerous books, newspaper columns and posters won her thousandsof followers across the country. In 1814, she announced herself pregnant by the Holy Spirit andmanaged to convince several reputable doctors of her condition. No child was ever born and herdeath soon after resulted in the fragmentation of her sect although it is still active especially inAustralia, New Zealand and North America,

The BeginningElspeth Simpsonʼs mother died when she was about three years old, and Elspeth was sent to livewith a strange family “whose circumstances were in such a hampered state, that her beddingconsisted of a bag stuffed with straw laid on the ground beside the fire at night, with an empty

sack for a coverlet, which were removed in the morning, and stowed away till required again inthe evening” During the day she herded cows and according to her own words she was not veryhappy with the work. “I had no pleasure in working, and ever forgot the directions given me; sothat I learned more by the eye than the ear”

She was allowed to run wild and was given to strange speculations and often spoke of havingvisions. According to reports of neighbours “she became careless of her opinions as to what wasproper conduct for a young woman” A cousin of her mother heard of her careless ways and tookher in hand, teaching her to sew and read. This young woman who was also named Elspeth hadrecently married a West Indian planter, a native of Banffshire and she was intending to accompa-ny her new husband to his plantation in Jamaica, taking young Elspeth with them. They arrived inGreenock and had to wait several weeks for a ship which would take them to their destination.

While waiting there young Elspeth found life around the docks and surrounding area much moreinteresting and fun, particularly after the strict supervision she had been under living with her rela-tive; according to Joseph Train “she left her friends to associate with idle company, and appearsto have contracted those depraved habits which she afterwards inculcated respecting matrimony”.

She eventually found herself in Ayr when, probably in her early twenties she met, fell in love withand “married” Robert Buchan, a potter, although there is no record of their marriage. They hadseveral children of whom only three survived, two girls and a boy. They eventually moved toGlasgow where Robert found employment at the historic Delftfield Potteries and Elspeth gainedemployment as a servant in the household of Mrs Martin, the wife of a partner in the DelftfieldPotteries. Being married did not stop Elspeth from carrying on her loose ways. Robert Buchanbecame heartily ashamed of his wifeʼs behaviour at Ayr and thinking she might settle down in hernative area moved to Banff where he set up his own pottery business.

The pottery business did not do well and after what appears to have been quite a short time hereturned to Glasgow leaving Elspeth and the children to provide for themselves as best theycould. Elspeth now fell back on the education she had received from her kind relative and openedup a Dameʼs School. Very few qualifications were necessary for this in the middle of the eigh-teenth century: the ability to read the Bible and Catechism, teach the girls to sew and the boys tomake “pot hooks” and combine them into a clumsy scrawl were enough and these skills Elspethpossessed if only in a moderate way.

She was now able to make a reasonable living for herself and the children and would have con-tinued to do so if she had not become bored with the standard Scottish theology which she waschurning out to successive classes of children.

Her Mind returned to her younger days as a herdʼs lassie and the visions and revelations she hadseen which once more kindled her imagination. She began to teach the children her own interpre-tation of the Bible which was independent of all precedent of that time and of course includedmeanings which she had evolved that were to say the least original! She was at first quite cau-tious knowing that her beliefs were not quite the orthodox ones of the time.

She attended fellowship meetings and pretended to be a diligent enquirer after truth. She becamehighly valued as a very pious person among the more religious people of the area and managedto persuade a few of the locals that she had discovered a mine of hidden truth and that she wasindeed a prophetess. In a letter to a friend she writes:

In the year 1777 the power of God wrought such a wonderful change in my senses that I over-came the flesh so as not to make use of earthly food for some weeks, which made all that sawme conclude that I was about to depart this life, and many came to hear me speak, which was all

about Gods love to mortals……Had there been a gallows erected at every door where I had anopportunity of speaking of Christ, or of hearing him spoken of , I would not have stayed fromgoing there, and the more they sought to keep me back it only tended the more to stir me up torun the faster.

She had now found her mission in life: no more teaching sewing, reading, writing, these thingswere now below her, she who had been granted divine visions and revelations. This of coursehad a dire effect on her school, local people began to shun her, children no longer came to theschool, and even her own children were opposed to her ways at one point even her life was indanger. One of her converts was a Mrs Cook, the wife of Captain Cook commander of the Princeof Wales revenue cutter. He was not happy with his wifeʼs involvement with Mrs Buchan and usedevery means possible to keep her from seeing Mrs Buchan. Mrs Cook took a fever and began tospeak of nothing but religion and called continually for Mrs Buchan, he concluded that Buchanhad “ put her mad with religion” so they put poor Mrs Cook in a darkened room for three weeks,this only made things worse and rumours were abound that Captain Cook was intending to killMrs Buchan.. Having few friends and no means of support she returned to Glasgow in March1781, back to her husband who it seems welcomed her back with open arms. Little is heard ofher for the next couple of years. It appears she still neglected her house and family in favour ofgadding about, looking for anyone who would listen to her religious vagaries.

Her husband was useful for supplying money but that is all she wanted him for; she had formedher own opinions of marriage which she put into practice at every opportunity. To her marriagewas bondage of the flesh, which she had been instructed in her revelations was to be abolished,and this became a very prominent feature in the society she was about to form.

IrvineAt this time a new preacher the Reverend Hugh White had settled in The Relief Kirk at Irvine. Hewas very popular because of the freshness, fluency and fierceness of his preaching. In the pulpithe ruled with a rod of iron but was regarded by his brethren as a rather unsafe guide in the minesof divine truth. He was a native of St Ninians in Stirlingshire and originally a preacher in theChurch of Scotland but he was unable to make a living at this and went to America where hemanaged to find work as a professor of Logic at one of the budding colleges. This stood him ingood stead on his return to Scotland where he joined the Relief Church and settled in Irvine onthe 3rd July 1782.

Elspeth Buchan had already heard of his fame so when it was announced that he would be oneof the preachers at a sacramental occasion in Glasgow she went to hear him. It appears she waswell impressed with the Reverend and shortly after seeing him wrote him a very flattering letter inwhich she cunningly appeals to his vanity with plausible phrases of an ardent Christian whosespirit had long chafed under the general coldness of the times and was eager to respond to a kin-dred spirit.

Glasgow17th Jan 1783Rev Dear Sir whom I love in our sweet lord Jesus.

