A Red, Red Rose may have been inspired by the concept of deep time put forward a few years earlier by geologist James Hutton in his "Theory of the Earth" in 1789 . Hutton and Burns were contemporaries, and would have mixed in similar circles in Edinburgh. A Red, Red Rose "A Red, Red Rose" is a 1794 song in Scots by Robert Burns based on traditional sources. The song is also referred to by the title "Oh, My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose", "My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose" or "Red, Red Rose" and is often published as a
Red Rose of Lancaster the royal badge, with the king's brother, the Earl of Lancaster, using a red rose. It is believed that the Red Rose of Lancaster was the House of Lancaster's badge during the Wars of the Roses. Evidence for this "wearing of the rose" includes land tenure records requiring service of a red rose yearly for a manor held directly from Henry VI of England. There are, however, doubts as to whether the red rose was actually an emblem taken up by the Lancastrians during the Wars of the Roses. Adrian Ailes has noted that the red rose “probably owes its