SHE broke Robert Burns’s heart and inspired some of his most passionate love songs, but for more than two centuries her identity has been shrouded in mystery.

Successive generations of scholars have speculated about the identity of the “belle fille” who spurned Burns’s offer of marriage with “peculiar circumstances of mortification”.

Now, however a leading authority on the bard has uncovered her identity, which was hidden in a journal, where it has lain unnoticed since Burns’s death in 1796.

Chris Rollie, the author of Burns and New Cumnock, claims to have proof that the woman, who Burns referred to only as “Dear E”, was Ellison Begbie, the daughter of a farmer from Galston, Ayrshire.

While researching his forthcoming book, Rollie re-examined the journal Burns kept during his tour of the Borders in 1787. In it, he found a pencil note — “Find Ellison Begbie” — followed by a Glasgow address.

The note — which is the only time Burns used Begbie’s name in print — was missed by the journal’s previous transcriber because the photocopies he used did not reproduce the pencil-written entry.

Written two years after he met and fell in love with Jean Armour, and six years after Begbie broke his heart, Rollie claims the note shows that Burns continued to carry a torch for his young love, whom he met while she was working as a servant at a house near the river Cessnock.

Burns’s sister Isabella claimed in 1850 that “Alison” Begbie was the love of his life, but scholars dismissed the suggestion, claiming “Dear E” could only be Elizabeth Gebbie, a woman he courted in 1781.

Burns is believed to have written five letters to Begbie. In one, he apologises for being “ignorant of the flattering arts of courtship”. In another he leads up to a proposal of marriage: “If you will be so good and so generous as to admit me for your partner, your companion, your bosom friend through life, there is nothing on this side of eternity shall give me greater transport.”

It is believed that Begbie inspired the Lass of Cessnock Banks, Thou Fair Eliza, Bonie Peggy Alison and Mary Morison.

Rollie said: “Burns’s Border tour journal has been transcribed before but during my research I found there were several mistakes. While many of these omissions were quite mundane, the note ‘Find Ellison Begbie’ leapt out.

“There has long been debate about whether this woman — credited by Burns’s sister as being Fair Eliza — actually existed. Burns was said to have proposed marriage to her in 1781 and when she refused, it was thought she disappeared from his life.

“Now here was evidence that not only did she exist, but Burns had tracked her down six years after she refused him.”

Rollie’s discovery — which will be presented on Saturday at Glasgow and Strathclyde University’s International Burns Conference — contradicts an earlier suggestion by James Mackay, widely regarded as the leading authority on the life and works of Robert Burns.

In Mackay’s biography, which won the 1994 Saltire Society Book of The Year Award, he claims his extensive research proved that Ellison Begbie could not have existed and attributes Burn’s affections to Gebbie.

Gerard Carruthers, lecturer in Scottish literature at Glasgow University, said Rollie’s discovery was the first step towards building a solid picture of Burns’s first “mature” love. “It gives compelling evidence for the theory that she was the woman that Burns proposed marriage to,” he said.

“It also gives weight to the belief that she remained an important figure in his life,.”

Rollie also claims to have unearthed a six-line stanza written by Burns while crossing the River Esk and printed without attribution in local history books.

The discovery of the unknown poem was also important, according to Carruthers, who is “99% certain” that it was written by Burns.

Ken Simpson, founding director of the Centre for Scottish Studies at Strathclyde University, agreed Rollie’s research was “highly significant”.

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