The Ayrshire is a fleshy bodied red or brown coloured breed of domestic dairy cattle found throughout the temperate regions of the world. Research Ayrshire
The Buchanites were a Scottish religious sect. They were formed in 1783 in a dissenting church at Irvine, Ayrshire, under the leadership of a Mrs. (more commonly known as Lucky) Buchan. She declared herself to be the woman of Revevelations XII, and
Mr. White, the clergyman of the congregation to which she belonged, her 'man-child', and taught her followers they would be translated to heaven without tasting of death. The sect was always small, and became extinct soon after the death of Mrs. Buchan in 1792. They are said to have lived in promiscuous intercourse, and to have despised marriage. Research Buchanites
Sir Gilbert Blane was a Scottish physician. He was born in 1749 in Ayrshire and died in 1834. He was educated at Edinburgh University, but took the decree of MD at Glasgow. He was private physician to Admiral Rodney, and then physician to the fleet in the West Indies, in which position he introduced the use of lime-juice and other means of preventing scurvy among sailors. He wrote 'Elements of Medical Logic'. Research Gilbert Blane
John Brown was a Scottish covenanting martyr. He was born about 1627 and died in 1685. He is said to have fought against the government at Bothwell Bridge in 1679, and to have been on intimate terms with the leaders of the persecuted party. He was shot by Claverhouse and a party of his dragoons at Priestfield or Priesthill in the upland parish of Muirkirk, Ayrshire, where he cultivated a small piece of ground and acted as a carrier.
John Brown was a Scottish divine. He was born in 1722 and died in 1787. He was minister in the Burgher dissenting body at Haddington. By intense application to study he became acquainted with the French, Italian, German, Arabic, Persian, Syriac, and Ethiopic languages, as well as the Greek and Hebrew. His most important works are: The Self-interpreting Bible; Dictionary of the Bible; Explication of the Assembly's Catechism; The Christian Journal; Explication of Scripture Metaphors ; System of Divinity ;
General History of the Church; Particular History of the Churches of England, Scotland, and Ireland; and Harmony of Scripture Prophecies.
John Brown was a Scottish author of the Brunonian system in medicine. He was born in 1735 at Berwickshire 1735 and died in 1788. After studying medicine at the Edinburgh University he took the degree of Doctor in Medicine at St Andrew's, and after practising and teaching in Edinburgh he published his Elements of Medicine (in Latin). He maintained that the majority of diseases were proofs of weakness and not of excessive strength or excitement, and therefore contended that indiscriminate lowering of the system, as by bleeding, was erroneous, and that supporting treatment was required. His system gave rise to much opposition, but his opinions materially influenced the practice of his professional successors. Having fallen into difficulties, he removed to London in 1786.
John Brown was a Scottish divine. He was born in 1784 and died in 1858. The grandson of the Reverend John Brown of Haddington, he was ordained pastor of the Burgher congregation at Biggar in 1806. In 1821 he removed to Edinburgh; and in 1834 became professor of theology in connection with the body to which he belonged, afterwards merged in the United Presbyterian Church. He was author of numerous works chiefly in Biblical criticism, some of which were very popular.
John Brown was an American merchant. He was born in 1736 and died in 1803. A resident of Providence, Rhode Island, he led the party which destroyed the 'Gaspee' in 1772. he was a delegate from Rhode Island to Congress from 1799 until 1801.
John Brown was an American soldier. He was born in 1744 at Massachusetts and died in 1780. He aided in the capture of Ticonderoga and took Fort Chambly in 1775. he served under Montgomery at Quebec and in 1777 captured Ticonderoga together with large supplies.
John Brown was an American Abolitionist. He was born in 1800 at Torrington, Connecticut and died in 1859. He was engaged in the wool business and farming, and developed into an ardent and uncompromising abolitionist. On the outbreak of the Kansas troubles, he settled near Osawatomie in 1855, and took an active part in the desultory warfare in that region, including the 'Pottawatomie Massacre' of 1856. He had many sympathisers in the Northern States and by 1859 his plans to liberate the salves were matured. Having collected a small, well-armed force, he suddenly seized the arsenal at Harpers' Ferry, Virginia on October the 16th 1859. He was immediately blockaded, captured, and tried by a Virginiacourt which sentenced him to death. He was executed at Charlestown, Virginia on December the 2nd 1859. His actions made him a hero of the Northern armies who sang songs about him during the American Civil War.
