Mary Morison

Mary Morison or Mary Morrison (1771 – 29 June 1791), may have been the "lovely Mary Morison", whom the poet Robert Burns admired as a girl of sixteen. She was the daughter of Adjutant John Morison of Mauchline. Her tombstone carries the inscription - "In memory of Adjutant John Morison, etc., etc.; also his daughter - the poet's bonnie Mary Morison - who died 29th June, 1791, aged 20; and his second spouse etc.". Life and character Morison died young, at the age of 20, being a victim of consumption in 1791. She is buried in Mauchline churchyard. Hunter records that she had a foot amputated after a horse-riding accident, therefore the cause of death may actually have been septicaemia. She either lived at 'Brownlea' at the east side of Castle Street where it met with 'the Knowe', and the other is 'The Place', which was a tenement that stood to the east side of the Cross.