# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/william-burnes
# Generated: 2026-08-13T06:03:18.385Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/william-burnes"
name: "William Burnes"
slug: "william-burnes"
description: "William Burnes or William Burness was the father of the poet Robert Burns. He was born at either Upper Kinmonth or Clochnahill Farm, Dunnottar, Kincardineshire, and trained as a gardener at Inverugie Castle, Aberdeenshire, before moving to Ayrshire and becoming a tenant farmer. His parents were Robert Burnes and Isabella Keith. He retained the spelling 'Burnes' throughout his life; however, his son favoured the Ayrshire spelling of 'Burns'."
tagline: "Father of Robert Burns"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/The_Grave_Of_William_Burns_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1213358.jpg?width=1200"
gender: "male"
category:
  name: "Writers"
  slug: "writers"
profileType:
  name: "Writer / Author"
  slug: "writer"
birthDate: "1721-11-11"
deathDate: "1784-02-13"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           38.34
  momentum:             0
  historical:           1.545969333333334
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     9.999999999999998
  profileCompleteness:  54
  trendDirection:       "FALLING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
sources:
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Burnes"
    title: "William Burnes"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8006174"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-relations