Rabbie Burns and Alexander "Skander" Burnes

[Kid Cossack]

Wow!

I just learned something odd. I like Central Asia, and have been studying/reading up on the British experience there for a few years now. Today I was rereading Karl Mayer's "Tournament of Shadows" tome. (Kipling immortalized Connolly's phrase "the great game" in Kim, and "tournament of shadows" was what Count Nesselrode called it from the Russian side.)

Turns out that Alexander "Bokhara Burnes" was kin to Robert Burns! Now we all know Robert Burns, of course, but if you don't know about Alexander Burnes, you're missing a humdinger of a story. From traveling through Sikh territory prior to its conquest by the British East India Company to the trip to Bokhara and on to the tragic denoument in Kabul during the First Afghan War, Burnes was pretty much a stud duck.

Soldier, scholar, linguist, spy, diplomatist (and seducer of Afghan women), Burnes traveled far and wide, was brave beyond any reasonable measure, and inspired a generation of young lads (at least!).

How odd, the things we discover!

[BEEDEE]

Robert Burn's name was originally Burnes. He changed the spelling at some stage.

Brian

[Finn]

Wow, good stuff! Slightly connected: Are you familiar with the Flashman series by George MacDonald Frasier?

[Kid Cossack]

Wow, good stuff! Slightly connected: Are you familiar with the Flashman series by George MacDonald Frasier?

Enthusiastically so!

[macwilkin]

As an aside, Cabool, Missouri, which is about 80 miles to the east of Springfield, was named for Kabul, Afganistan -- the story goes that an ex-British soldier working as a surveyor for the railroad named the town because the hills around town reminded him of his time in Afganistan.

Several years ago there was a very interesting book entitled "The Man Who Would be King: The story of the First American in Afganistan" about a soldier-of-fortune named Josiah Harlan. It's worth adding to your reading list.

This thread has put one of Kipling's poems in my mind:

When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An’ go to your Gawd like a soldier.
Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,
So-oldier of the Queen!


Thanks for posting this, Kid.

Todd

[Phil]

Robert Burns was christened Burnes and his father's grave in Alloway kirk is Burnes. His father originated in the Howe of the Mearns between Aberdeen and Dundee and was a gardener. He moved to Edinburgh first and worked on the Meadows there before finishing up in Alloway where he built the cottage which still stands today. The end wall of it collapsed when Robert was new born and he described it as a "hansel" which is a Scots term for the gift we traditionally give to a new baby.

[Kid Cossack]

As an aside, Cabool, Missouri, which is about 80 miles to the east of Springfield, was named for Kabul, Afganistan -- the story goes that an ex-British soldier working as a surveyor for the railroad named the town because the hills around town reminded him of his time in Afganistan.

Several years ago there was a very interesting book entitled "The Man Who Would be King: The story of the First American in Afganistan" about a soldier-of-fortune named Josiah Harlan. It's worth adding to your reading list.

This thread has put one of Kipling's poems in my mind:

When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An’ go to your Gawd like a soldier.
Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,
So-oldier of the Queen!


Thanks for posting this, Kid.

Todd

Todd:

I've known about Alexander Burnes for quite a while now, at least since about 1996 when my interest in Central Asia really started to form. It's the interconnectedness that surprises me. Reading that Rabbie had been kin to him was a little shock---like when I read that Sir Francis Younghusband had corresponded with Roy Chapman Andrews about Mongolia and Korea.

I have, I suppose, an advantage when it comes to history, being from the American South. That whole Faulkner thing about the past not only not being dead, but not even being the past. (Or maybe that's just my excuse.)

In some ways, running into the same names over and over again, your Richard Burtons, your Alexander Burnes, your Fighting Bob Sales, it's almost enough to put one in mind of Foucault's Pendulum!

[macwilkin]

Todd:

I've known about Alexander Burnes for quite a while now, at least since about 1996 when my interest in Central Asia really started to form. It's the interconnectedness that surprises me. Reading that Rabbie had been kin to him was a little shock---like when I read that Sir Francis Younghusband had corresponded with Roy Chapman Andrews about Mongolia and Korea.

I have, I suppose, an advantage when it comes to history, being from the American South. That whole Faulkner thing about the past not only not being dead, but not even being the past. (Or maybe that's just my excuse.)

In some ways, running into the same names over and over again, your Richard Burtons, your Alexander Burnes, your Fighting Bob Sales, it's almost enough to put one in mind of Foucault's Pendulum!

I've always had an interest in India & Nepal; mostly due to my grandfather's service there during WWII. The so-called "Martial Races" have always intrigued me, especially the Sikhs. I had the pleasure to hear a Sikh gentleman speak one time at our college; It turns out, he is a great admirer of Burns and we began to discuss Lord Singh's efforts to design a Sikh tartan and translate Burns into Punjabi.

We even invited him to speak to our St. Andrew's Society, which was very interesting.

btw, google "Rattray's Sikhs" and see what you get! <grin>

Sat Sri Akal!

Todd