Jessie Lewars

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Jessie Lewars (1778–1855), also known as Mrs. James Thomson, was the youngest daughter of John Lewars, a Dumfries excise supervisor. After her father died in 1789, 11-year-old Jessie and her brother John moved to a house opposite the poet Robert Burns, and she became a close friend of the Burns family.

Near the end of Burns’s life, Jessie helped care for him and did household tasks. She also looked after Burns’s four young sons while his wife Jean Armour recovered from childbirth, and Burns himself lived with Jessie for about a year. Burns was fond of Jessie and spoke highly of her singing.

In 1799, Jessie married James Thomson, a lawyer, in Dumfries. They had seven children: five sons—James (1800–1820), John (1802–1834), William (1805–1858), Thomas (1810–1859), and Alexander (1814–1859)—and two daughters, Mary (1807–1843) and Jessie (1816–1877). The family lived in Maxwelltown, Dumfries. James Thomson died in 1849, and Jessie Lewars Thomson died on 26 May 1855, aged 77. They are buried opposite Burns’s mausoleum in St Michael’s churchyard, Dumfries.

Jessie remained a steadfast friend of Jean Armour Burns and supported the family after Burns’s death, caring for the four brothers. Burns admired Jessie’s singing and even wrote songs for her, including the famous O wert thou in the cauld blast, and he dedicated other verses to her. He sent keepsakes and poems, which Jessie kept for life. A portrait of Jessie was painted by John Irvine, and in 1844 she was honored at a Burns festival, taking a prominent place beside Burns’s relatives.