Rare Robert Burns family needlework returned to Scotland
Two rare needlework samplers thought to have been embroidered by Robert Burns’ mother and sister have been returned to the poet’s birthplace, with the support of a NationalTrust for Scotland (NTS) donor based in the USA.
The two samplers, one attributed to the poet’s mother, Agnes Broun, and the other to his youngest sister, Isabella Burns (later Isabella Begg), had been held in a private collection in the south of England for many decades.Thanks to the support of American collector and philanthropist Leslie B. Durst, the conservation charity has been able to bring the samplers, featuring intricate embroidery of the alphabet, coronets and animal motifs, back to the poet’s birthplace in Alloway, to conserve them for the nation.