I write to you as a friend, not after the flesh, but as a child of another family that has lainin the womb of the everlasting decree from all eternity-a promised seed born from above……Ihave met with my disappointments from ministers who were neither strangers nor pilgrims on theearth, and I can say by sad experience that I have been more stumbled by minister than by allthe men in the world, or by all the devils in hell. But I have rejoiced many times by the eye of faithto see you before I saw you with the eyes of my body. On Saturday night when your discourse

was ended a friend said to me “what do you think of Mr White?” I answered “what do you think ofJesus Christ?” for I have lost sight of the minister and myself…………

She goes on to comment about what appears to be the content of Mr Whiteʼs sermon. Accordingto Andrew Innes this was not the first lettershe had written to Hugh White. It appearsshe had been writing to him for some fourmonths prior to this. White had shown theletters to his colleagues in the church whoat first approved and encouraged the corre-spondence so it would seem these letterswere of a “harmless” nature. This last lettergives the first hint of her peculiar beliefsand doctrines: she claims him as a “pre-destined child” a “promised seed” seen byher eye of faith even before she had seenhim in the flesh.

As mentioned earlier the Reverend White had recently returned from America and while he wasthere the land had been ringing with the doings of the Shakers and the death of Mother Lee, theirfounder, three years before. We can therefore assume that he would have discussed the Shakersviews on marriage and free love, and out of this it would be easy to evolve the idea of forming asimilar community. It is reasonable to assume that The Rev White and Mrs Buchan had elaborat-ed their belief that she was the woman in Revelation xii “clothed with the sun and the moon underher feet” and giving birth to a “wonderful man child” during their correspondence before and aftertheir first meeting. These were two unscrupulous individuals with loose and mystical tendencies,one of them already believing she was born to a great religious mission and the other fresh fromthe scenes of the Shaker Delusions could not fail to produce a similar development and suggestthe idea of Scottish rivals.

The Reverend White was extremely flattered by this letter and was delighted that he had foundsomeone of such piety who held him in such high esteem. He showed the letter to his friends inIrvine and they agreed that he should invite her to come and stay with him for a while. Elspethpromptly agreed and received a very warm welcome and she conducted herself with consummateadroitness. The fame of her piety and her ability to interpret difficult passages of scripture spreadall over the town.

To give his congregation and the people of the town the opportunity of hearing her speak theReverend White held special diets of examination. At these meetings she encouraged questionson prophetic and mystical subjects which she answered with the confidence of an infallible oracle.Sometimes her answers were a bit too extreme and Mr White would tone them down a bit withjudicious qualifications.

A few of the more sober minded began to doubt the soundness of her faith and also that of MrWhite and they insisted that she leave Irvine at once. Things had gone far enough for the presentand she prudently agreed. She had been in Irvine for three weeks but before going she wroteanother letter to Mr White and this letter gives some indication of her oracular style and theprogress of the deceit in which she and White were clearly active partners.

“I have been witness concerning you of what has been written of Jeremiah, that he was sanctifiedfrom the womb. God your Heavenly Father, knoweth my birth pains of heavenly love have beenfar surpassing the love of women. But oh, come and behold a wonder now! I am bigger thanever! God, for Christʼs sake, will keep me pregnant with his own glory and your everlasting happi-

Irvine, North Ayrshire, 1770

ness till that thrice happy day ,when those who sow in tears shall reap in joy……….The Lordnow comforts my soul with these words “My servant deals prudently, and shall be very high inrighteousness” Arise my child! This mantle belongeth unto thee! We also shall be with thee. Be ofgood faith and do it; there shall be a performance of all that is promised.

Now my dearly beloved, I hope you will let noone see this while you live, but keep it as a pledgeof love, not from me, but from your God and myGod, whose will is even your sanctification. Ibelieve in the strength of your faith, the increase ofyour hope, the inflammation of your love.

Elspeth Simpson.

This letter was found by Andrew Innes amongpapers left by White at Auchengibbert when herenounced Buchanism and returned to America.

During her visit to Irvine she had made known herviews on the law of marriage, and this was probably the main source of hostility towards her. Shebelieved she could release her disciples from the bondage of law: in this happy state they couldcommit no sin. Private possessions and wives were also to be abolished and all things were to becommon to all members of the new order. At this point time these views were not common knowl-edge, but after her return to Glasgow things became difficult for Mr White. A deputation of fellowclergy and lay people went to see him to ask him to renounce Mrs Buchan, to which he declaredhe would sooner cut off his right arm, he would sooner resign.

Things came to a head very quickly and Mr White was charged with Heresy. A paper was drawnup containing what could be verified of Mrs Buchanʼs views. Mr White immediately admitted thatthese were the views he also shared. A formal Libel was then served containing the followingcounts.

1 That sin does not adhere to believers 2 That Christ tasted death for every man, and3 That while the bodies of the saints under the New Testament are temples of the Holy Ghost, thesaints under the Old Testament were not.

These are questions of theology which require expert explanation. The first count however seemsfairly self explanatory considering the facts so far, and the other two counts seem to be beyondthe average personʼs understanding of theology. Mr White did not put in an appearance at thetrial and he was summarily ejected from the Relief Church after a Pastorate of seventeen months.Mrs Buchan congratulated him on the result in her usual extravagant style but others were con-cerned for his future, since he had a wife and two children to support. After the trial Mrs Buchanreturned with him to Irvine and meetings were held in his house in Seagate, where the meetingsbecame so popular that a large tent had to be erected in the garden.

A Society was formed and Mrs Buchan was given the title of “Friend Mother In The Lord” while tothe outsiders she was “Lucky Buchan the witch wife who had cast her glamoury over the weak-headed minister and other dupes” A violent persecution was raised and the meetings had to beheld after dark. This persecution only served as a fitting occasion for Mrs Buchan to publicly pro-claim herself as the woman described in Revelations Xii, “There appeared a great wonder inheaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crownof twelve stars;” and Mr White was the “Wonderful Man Child” of whom she was now spiritually

The Relief Kirk, Irvine, 1773

delivered, who was to “Rule the nations with a rod of iron”!

The meetings were continually interrupted by angry mobs of locals who were hell bent on puttingdown the meetings of the obnoxious Buchanites. Stones and filth were thrown over the walls andeventually they had to abandon the garden meetings for a safer place. This was found in thehome of Mr Patrick Hunter, an ardent disciple of Mother Buchan. He was a writer and was alsoacting as Burgh Fiscal and occasionally Town Clerk depute. He also had a lucrative business inthe coal and shipping industry. He had an unfortunate deformity which caused him to be ridiculedby the locals of Irvine as “Humpty Hunter”. His connection with the Buchanites caused thisridicule to intensify and the meetings of the sect at his house gave an additional incentive to vio-lence.

