Irvine Burns Club Honorary Members

Irvine Burns Club - our list of distinguished honorary members 1828-present

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John Galt, novelist
(1779-1839)

Irvine Burns Club has, since its early years, invited persons of eminence in literature or world affairs, or who have given exceptional service to the aims of Irvine Burns Club, to become honorary members.
The first two Honorary Members were two natives of Irvine - John Galt and James Montgomery - in 1828.

The lives and achievements of those listed here offer much to inspire and interest us today, so we are building up a series of pen-portraits, briefly but accurately reflecting what led to these men and women being offered Honorary Membership.

Names with hyperlinks - click for further details on this site.
Those marked * also feature in our "Honorary Members vol. 1", a unique collection of letters and pen-portraits which can be ordered through our on-line support page.
Those marked # will also appear in a future volume.

If nothing happens when you click a name below, your browser is blocking pop-ups. To get around that, hold down Ctrl while you click.

Honorary Members listed by year: 1828 John Galt * James Montgomery * 1829 William Motherwell * William Tennant * Rev David Landsborough * James Stirrat * Allan Cunningham * 1830 Ten nominees * 1833 (Not an hon. member: Charles Lockhart ) 1836* Sir James Shaw * 1837 13th Earl of Eglinton & Winton * 1838/39/45 Six nominees * 1840 Major James Glencairn Burns * 1846 Patrick Maxwell * Alex Smart * Thomas C Latto * 1851 William Howitt * Dr Charles Mackay * Charles Dickens * 1854 W Edmondstoune Aytoun * William Makepeace Thackeray * Archibald T Boyle * Baron Thomas Babington Macaulay * Benjamin Disraeli * Alexander Smith * Bulwer Lytton * 1863 14th Earl of Eglinton & Winton * Henry Glassford Bell * Thomas Carlyle * Alfred, Lord Tennyson * Samuel Lover * 1868 Theodore Martin * Lord Ardmillan * Sir Arthur Helps * Prof. J S Blackie * David Masson * Lord Stanley * 1869 Charles Kingsley * Henry Kingsley Sir Norman Macleod P Hately Waddell Henry Wadsworth Longfellow General Giuseppe Garibaldi * 1870 David Dunbar * Karl Blind * Robert Browning 1871 Mr Jack 1872 A C Swinburne Edwin Jenkins 1874 Sir Bartle Frere * 1875 James McKie Rev. George Gilfillan 1880 Sir James Salmon 1881 John White Dr Rob. Morris 1886 Earl of Rosebery 1887 Sir J Henry B Irving Sir William Muir Robert William Cochran Patrick 1888 William Black 1889 David Christie Murray A Lang 1890 Walter Besant A J Balfour (Viscount Traprain) * James A Froude 1892 Sir James M Barrie Thomas Hardy 1893 Leslie Stephen Augustine Birrell Henry Craik John Speirs 1894 Sir Donald Matheson Lord Roberts 1895 Samuel Rutherford Crockett 1896 Alexander Longmuir 1897 Lord Kelvin 1898 General Gough Lord Wolseley 1899 Sir Alexander C Mackenzie Sir Archibald Hunter Rev. Alfred Ainger * Lord Balfour of Burleigh 1900 Sir Francis C Burnand The Marquis of Dufferin & Ava Rudyard Kipling Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 1901 John Senniel 1902 Lord Milner 1904 Andrew Carnegie 1907 Henry Campbell-Bannerman Lord Young James Bryce 1908 Lord Loreburn Theodore Roosevelt Earl of Cromer George Bernard Shaw 1909 Sir Donald McAlister	1910 Sir George B S Douglas 1911 Sir Herbert Maxwell of Monteith 1912 Lord Haldane 1913 D T Holmes 1914 Robert Bridges 1918 Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig 1919 Admiral Sir David Beatty David Lloyd George Woodrow Wilson Marshal Foch 1920 Andrew Fisher Prof. Robert S Rait 1922 Duncan McNaught Robert Bruce Mantell Sir David Paulin 1923 Viscount Younger * Dr W A Craigie Col. John Buchan 1924 Sir Frederick Macmillan Dr J Pittendrigh Macgillivray # 1925 Sir Robert