Dundee Burns Club exists to promote Scottish literature and music with a strong emphasis on the life and works of Robert Burns. We have our own, historic, Club Rooms and we organise Burns Suppers, a St Andrews Day Dinner, music sessions and talks. Our licensed bar serves Club members and guests at events, and helps support the work of the Club.
We have Members, and also Associate Members, who are given early notice and discounted tickets for events. We welcome membership applications and you can download a form and the Club Rules. We opened our membership to women for the first time in October 2025. All of us are volunteers.
The Club’s history is fascinating and below you can find a flavour of times past. We are digging out information about the Club’s role in Dundee over the past 166 years, and we hope to publish more soon.
History of Dundee Burns Club
Dundee Burns Club was founded in 1860 by ‘Burnsians’ keen to promote the poetic works and democratic ideals and values of Scotland’s national bard.
The club was the driving force behind the erection of the statue to Robert Burns in Dundee’s Albert Square and has held an annual Burns Supper in Dundee every year since 1861. (See Professor Christopher Whatley’s article)
The club is registered as Number 14 on the Roll of the Robert Burns World Federation and is one of the very few to maintain its own premises, with clubrooms in the centre of Dundee.
Meet David Taylor, President of Dundee Burns Club in 1893. He was also a noted poet and secretary of Dundee Trades Council. He was Scottish secretary of the campaign for shorter hours and a leading light in the Dundee Republican Club, the Dundee Labour Church and the Dundee branch of the First International Working Men’s Association. Burns would have approved.
Another President of the Dundee Burns Club was James Young Geddes, poet, politician and journalist. Interestingly, he wrote these words …
“Here are the people that sing “A man’s a man for a’ that”;
Here are the people that shout “The rank is but the guinea’s stamp” —
See how they are crane-ing their necks for honours.
See how avaricious they are for gew-gaws, how their souls are athirst for trumpery titles.“
From James Young Geddes, ‘The Glory has Departed’
Burns Club Member and academic scholar James Barrowman gave a 35 minute talk on Geddes in the Burns Club, which you can watch on YouTube.