Members had difficulty getting into the house and were often hit with sticks and stones as well asverbal abuse. But “Friend Mother” was always there to take them by the hand and ask if they hadbeen hurt as they entered the house. The rooms were usually packed not only by members of thesect but by people who came to argue or quietly observe or find reasons to dissuade their friendsfrom being deluded by such fanatical nonsense. Among the latter it is commonly believed therewas one who would soon achieve national recognition as the “Ploughman Bard of Scotland”.

The Buchanites were now being boycotted, Mr Hunterʼs business started to slump and he lost hispublic appointments, tradesmen and labourers were thrown out of employment and drunkensailors were encouraged to set about anyone entering the house. No action was taken by thelocal magistrates against these acts and this only encouraged the mob even more. The attacksbegan at Mr Whiteʼs house but became more violent on the removal to Mr Hunterʼs.

One night in particular would become memorable in the Buchanite history. The mob had smashedthe doors and windows of Mr Hunterʼs house and mother Buchan had to flee for her own safety.While trying to escape through the back door she was caught by the mob. One of her followers, alarge chap named Mr Gibson, came to her defence, grabbing her around the waist, and was mak-ing his escape when a drunken sailor cut severely with a “jockteleg” and he had to let go. A shoutof joy was raised over the capture of the “Witch Wife”. They dragged her through the street andmany wanted to duck her in the river but the majority decided to drive her home to her husband.An old tin kettle was picked up and with its rattle she was drummed out of town and was fol-lowed all the way to Stewarton some eight miles out of town. Mr White and a few others followedat a safe distance under cover of darkness.

All the time the crowd were hurling insults at her. They would lift her up as high as they could,calling on her to fly to heaven and then let her fall “She canna flee yet; we maun takʼ her a weebit farther and try again!”. Eventually they came to the bridge over the Annick Water at Stewartonwhere they made as if to throw her over into the river but some of the party less disposed to bru-tality of this kind suggested they should let her husband kill her instead.The noise as theydragged her through Stewarton caused people to come out half-naked to see what was going onand in the darkness and confusion Mother Buchan managed to escape. Some people think that afew of the locals took pity on her and helped her escape.

Mr White and his friends thought she may have headed off towards Glasgow and went some dis-tance that way but finding no sign of her they returned to Irvine. On the way home they wererecognised by some of the straggling mob and they were grossly insulted but not attacked. Theyreturned to the house of Mr Gibson who had so bravely attempted to save Friend Mother, wherea few of the faithful were mourning her loss and marvelling at the way she had escaped her per-secutors, some even suggesting she may have ascended to heaven, which would have been aglorious way of giving them the slip.

All this speculation came to abrupt end when she crept in through the door bare headed, barefooted, spattered with mud, with hardly any clothes left on her body and covered with bruises andblood. It appears that on escaping the mob she made her way back to Irvine by climbing dykesand squeezing through hedges, not daring to use the road in case she came across the mob.She was in such a state they felt she needed surgical skills but decided against this in case wordgot out that she was back in Irvine. Mrs Gibson, therefore, who was just as enthusiastic as herhusband in the Buchanite cause, undertook the duties of nurse.

The very next day, however, word got out that she was back in Irvine. The Buchanites assembledat Mr Whiteʼs house which came under attack and although this was a much shorter attack it wasa very effective one. The crowd, thinking Mother Buchan was in the house, attacked the doorsand windows and there was concern for property and life. The Magistrates called a hasty meetingand sent for Mr Hunter their Buchanite Fiscal, telling him that the offensive woman must beremoved from the town or they would not be held responsible for the consequences. A horse andcart was immediately hired and she was taken to Glasgow with Mrs Gibson attending as nurse-maid. Another member, Andrew Innes, was to accompany them to Glasgow and bring word backof their safe arrival.

The journey out of town was not uneventful as many of the townsfolk followed, cursing andthreatening that if she ever returned they would kill her. The next morning they reached Glasgowwithout a penny to their name. Andrew Innes gave Mrs Buchan his watch to pawn so she wouldhave money for small essentials. She then went to see her husband who was not happy to seeher but given the state she was in could hardly refuse her. She did not leave her enemies inIrvine behind without a parting shot, predicting that the town would soon be destroyed by the out-pouring of a vial of divine wrath, and urging all who would escape to join her Society.

The failure of this prediction did not however discredit her standing among the members of theSociety although it did increase the ridicule of the non-believers.

Andrew InnesAccording to Joseph Train, Andrew Innes was born at Muthill Perthshire in 1757; records show hedied at Crocketford in 1846. However, the follow-ing appears in The Wigtownshire Pages, a localhistory website.

INNES, Andrew - D18/1/1846 - At Crocketford, onthe 19th inst., in the 75th year of his age, AndrewInnes, the last of the Buchanites.

If Train was correct in the year of Innesʼ birth thiswould make him eighty-eight or eighty-nine yearsof age when he died.

According to Train “he was of parents belongingto the Cottar Class; and after receiving the edu-cation common to his class in those days, wasbred to the profession of a carpenter, and he hasat times, in his later years, been heard to allude,with apparent complacency, to that having alsobeen the profession of the Lord!”

According to John Cameron “he was a Mason to

trade, and religious zealot from his youth” He first met Elspeth Buchan in Glasgow in March 1783.He had gone there to attend a Sacrament in connection with the Relief Church. He describes themeeting in his own words, “On Saturday morning, while I was dressing in the closet, I heard afemale voice in the kitchen conversing with the mistress and the subject was King Hezekiah, shecontinued until the bells were nearly done ringing.

After church they all returned to the lodgings at Dovehill and had dinner together, and after themeal she invited Andrew to her lodgings in the upper flat of an old wooden house in Saltmarketwhich were very poorly furnished. As soon as he arrived she rose and took him to GlasgowGreen where “she laid open to my view how the Kings and Priests of Israel became a curse tothe people, and how David by his adultery with Bathsheba occasioned the death of so many peo-ple; with other parts of scriptures which I knew to be so simple and easy to comprehend, that Iwondered I had never seen them in the same light.”

From that Saturday afternoonʼs walk on Glasgow Green until the day of his death his body andsoul were at the absolute service of Mrs Buchan. Andrew returned home to Muthill to tell friendsand family of this wonderful woman, and of her powers of explaining the scriptures, and of thenew light she had received from heaven. Not long after his return to Muthill Mrs Gibson invitedhim to Irvine where Mrs Buchan had now established her Society, and he at once decided to godespite his mother, friends and neighbours urging him not to.