Bruce Prof. Alexander Mair 1926 R F Longmuir Provost R M Hogg Lord Stonehaven 1927 Stanley Baldwin Sir James Crichton Brown 1928 Lord Irwin Col. Walter Scott 1930 Sir Oliver Lodge 1931 John Masefield James Brown 1932 Rev. Henry Ranken Harry Lumsden 1935 Macmillan 1936 Prof. Adolphus A Jack Sir Harry McGowan 1937 Prof. Robert Dewar 1938 Neville Chamberlain Harry Lauder 1939 John White Frederick Niven 1940 Razcynski 1941 John N Hall 1946 Field Marshal Montgomery Thomas Johnston Winston Churchill 1947 Dwight D Eisenhower 1948 James Bridie James Barr 1949 Ian Whyte 1950 A B McDonald 1951 Sir Hector Hetherington 1952 Prof. David Daiches 1953 Sir Alexander Fleming James Ferguson B Ferguson 1954 Sir John Hunt Roger Bannister Lord Bilsland 1956 Anthony Eden Lord John Boyd Orr Douglas Bader 1957 17th Earl of Eglinton Earl Mountbatten of Burma 1958 Sir Compton Mackenzie Lord Strathclyde Harold Macmillan 1959 Lord Douglas of Kirtleside Sir Vivian E Fuchs William Phillips Norval Murray 1960 S Marshak Margaret M Hogg John Grierson Tom J Honeyman Albert Schweitzer 1961 Commander Sir Stephen King Hall 1962 A Bernard Lovell Prof J De Lancey Ferguson 1963 Christopher Murray Grieve ('Hugh MacDiarmid') * W D Cocker * 1964 Sir Alexander Gibson William Ross 1965 Sir Alex Douglas-Home Rev James R Dow Harold Wilson 1966 Duncan Macrae Maurice Lindsay * 1967 Thomas W Dalgleish * F C Sillar Clement Wilson # Edward Odling 1969 Prof. William Barclay James Kinsley	Return to main page
		1970 Lord Macleod of Fuinary Lord Reith of Stonehaven 1971 James MacPhail Rt Hon William Ross 1972 Rev. Alex Macara Edward Heath Lord Dalkeith Herr Willy Brandt 1974 Winifred Ewing Wendy Wood 1975 David Murison Alex. Macmillan 1976 Nigel Tranter Prof. Ian A Gordon G Ross Roy Dr Robert B Taylor 1977 Sir John Betjeman # Jane Burgoyne James Callaghan # Maurice Roeves Professor Toshio Namba Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani Henry A Kissinger 1979 Prof. Christian N Barnard * Ian Douglas Smith * Don Whyte * Andrew Hood Yvonne Helen Stevenson Mohamed Anwar El Sadat Margaret Thatcher 1980 Harald R Leslie, Lord Birsay Jack Nicklaus 1982 William Lockhart 1984 William Golding * R L C Lorimer * John Prebble 'Manny' Shinwell 1986 George Mackay Brown * 1987 Jack Webster * Ted Hughes * 1988 Naomi Mitchison * 1989 Hamish Macinnes * James Loughran * Sam K Gaw * Sir Sean Connery * 1990 Kenneth McKellar William McIlvanney 1991 Bill McLaren 1992 John Major Terry Waite 1994 David Smith * 1995 Iain Crichton Smith * Douglas Fairbanks Jr 1996 Tony Harrison * Prof. Tom Sutherland * Sir A W ('Sandy') Macara * 1997 John Inglis Earl of Elgin & Kincardine 1998 Jackie Stewart Dr Anne Lorne Gillies Rt Hon Tony Blair 1999 Sir Jimmy Shand John Mason 2000 Donald Dewar Seamus Heaney * Andrew Motion * Arnold Palmer 2001 Jim Telfer Michael Martin J J Caldwell 2002 Tony Benn Henry McLeish Craig Brown Eric Caldow 2003 Rhona Martin Jack McConnell Adam McNaughton David Steele 2004 Willie Young * 2005 Robert Fisk * 2006 Ian Rankin * 2007 William Cowan Michael Marra George Macdonald Fraser 2008 James Wilson, OBE Phil Cunningham, MBE Rt Hon Gordon Brown Rt Hon Alex Salmond 2009 Andrew O'Hagan Janet Elsie-May Coom

The following nominees declined honorary membership: The Pope, Mohammed Ali, Nelson Mandela, Professor Crick, Mikhail Gorbachev, John Glenn

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The honorary member pen-portraits are grouped on the following pages
(the links above go to these)
If you use the following links, you will need to use your browser back button to return.

1828-1851, 1854-1868, 1869-1881, 1886-1895, 1896-1907, 1908-1921, 1922-1926, 1927-1941,
1946-1954, 1956-1962, 1963-1971, 1972-1977, 1978-1986, 1987-1996, 1997-2003, 2004 onwards