Heron of Heron, Patrick (1736? — 1803) See Douglas, Heron & Company

Burns met Heron at Kerroughtree, his Galloway estate, when the poet visited Kirkcudbright in June 1794 with David McCulloch and John Syme. Heron stood for the Stewartry as Whig candidate in 1795, and Burns helped his campaign by writing satirical Election Ballads.

Burns seemed to have felt a little uneasy about the propriety of his action, for he found it necessary to indulge in self justification when he wrote to Heron from Dumfries in March 1795:

'To pillory on Parnassus the rank reprobation of character, the utter dereliction of all principle, in a profligate junto, which has not only outraged virtue, but violated common decency; which, spurring even hypocrisy as paltry iniquity below their daring; to unmask their flagitiousness to the broadest day — to deliver such over to their merited fate — is surely not merely innocent, but laudable; is not only propriety, but virtue. You have already, as your auxiliary, the sober detestation of mankind on the heads of your opponents; and I swear by the lyre of Thalia to muster on your side all the votaries of honest laughter and fair, candid ridicule.'

In 1796, Parliament was dissolved, but Heron was re-elected and held his seat until 1802. Burns, although ill, again wrote an Election Ballad for him, but did not live to see his re-election.

Heron won again at the General Election in 1802, but was unseated in May 1803, and his name was erased from the rolls by order of the House. He died at Grantham on his way home to Scotland. He married Lady Elizabeth Cochrane.

Patrick's brother, Basil, the 'auld major' of the 'Election Ballad', subscribed to the Museum.