About forty people were now members of the Society including several very respectable families.Mr White, his wife and children were enrolled along with Patrick Hunter (who felt very lucky in get-ting his wife to see eye to eye on the matter) Mrs Gibson and her husband a master builder; therewas also a Mrs Muir who kept a drapers shop. The rest were mainly young people of both sexesincluding several members of the Gardner family including Katie and Jean.

We now return to Glasgow where Mrs Buchan is recovering from her injuries. She had lots of visi-tors from Irvine, “to whom she poured forth her oracles of wisdom, now wilder than ever, whichfanned still more the flame of fanaticism in the breast of her followers. It was necessary to providefood and drink for these visitors which caused her husband to become destitute. She had longago lost any feelings for him and used him only as a convenience to provide for her extrava-gances; in fact she had been signing her letters Elspeth Simpson for quite some time. She hadnow squeezed poor Robert Buchan dry and was ready to move on to pastures new with her newfound wealthy friends.

She was anxious to return to Irvine but the people of the town were still in vindictive mood and itwould have been dangerous to attempt a return. Things were also getting uncomfortable inGlasgow and she was at her wits end as to what to do next. In the meantime Andrew had beenwriting to his friends in Muthill giving a glowing description of this new society, so much so thatthey agreed to hear Mrs Buchan for themselves. She set out with Andrew acting as her body-guard. They were to stay with Duncan Robertson a wheelwright who had heard the story ofMother Buchanʼs treatment by the Irvine mob and felt some sympathy towards her.

She was civilly received by most people and listened to with seeming patience and this led her tobelieve that they were thirsting for the waters of life when in fact they were taking her measureand cautiously asking “what the body meant?” There was something uncanny about this prophet-ess from the south; they were especially doubtful about a woman teaching religion at all. Someexpressed a desire to hear what the Rev White had to say on these matters as he had friendsand relatives in the district and this made people curious to see and hear the expelled ReliefMinister. Mother Buchan was not keen on having her spiritual “Man Child” pushed to the fore butshe sent for him and urged him to “make no delay while the edge is on the peopleʼs mind.” Heand a few others set off on foot at the end of November 1783 and travelled the seventy six miles

to Muthill in just two days.

He was not as well received as he had expected. The Rev Scott had held a special meeting inthe village in anticipation of his visit, and on the principle that prevention is better than cure set allthe village in fear that the safety of the established religion was at risk from the teachings of MrsBuchan and Mr White. This however appears not to have been necessary as Mr Whiteʼs preach-ing not only attacked the orthodox faith, denounced it with enthusiasm and going further now thanat any other time proclaimed his “Friend Mother in The Lord” to be the new incarnation of TheHoly Ghost. He pronounced divine vengeance against all who would not accept her as such, andwho refused to bow to the oracles she delivered, proclaiming that they would be devoured by theuniversal conflagration which was about to consume the world.

The Lord was about to come and raise her and all her followers bodily to heaven without tastingdeath; and all unbelievers would be left to perish in the flames. This was strong meat for thepalates of the simple folk of Muthill and since they rejected it as a whole, it was no hard task forthe Minister to put his flock on their guard against such blasphemous nonsense. Mr Whiteʼsfriends would have nothing to do with him: they were horrified and would not have him in theirhomes or even shake hands with him. They believed he was bewitched by Mrs Buchan and theywere afraid to touch him in case they were smitten too. Still there were a few converts; amongthem Duncan Robertson and some of Andrewʼs brothers and sister also joined the elect few whoawaited with enthusiasm their translation to heaven

All in all Muthill was becoming a little uncomfortable for the Buchanites, but the problem waswhere would they go? They all knew what to expect if they returned to Irvine, yet all her followerswere there awaiting instruction from Mother Buchan so it was decided against their better judge-ment to return there. When the townsfolk of Irvine had got rid of the “Witch Wife” as describedearlier they hoped that the Minister and the rest of her followers who remained in Irvine mightcome to their senses, but on the contrary, they continued in their blind allegiance and becamemore extravagant than ever.

Mrs Muir was deprived of her house and shop at the end of her lease and no one would accepther as a tenant. Many of the townsfolk refused to buy goods from them and indeed to supplythem with goods;

they were in fact universally excommunicated from society. So when the ringleaders arrived backin town as mad as ever and new converts arriving every day from Muthill with carts laden with allmanner of goods the old animosity reared up worse than ever; they were pelted with stones andagain the doors and windows of their property were smashed. The local Magistrates were askedto proceed against them as blasphemers but this idea was abandoned and instead the councilmet at very short notice on the first Tuesday of May at 10.00 am on the morning of the “May Fair”or “Cow Fair” as it was commonly called in 1784, and they decided to banish the group from theTown within two hours of the meeting that very same day. This was not the most judicious time toput such a popular sentence in to action as the town would be crowded with people attending thefair, but it did give an extra attraction to the day.

The news of this sentence soon reached the Buchanites at Mr Whiteʼs house; they hardly hadtime to pack a hand bundle or lock the house door. The founder of the Society was the only onerequired to leave but most of her followers, particularly those from Muthill, were more or less des-titute because of Mother Buchan so they all decided to share her fate. The streets were crowdedand the constables could hardly make a way through the crowd for them; people used theirstaves to trip up the unfortunates and one drunken sailor dragged Mother Buchan to the groundby her hair and ran of with a handful of it without being challenged by the constables. TheMagistrates and constable accompanied them for about a mile out of the town on the Kilmarnock

road to “protect her from insults” but this does not seem to have worked.

The first night of their expulsion was spent in an old cart shed owned by a Mr. Dykes at Killogienear Dundonald, On the second day they moved slowly via the back roads towards the village ofMauchline, always followed by crowds of people curious to see such a well dressed procession,Mother Buchan was placed in a cart along with a few more who were unaccustomed to walking.Eventually more carts were acquired and finally a white pony on which Mother Buchan was seat-ed draped in a red cape doing all she could to attract attention on the way and often stopping tolecture her followers on the loveliness of the countryside or to give them food from her “Garner ofMercy” or drink from her “Comforter”.

