The first organised meeting in Dumfries of the admirers of Robert Burns was convened not for the purpose of forming a Burns Club, but for purpose of erecting a Mausoleum over his remains. A fairly full account of the work of this meeting is to be found in the book entitled " Robert Burns in Dumfries 1796 - 1896" compiled by Philip Sulley.

The following brief version of the story is based on mainly on Sulley's account and the minutes of the Dumfries Burns Club:- The meeting to consider this question of erecting a Mausoleum was held on 16th December, 1813 - that is seventeen years after the poet's death. John Syme, a staunch friend of Burns, was in the chair, and after the preliminary discussions the meeting was adjourned until 6th January, 1814, when at a meeting chaired by General Dunlop MP it was resolved " That a Mausoleum ought to be reared over the grave of BURNS and that the expenses be defrayed from a fund to be raised by subscription" ; " That the following noblemen and gentlemen shall be appointed a committee to promote the subscription, and to carry the object into effect..." The twenty - three members of committee included a marquis (Queensberry), an earl (Selkirk), two members of Parliament, a doctor, and three clergymen. Messrs Staig, Duncan, Grierson, Syme, Richardson, Rankin, Commelin, and Dr Maxwell were appointed a special committee; the Rev. Dr. Duncan to be convenor of both committees. It was further resolved to invite artists to submit plans for the proposed Mausoleum, and writers to " furnish monumental inscriptions." The Rev. Henry Duncan of Ruthwell and Mr William Grierson, Dumfries, were appointed secretaries and treasurers, and the appeal was to be made " throughout the United Kingdom and abroad." The committee set about their work with commendable energy and enthusiasm and succeeded in arousing the sympathy of Scotsmen everywhere. One of the heartiest responses was from Sir Walter Scott, who not only subscribed handsomely himself, but influenced others to do so, and persuaded the celebrated Mr and Mrs Siddons, lessees of the Edinburgh Theatre , to give a benefit dramatic performance on behalf of the fund. Another theatrical performance, this time by the famous actress Mrs Jordan (morganatic wife of the Duke of Clarence, afterwards William 1V), was given in the Dumfries Theatre. The Prince Regent (afterwards George 1V) expresses his pleasure that the unrivalled genius and memory of Scotia's favourite bard was to be perpetuated by a work of art, in the highest degree beautiful and suitable to the sacred purpose for which it was intended, and subscribed fifty guineas. The advertisement for the designs for the Mausoleum appeared in the Dumfries newspapers on 6th February, 1815. Only a vague description of the kind of design required - " something approaching to the form of a temple" - was given, and of the "figure or subject of marble to be placed in the interior of the mausoleum" .These "must be left to the taste of the artists." Fifty plans and models were exhibited two months later and the design of Mr Thomas Frederick Hunt, architect, St. James' Palace, London was adopted. Mr Hunt subsequently decided to give his services free of charge. The estimate of Mr John Milligan, Dumfries, for the building, amounting to £331- 8s- 6d, was accepted, and Mr James Thomson was appointed superintendent of works. The committee, " having walked down to the churchyard and inspected the burial place of Burns are of the opinion that it is too much encumbered with monuments and tombstones surrounding it, and a risk that it may be still more obscured by other erections, have therefore resolved, with the consent of Mrs Burns, to remove the whole remains of the family to another and more eligible situation in the new burial ground, and the Mausoleum erected over the remains is agreed on - the remains to be removed in as delicate and proper manner as possible." "At one o'clock on 5th June 1815 , the King's birthday, the Magistrates, Committee of Management, Subscribers, and the Grand Committee of the Seven Incorporated Trades, with their Colours, and a band of music in front, walked up to the New Church ; in front of which they were joined by free masons ( to the number of about 420), decorated in a splendid manner, and with the insignia and implements of masonry - The whole procession being formed, escorted by the Dumfries Yeomanry Cavalry, marched off in grand order to St Michael's Church-yard, where the foundation stone was laid with due Masonic ceremonial by the Provincial Grand Master William Miller, son of Patrick Miller of Dalswinton, Burns' friend and landlord at Ellisland, who died in 1815. Two glass bottles were deposited in the foundation. One containing the gold, silver and copper current coins of the kingdom - the other a Latin inscription written on vellum, a small edition of Burns' poems, the resolutions with the names of the committee, and the newspapers of the day." On 19th September 1815 the remains of Robert Burns were removed to the Mausoleum. This delicate duty was carried out with as much privacy as possible. Mr William Grierson of Boatford, the zealous secretary to the committee, Mr William Thomson, superintendent of the monument, Mr Milligan builder, and James Bogie , gardener Terraughty, "proceeded to the spot before the sun had risen, and made so good use of their time that the imposing ceremony was well - nigh completed before the public had time to assemble, or in fact were aware of the important duty in which the others had been engaged ." On Saturday , 25th January, 1817 the Mausoleum Committee held a public dinner in the King's Arms. On that occasion the chairman, John Commelin, in submitting for the first time in Dumfries the toast of the Immortal Memory, said: "Even politicians who agree in scarcely aught else unite in admiration of Burns". The Mausoleum was not completed until September, 1817 when Turnerelli's sculpture, "The Muse of Poetry finding Burns at the Plough," was set up. In 1851 the Trustees of the Mausoleum handed over custody of the Mausoleum to the Dumfries Burns Club ( which was instituted in 1820 by members of the Mausoleum committee) and in the same year the Burns Club installed glass panels , to protect the structure, and started on the repair and maintenance of the building. On 13th January 1852 the Dumfries Burns Club agreed to allow Col. William and Major James Burns, sons of the poet, to erect small tablets within the Mausoleum with the proviso that this would not be regarded as a precedent for other applications. As has been related in the item on Burns House Col. William Burns in 1858 signed a Disposition of Trust which conveyed Burns House and some other property to the Dumfries and Maxwelltown Education Society. The proprietors for the time being were required to uphold and keep in good repair both the house and the Mausoleum to the satisfaction of the Dumfries Burns Club. In 1932 the house came into the possession of the Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary who sold it to Dumfries Town Council in 1944, and it is now in the care of Dumfries & Galloway Council. By 1930 Turnerelli's statuary was in very poor condition and a movement to replace the statuary and to carry out a scheme of renovation at the Mausoleum was begun. The Dumfries Burns Club, supported by the Federation, took the initiative, and in January 1935 launched an appeal for £3,000 and called for new designs for the replacement of the statuary. The design of Mr Hermon Cawthra was selected and on Saturday 19th September 1936- by which time less than £500 had been subscribed - the new statuary was unveiled by the Rt. Hon James Ramsay MacDonald. Cawthra's work portrays, as did the original, the genius of Coila finding her favourite son at the plough; but several of the anachronisms of the first figure have been corrected. Burns is no longer represented as presiding over the plough in tail coat, breeches and buckled shoes. Instead he is more accurately shown in sleeved waistcoat and trousers with short cloth leggings. The plough, too, is a more accurate representation of the ploughs used in the 18th Century, and there is the very skilful introduction of the Mouse and the Daisy.