Since 1828, Irvine Burns Club has invited many individuals to accept Honorary Membership. Pictured above are Sean Connery (1989) and John Galt (1828). The preservation of acceptance letters over almost two centuries is remarkable for a small club and Irvine can be rightly proud of this inheritance.
Read the Preface prepared for the forthcoming Bicentenary collection.

Nominees must be persons eminent in the literary world or eminent in other fields or ones who have given particularly outstanding service to Irvine Burns Club. 

Honorary members are listed below by year, with links to documents telling of their lives and with their acceptance letters.
Thomas Carlyle, 1828: "The character of Burns is a theme that cannot easily become either trite or exhausted." ('The Edinburgh Review' #96)

The first two Honorary Members were John Galt and James Montgomery, both Irvine-born. Read their letters of acceptance at "Read lives & letters 1828".

Listen here to Adam McNaughtan reading his acceptance 'speech'