A few days later others from Irvine joined them thinking it better to wait a few days before leaving.They brought with them such necessities as they could hastily gather together. When all whowere likely to join the group from Irvine had arrived they set off in earnest for the New Jerusalem.They were dressed generally in simple clothing as was common to the peasantry of the 18th cen-tury. The women were short gowns over petticoats, these fitted close from the neck to the waistthen hung free to the thigh; the younger women were bareheaded with long flowing hair heldback with combs. The company consisted for the most part of “clever chiels and bonny, spanking,rosy cheeked lassies, many of them in their teens”

As they progressed on their journey, people who were unaware of their reputation would sellcakes to them which they would stop and eat by a stream or river on their journey. Friend Motherwould break the bread and give each one a piece followed by a woman with a tankard of water.This is the scene described by Andrew Innes “Thus a piece of oatcake and a drink of cold waterwas our common fare; we all shared alike, except our Friend Mother, who, after she divided thebread, lighted her pipe, and took a smoke of tobacco”. Somehow the woman clothed with thesun, crowned with twelve stars, and the moon at her feet, having a puff on a clay pipe by a stonedyke seems to be an unlikely female Messiah!

CloseburnThe arrest of Mr Hunter and the departure of many of the disciples for Irvine to put their businessin order meant that Mother Buchan and the rest of her followers would have to wait somewhereuntil they returned. By this time they were near to Closeburn just south of Thornhill and managedto find suitable quarters at New Cample Farm.

When he saw the plight of the group the tenant of the farm Mr Thomas Davidson gave them thetemporary use of an empty barn. In the words of Andrew Innes.

“All that believed were together, and had all things in common. Our money was put into a com-mon stock, and placed at the disposal of John Gibson as treasurer, to purchase all that might berequisite. All spare clothes were placed under the care of Janet Grant, formerly Mrs Muir, whohad kept a clothes shop in Irvine. She had the charge of seeing them kept clean and whole, andof giving them out when change was wanted. The other women assisted in washing, knitting andmending stockings. We had tailors who mended our clothes, and cobblers who repaired ourshoes, all was as common as circumstances would admit, yet no one was wholly idle. We occa-sionally wrought gratuitously to our neighbours, and scrupulously abjured all worldly considera-tions for the work thus performed”

The housekeeping and family arrangements were as follows. Due to the many visitors MotherBuchan and Mr White had, cooking was initially done in the farmerʼs kitchen. The food was sim-ple and consisted mainly of potatoes boiled in their skins or salt herring. Sometimes there was

milk. As the visitors dwindled over time the barn became less crowded and the cooking was thendone there. Everyone ate together and all ate the same food except for Friend Mother who eitherserved at the table or directed others to do so. After the meal they would all sing a hymn and thengo about their various tasks.

Sleeping arrangements were quite liberal for the period; Beds were made of bundles of heatherand placed in a double row on the barn floor, leaving hardly room for a single person to passthrough them,

“Here men women and children herded together promiscuously, Were not the Apolistic Church “alltogether” and had they not “all things in common” and were not “they who had wives to becomeas though they had none?”

This was the new Buchanite code, and they avowedly acted it out from this time on although it ismore than certain it was going on well before this time.

At first the only children in the society were those of Mrs White and Mrs Hunter and these chil-dren were taken from their mothers and placed with strangers within the group. Mrs Whiteʼs chil-dren being younger than Mrs Hunters soon lost all memory of their parents but Mrs Huntersecretly “fostered their affections by little gifts of sweets and kindly attentions” The children werethe common property of the society.

Robert Buchan now sought and obtained a divorce from Elspeth; she had been the one who hadfixed his name to a sect that he hated with all his heart. Their three children who were now grownup had sided with their mother.

Robert managed eventually to draw his son away from Elspeth. The son subsequently joined thenavy where he served his country until he fell with Nelson at the battle or Trafalgar.

Friend Mother was becoming increasingly impatient to see the return of Mr Hunter and the otherswho had gone to Irvine to settle their affairs; she sent many letters via the hand of Andrew Innesimploring them to return soon. Andrew eventually returned with not only the missing members ofthe sect but a number of new ones who had been too uncertain or afraid to leave with the maingroup. Among this group was a young and beautiful girl called Jean Gardner who it is alleged hadan affair with Robert Burns.

Andrew tells the story; “When I was sent back from Thornhill for Mr Hunter, Jean Gardner camewith me from Irvine to Closeburn, and when we came in the neighbourhood of Tarbolton sheseemed to be in fear and rather in a discomposed condition. When I inquired the cause she saidit was lest Burns the poet should see her, for if he did, he would be sure to interrupt her; for theyhad long been on terms of intimacy. But we proceeded on our journey without meeting with anyobstruction”

She did not know that by this time Burns had left Tarbolton and gone to Mossgiel near Mauchlinwhich they would pass quite closely two miles further on with a more certain chance of meetingBurns.

From this statement Joseph Train comes to the conclusion that Jean Gardner and not JeanArmour was the heroine of Burns affection in the beautiful “Epistle to Davie” Train does not offerany other evidence other than he had “every reason to believe it” and adds that “Burns frequentlyvisited her in the society both at New Cample and Auchen gibbert”

In Cameronʼs book The Buchanite Delusion there is a compelling argument that indeed the Jean

referred to as “my darling Jean” is in fact Jean Gardner and not Jean Armour.

At last the Buchanites were reunited under one roof but harvest was approaching and MrDavidson was in need of his barn. Over the time they had been at New Cample they had provedto be good customers of his produce and had worked for him without wages. Being a thrifty sortof chap he was quite happy to keep them on the farm and offered them a plot of land to build ahouse on. The offer was gladly accepted and there being plenty of skilled labour among themthey set about building a house.

The house was one story high and roofed with heather; it was thirty-six feet long and sixteen feetwide. There was a long garret running from end to end which was used for sleeping. The bedswere arranged in the same manneras in the barn with little spacebetween them and of course therewas no privacy. This huge promis-cuous dormitory or ratherswarmery was reached by a trapladder in the middle of the house.The ground floor was used forcooking, worship, eating and gen-eral purposes. There were twosmall closet rooms at one end,which Mother Buchan and The RevWhite used for meeting people byday and sleeping by night. Thelocals christened the place“Buchan Haʼ” Over sixty men,women and children lived here foralmost three years.

Initially and out of curiosity the locals flocked to Buchan Haʼ to see for themselves this strangegroup which had arrived among them. These people were more used to the moderate teachingsof the church tempered with the stern high-souled virtues of their covenanting forefathers so thescandalous way of living adopted by the newcomers was totally unacceptable. Their curiosity sat-isfied the people ceased visiting them and feelings of a more hostile nature took the place ofcuriosity. They readily adopted the Irvine theory of witchcraft: Andrew Innes blamed the local min-isters for stirring up hostile feelings toward them.

Eventually some of the bolder and more turbulent of the local residents decided to follow theexample set by the people of Irvine and drive the Buchanites from the parish. The night ofDecember 24th 1784 was chosen as the night of attack. The snow was lying a foot deep byevening: the plan was to capture “Luckie Buchan” and her Man Child “in the midst of their fanati-cal devotees” but Mother Buchan and her friends had been tipped off. Mr.Stewart, factor for theCloseburn Estate, had discovered the plot and deciding that they were peaceful and useful neigh-bours whatever their religious beliefs, said he would give refuge to Mother Buchan and TheReverend White. The rest were to remain at Buchan Haʼ to offer passive resistance.

On the evening of December 24th lanterns began to twinkle on the high ground above BuchanHaʼ, shots were fired to signal the start of the attack and within a few minutes more than a hun-dred men were gathering around the house armed with bludgeons, pitchforks and flails. TheBuchanites by this time were inside the house and had bolted the door and made fast the win-dows. One of the men banged hard on the door demanding admittance, and as there was noanswer, he banged again even louder, threatening to burn the house down if Luckie Buchan and

ʻBuchan Haʼ

her Man Child were not sent out immediately.

The men set about breaking in the doors and windows and eventually gained entry in to thehouse where they were surprised to see all sitting as though nothing had happened. They thenbegan inspecting the faces of all inside looking for Mother Buchan: not finding her they demandedto know where she was. Upon being informed she was where they could not possibly find herthey began turning over beds and chests: they searched the farmerʼs house and barns: they evenchecked the well but to no avail. Not finding her they returned to the house and ordered everyoneout and proceeded to drag them off in all directions but mainly towards the Thornhill road. Theyeventually got tired of this and dispersed leaving the Buchanites to return to their ruined homeand make themselves as comfortable as possible for the rest of the night.

Mr Davidson later brought charges of rioting against more than forty of the individuals involved.They were arrested and taken to Dumfries, where the trial was not finished until 1 o clock in theafternoon of the following day, the delay being that “the Buchanites disapproved of this vindicationof their rights to be let alone” and when called as witnesses, gave evidence with the greatestreluctance. One of them was committed to prison for prevaricating before the others could be per-suaded to give evidence. Despite this, thirteen of the rioters were find fifteen Scots pounds andordered to keep the peace for twelve months. The case against the others was continued for fiveweeks. The rioters appealed to the ensuing Circuit Court but the sentence was upheld.

After the trial one of the Lords of the court stopped his carriage and spoke to Mother Buchan andassured her that he had put an end to the mobbing of her. There were many more attempts tohave them prosecuted for heresy and blasphemy none of which succeeded.

Over the time they were at Closeburn they recruited many new members, some of them quitewealthy. One such member was Mr Brown, a merchant tailor who had travelled from Sunderlandto hear for himself the words of Mother Buchan. He published an account of this new religionwhich fell into the hands of a wealthy farmer and Methodist Minister in County Durham. He wasThomas Bradley of Stranton near Hartlepool; he also came, saw and was conquered. After stay-ing several weeks at Buchan Haʼ he returned home to dispose of property in Yorkshire and live-stock at Stranton after which he returned to Closeburn with his wife and family. These two con-verts certainly helped to top up the failing coffers of the group.

Another story worth telling is that of Charles Edward Conyers, a First Lieutenant of Marines; hehad committed forgery and was on the run from the authorities. While in Sunderland he cameacross Mr Brown, and hearing about the Buchanites decided this would be the ideal hiding place.On his way to New Cample he lodged for the night at Brownhill and having no money to pay forhis room the landlord took his hat. At his first meeting therefore with Mother Buchan he was bare-headed; this she took as a great display of profound respect. The group received him with openarms. Here was a young gentleman of His Majestyʼs Service who had left all the vain glory of hisformer life to come and live with them and await the coming of Jesus. The Reverend White sug-gested that Conyers write a letter to the secretary of the Admiralty to resign his commission givinga full explanation for his decision. This Conyers did and insisted on posting it himself but the letterwas never posted. He made himself very useful to the community by transcribing hymns andpoems penned by the Reverend White for use in the society. It was not long however before hewas discovered by detectives, arrested, tried and taken to Tyburn where he was hanged. Afterthis episode the Buchanites were much more careful who they admitted into their bosom.

Mr James Purvie, an Edinburgh schoolmaster, seems to have upset the Buchanites about thistime by publishing a pamphlet. What this pamphlet contained is not made clear in any of thereading I have done but it did provoke the Reverend White to write a book, which he entitled theDivine Dictionary. This was a sort of Handbook on being a Buchanite and seems to have been a

mixture of strange assumptions, which appear to contradict themselves at every turn. Nobodywould buy it and they ended up giving it away. Unfortunately there do not seem to be any copiesleft on which to make a judgment.

Andrew Innes tells the story of the Midnight Manifestation. “One evening when we were all asusual employed, on a sudden a loud voice was heard as if from the clouds. The children assistedby our great luminary, struck up the hymn beginning-

Oh Hasten translation and come resurrectionOh hasten the coming of Christ in the air

All the members below instantly started to their feet, and those in the garret hurried down as fastas they possibly could through the trap door. But it being about midnight, and no light in thehouse, Mr Hunter in the agitation of the moment, stumbled headlong down the ladder. In aninstant however he bounded from the ground and with a voice as loud as a trumpet joined in thegeneral chorus. The bodily agitation became so great with the clapping of hands and singing, thatit is out of my power to convey a just idea of the scene. Everyone though the blessed momentwas arrived; and everyone singing, leaping, and clapping his hands pressed forward to thekitchen, where Friend Mother sat with great composure, whilst her face shone so white with theglory of God as to dazzle the sight of those who beheld it, and her raiment was as white as snow.

The noise was so loud that the neighbourhood was alarmed. Thomas Davidson our landlordcame to our door like a man out of his senses, of course everybody inside was in full possessionof his. He rapped and called at the door till he obtained admission; and he squeezed into thekitchen, beseeching her to save him, and the multitude by which the house was surrounded, fromthe pending destruction of the world. She told them however to be of good cheer, for no onewould suffer damage that night, for she now saw her people were not sufficiently prepared for themighty change she intended them to undergo. As the light passed she called for a pipe of tobaccoand took a smoke.

Two more stories are worth telling about the time the Buchanites were at New Cample; the first isthe Forty Day Fast, and the second is the Accent to Heaven. The Great Fast was proposed partlyto drive away waverers and all those who had joined simply for the purpose of indulging in a “freeliving” lifestyle. They were not to feed by mouth, they would feed only on the words of God whichwould be plentifully supplied by their mistress, and the more the senses of sight and hearing werestuffed with such food the less their mouths would need. There would be little or no contact withthe outside world, and all outside work would be given up for the period of the Fast.

The fast began with the singing of the Reverend Whiteʼs “Hymns”. They never went to bed butstretched themselves down in turns anywhere they could while the others carried on with theirvigil. Andrew tells of Friend Mother walking among them with warm water mixed with a little trea-cle which she gave to anyone who was thirsty, this was very seldom required except “for a blindwoman who was also very deaf and could not feed by the eye or the ear like the rest of us did,she therefore required some earthly nourishment” About the time of the start of the fast, veryearly in the morning a flash of flame shone into the house. Immediately Mother Buchan was onher feet, screaming “He comes! He comes He comes to reign!” Every one was up on their feet.Mr Hunter, who was a little short in stature, jumped up on to the table, opened up his long vestand flapped it in an attempt to fly. All eyes were strained to the place where the light came from; itwas the farmer, going out early in the morning to thresh his corn by the light of his lantern. “Loudwailings filled the apartment. The cunning fanatic rolled the burden on her dupes, and upbraidedthem with their unbelief and hardness of heart, which put away from them the coming of Jesus.”

It was natural that some of the flock would find the regime extremely hard and stories told by sub-

sequent deserters seem to bear this out. Any persons suspected of wanting to escape werelocked away and ducked in cold water on a daily basis. If this happened then it would only makethem more determined to abscond. During the “Fast” Mrs Hunter, who as we already know, wasunable to refrain from paying “secret attentions” to her children became very concerned not onlyfor their welfare but also that of her husband: she was afraid they may starve to death. She wroteto friends in Irvine to come and put a stop to the madness. She later told friends that the firstthing to open her eyes to the character of Mother Buchan was a horrible suggestion that sheshould put her youngest child to death as it had the spirit of the devil in it. Mr Hunterʼs sister wasgiven the task of going to Closeburn to try and persuade him to leave the sect: the mission wasdestined to fail as far as Mr Hunter and the children were concerned, but Mrs Hunter was deter-mined not to return home to Irvine without them.

She applied to Sir James Kirkpatrick of Closeburn Hall, a Justice of the Peace. He granted a war-rant ordering Mr Hunter and the two children to appear before him to be examined on thestrength of statements made by his wife. Two doctors, Doctor Stewart and Doctor Yorkson, werealso present to examine him and the children. Mr Hunter was examined at great length andcharged with “misconduct in having left a good business and property to follow a “filthy lasciviouswitch” to the ruin of his family” Mr Hunter was well versed in law and disputed the right of thecourt to interfere with his conduct, and the case would have been dropped had it not been foranother warrant issued in Irvine under which authority he and his family were taken immediatelyback to Irvine. There appears to be no record of what legal pretext the warrant contained, but hewas probably treated as a harmless lunatic. Needles to say Mother Buchan was furious and senta letter to Irvine cursing Mrs. Hunter as “the devilʼs soldier”.Mr Hunter was watched carefully formthis time on and no Buchanite was allowed to come near or send him letters, yet he remained afirm believer in Mother Buchanʼs divine mission even when some years later he was told of herdeath by a friend, a well known horse trader.

“What news from the south John?”“Non that I remember, except that your old friend Luckie Buchan is dead at last!”“Oh no John that is not the case, and never will be in this world!”“Well if she isnʼt dead her friends in Galloway have played her devilish trick, for they have buriedher!”

Having heard of Mrs Hunterʼs success in removing her family from Closeburn, Mrs Innes,Andrewʼs mother, also applied to Sir James Kirkpatrick for a warrant to have members of her fam-ily removed from Closeburn. By this time Andrew, his brothers James and Joseph and his sisterMargaret were all at Buchan Haʼ. James and Margaret agreed to go back to Muthill with theirmother. Joseph and Andrew remained and when Joseph was asked how long he had been with-out food he replied “If the stoutest man in Closeburn not connected with the society had wantedfood for half the time I have done, he would have died ʻere now.”

Statements like this encouraged the authorities to make a more thorough enquiry into the Society.It was feared that some might have starved to death. There were also vague but persistentrumours of infanticide. The general public could not believe that such a promiscuous societycould exist without some “natural increase”. A search warrant was organised and a number ofconstables were sent to search the premises but nothing that could incriminate the Society wasfound.

The rumours of infanticide were not allayed by this official inspection, and nearly fifty years later asubsequent tenant farmer while building a pig-sty in part of the ruined Buchan Haʼ found thealmost complete skull of a child. On showing it to his neighbours, they also said that they hadfound human bones in the area. The Buchanites in theory vindicated the practice of infanticide onthe grounds that infants have no souls, but are merely young animals; the idea of marriage was

abolished and sexual intercourse outside marriage was regarded as perfectly harmless.Considering all these facts it is difficult to believe there were no children born within the society.The Buchanites loudly professed to have been delivered from all desires of the flesh, and thatanyone giving way to them would be expelled. This too would have provided a valid reason forthe lack of young children within the Society. Andrew Innes himself fell foul of the Society by“yielding to the infirmity of the flesh” Before she joined the sect Mrs Hunter had a housemaidcalled Katherine Gardner, who, it is believed was the sister of Burnsʼ Jean Gardner. She as wellas her sister joined the sect with Mrs. Hunter but she left with Mrs. Hunter when she returned toIrvine. Finding herself pregnant by Andrew, Katherine returned to New Cample to enforce herclaim on Andrew by law before he starved to death in the Fast. When the members of the Societyfound out about Andrewʼs indiscretion they were up in arms and it was decided to send him awayat night before he was harmed. Mother Buchan was against this but the voice of the Society pre-vailed. He was given five shillings to help with expenses and due to his weakened state he wasgiven the loan of an old mare, Andrew returned home to Muthill via Leadhills accompanied part ofthe way by William Lindsay and John Gibson. He was told by the Reverend White to return onlywhen he had a certificate from the local Minister saying that he had recovered from his “derangedstate”.

On reaching Muthill Andrew went straight to bed for several days to avoid the anger of his family.His sister seems to have been the most vocal in her “scoldings” saying he had brought the familyto “poverty and disgrace” He tried to get work locally but no one would employ the Mad Buchaniteso he decided to return to the Society. His family were against this idea and advised him to go toAyr and marry Katherine Gardner: her relatives would be able to find work for him there. Andrewagreed to this and acquired a certificate from the Minister at Muthill declaring him a single manand cured of his “mental derangement” Katherine was living in Stevenston by this time and hewent to see her with the purpose of settling matters. Her parents, however, objected to her return-ing to Closeburn with him unless they were married. Andrew agreed to this, knowing that the mar-riage would be done away with as soon as he returned to the Sect. They were married in herfatherʼs house by the parish Minister.

About this time he had received a warm invitation from Friend Mother to return to New Cample.He had already asked to return and Mother Buchan was only too pleased to welcome him and hisyoung wife back to the flock saying “your act of faith puts an end to all former unbelief” BeforeAndrew and Katherine could return to Closeburn a daughter was born and as soon as was possi-ble they returned to Buchan Haʼ. “They were received kindly by all and non more so than MotherBuchan”. The daughter lived for more than twenty years without knowing who her parents were;“she was named Curtice or Curtals and was said to be a curious original looking creature”. Shewas never allowed out of the community and had no knowledge of the world beyond her sur-roundings.

Towards the end of the Fast they began to go every evening to the top of a small hill immediatelybehind the house to sing the hymns composed by Reverend White. It was understood that at theclose of the forty day fast they would ascend to heaven. If Mother Buchanʼs chronology was cor-rect the Translation would take place exactly three and a half years after Mr Whiteʼs spiritual birthas her “Manchild” The fortieth day of the Fast seems to have been in the first week of July 1786although no exact date is specified. They all began to make ready for their ascent. At last theevening arrived and they made their way to the hill behind the house to sing and hold their finalservice before their translation. They stayed there until midnight singing and chanting then movedoff to the appointed place of Translation.

This place was about half a mile away on Templand hill. They would have to take the roadtowards Thornhill for a short distance and then take the Brae on the opposite side. In their weak-ened state it would have been quite a task to reach the top of the hill. They had erected a rather

flimsy platform at the top of the hill with another smaller but higher platform rising from the middlefor Mother Buchan. They arrived before daybreak and took up position ready to catch the firstrays of sun and to ascend to heaven. The air was filled with their singing and chanting: one eyewitness, a Mr Hossach of Thornhill, was passing Templand Farm on horseback at about sunriseand heard the singing from the road. He dismounted, tied his horse to a tree and climbed the hillto see “if those sweet strains were warbled from earthly lips”. He recognised a number of theleading Buchanites including Mother Buchan on her elevated platform. They “stood with theirfaces to the rising sun, and their arms extended upwards as if to clasp the great luminary as herose above the horizon.”

Suddenly the music stopped and he feared he had been discovered. He ran quickly down the hilland mounted his horse and made his way to the Inn at Brownhill about a mile away. When hearrived there he found the landlord and two strangers already up and about, to whom he relatedan account of what he had seen at Templand. The landlord pointed out the two strangers whowere none other than James Brown, the Sunderland tailor, and Thomas Bradley, the Durhamfarmer, who had broken down in the middle of the great fast and retired to the inn to await theresult of the experiment of which they were already more than doubtful. Not long after this, a“sentinel” who had been posted to keep an eye on the event taking place at Templand, camedashing breathlessly in with the news that the whole affair had ended and the Buchanites wereon their way back to Buchan Haʼ. It appears the structure on which they were standing was of avery flimsy nature and during all the singing, chanting and swaying about was caught by a gust ofwind and blown over leaving a “mass of struggling humanity including the Arch Impostor herself” .

Many of the group, now disillusioned, left. Those who came from Irvine including Mr Gibsonreturned home to pick up their lives as best they could. Most of them joined the EstablishedChurch not the Relief Church to which they had belonged before. Some tried to get restitution ofthe money they had put into “common stock”. The whole English contingent left including MrBradley and Mr Brown. There are no records of anyone suffering permanent injury due to the fastwhich did not last the full forty days, although Joseph Train does write of a letter he received fromthe son of Mr Bradley who was ten years old at the time of the fast. It relates to his sister who atthe time was fourteen: when the fast was ended she was almost lifeless and after being givenfood became quite delirious. After a while she recovered but for about three years had relapses of“want of reason” that lasted for two or three weeks at a time. After a further three years shebecame quite well and continued so for several years. She eventually married and had six chil-dren but unfortunately her illness returned during her last three pregnancies. She appears to havedied giving birth to the last child. Whether this can be directly attributed to the Great Fast willnever be known.

The Forty Day Fast, however, could not have made any impression on the physical or mentalstate of Mrs. Buchan. Why? Because neither she nor Mr. White had fasted at all! She had openlyand repeatedly avowed in respect of other matters that “ it would not do for her to be self-denied”.Had she abstained from food like the others, she would have become “ too transparent for humaneyes to behold” - the reverse of Wordsworthʼs picture, “ a creature” altogether

“ too bright or goodFor human natureʼs daily food”

As for White, she could not enjoy her simple meal without sharing it with him!

Robert Burns was 'member of scandalous religious sect'

ANNABEL HOUSE NEW evidence has emerged about Robert Burnsʼ involvement with a heretical religious sect that

held clandestine orgies.

An amateur historian, who has spent five years researching links between Scotlandʼs mostfamous poet and the Buchanites sect, believes Burns was almost certainly a member.The poet admitted he knew most of the members and secret songs sung at meetings, only tolater condemn them for their "scandalously indecent" practices.

But John Millar, 79, said he believed Burns was simply trying to cover up his involvement with theBuchanites in Irvine in 1781 to preserve his reputation and please his father.

It is thought the 23-year-old Burns was attracted by a "young and beautiful" member of the sect,which was led by the charismatic Elspet Buchan. Buchan saw herself as an embodiment of theHoly Spirit and claimed she could pass the Godhead from person to person by mouth.

The Buchanites caused outrage and disgust in Irvine with their loose morals and what Burnsreferred to as the "great farce of pretended devotion in barns and woods, where they lodge andlye all together".

But in a letter to his cousin, Burns admitted: "I am personally acquainted with most of them." Murdo Morrison, former president of the World Burns Federation, said Millarʼs theory was "newand challenging".

Morrison said Burnsʼ relationship with his father could have influenced his decision to hide hisinvolvement with the Buchanites .

"His relationship with his father was good but with a strange twist. His father recognised that hisson was rather different because he was both respectful and a rebel. "It would be fair to say that every man that has ever been born has kept at least one secret fromhis father. The size of that secret can differ."

Last updated: 19-Jan-03 01:00 BST

Newhouse, Crocketford.