John Brown was a Scottish physician and essayist. He was born in 1810 at Biggar and died in 1882. The son of John Brown the Scottish divine, he graduated MD in 1833 and began practice as a physician. His leisure hours were devoted to literature, many of his contributions appearing in the North British Review, Good Words, and other periodicals. His collected writings were published under the title of Horse Subsecivae (leisure hours), and embrace papers bearing on medicine, art, poetry, and human life generally. Several of his sketches (such as Rab and his Friends, Our Dogs, Pet Marjory, Jeems the Doorkeeper) on which his fame chiefly rests, have been published separately. Humour, tenderness, and pathos are his chief characteristics. Research John Brown
John Galt was a Scottish author of stories dealing with Scottish life. He was born in 1779 at Irvine and died in 1839. He went to London in 1804, printed an epic on the Battle of Largs, and tried both commerce and the legal profession; but failing in each, went abroad for some years. On his return in 1812 he published his Voyages and Travels, his Letters from the Levant, a Life of CardinalWolsey, and a volume of tragedies. He then became a contributor to the Monthly Magazine and other periodicals, and wrote a tragedy, The Witness, a life of West the artist, and a romance on the Wandering Jew, His Ayrshire Legatees etc. Research John Galt
John Thomson was a Scottish painter. He was born in 1778 at Dailly, Ayrshire and died in 1840. Educated for the church at Glasgow and Edinburgh, he studied painting under Alexander Nasmyth and was ordained in 1800. He succeeded his father at Dailly and in 1805 became minister of Duddlingston. From 1808 onwards he exhibited romantic landscapes. Research John Thomson
Richard Cameron was a Scottish Covenanter. He was born at Falkland in Fife and died in 1680. Becoming an enthusiastic votary of the pure Presbyterian system, on the 20th of June, 1680, at the head of a small band of followers, he entered Sanquhar, and formally renounced allegiance to the king (Charles II) on account of his misgovernment. The little band kept in arms for a month in the mountainous country between Nithsdale and Ayrshire, but were at length surprised by a much superior force at Aird's Moss, and after a stubborn fight overcome. Cameron was amongst those killed. Research Richard Cameron
Robert Burns was a Scottish poet. He was born in 1759 at Alloway and died in 1796. His father was a poor gardener and Robert Burns and his brothers had to work non-stop around the house and the market garden his father kept. He was instructed in the ordinary branches of an English education by a teacher engaged by his father and a few neighbours; to these he afterwards added French and a little mathematics. But most of his education was got from the general reading of books, to which he gave himself with passion. In this manner he learned what the best English poets might teach him, and cultivated the instincts for poetry which had been implanted in his nature. At an early age he had to assist in the labours of the farm, and when only fifteen years old he had almost to do the work of a man.
In 1781 he went to learn the business of flax-dresser at Irvine. but the premises were destroyed by fire, and he was thus led to give up the scheme. His father dying in 1784, he took a small farm (Mossgiel) in conjunction with his younger brother Gilbert. He now began to produce poetical pieces which attracted the notice of his neighbours and gained him considerable reputation. His first lines had been written sometime previously, having been inspired by love, a passion to which he was peculiarly susceptible. While at Mossgiel he formed a connection with Jean Armour, a Mauchline girl, which resulted in her becoming pregnant. Robert Burns was willing to marry her, but her father, a respectable master mason, would not permit it, deeming Robert Burns, on account of his poor circumstances, and perhaps for other reasons, no suitable match. This affair rendered the poet's position so uncomfortable, and so wounded his pride, that he determined to emigrate to Jamaica, and engaged himself as assistant over-Beer on a plantation there.
To obtain the funds necessary for the voyage he was induced to publish, by subscription, a volume of his poetical effusions. It was printed at Kilmarnock in 1786, and Robert Burns, having thus obtained the assistance he expected, was about to set sail from his native land, when he was drawn to Edinburgh by a letter from Dr. Blacklock to an Ayrshire friend of his and the poet, recommending that he should take advantage of the general admiration his poems had excited, and publish a new edition of them.
This advice was eagerly adopted, and the result exceeded his most sanguine expectations. After remaining more than a year in the Scottish metropolis, admired, flattered, and caressed by persons of eminence for their rank, fortune, or talents, he retired to the country with the sum of some 500 pounds, which he had realized by the second publication of his poems. A part of this sum he advanced to his brother, and with the remainder took a considerable farm (Ellisland) near Dumfries, to which he subsequently added the office of exciseman.
He now married, his lover Jean Armour. But the farming at Ellisland was not a success, and in about three years Robert Burns removed to Dumfries and relied on his employment as an exciseman alone. He continued to exercise his pen, particularly in the composition of a number of beautiful songs adapted to old Scottish tunes. But his residence in Dumfries, and the society of the idle and the dissipated who gathered round him there, attracted by the brilliant wit that gave its charm to their convivialities, had an evil effect on Robert Burns, whom disappointment and misfortunes were now making somewhat reckless.
In the winter of 1795 his constitution, broken by cares, irregularities, and passions, fell into premature decline; and in July, 1796, a rheumatic fever terminated his life and sufferings at the early age of thirty-seven. He left a wife and four children, for whose support his friends and admirers raised a subscription, and with the same object an edition of his works, in four volumes was published in 1800 by Dr. Currie of Liverpool. His character, though marred by imprudence, was never contaminated by duplicity or meanness. He was an honest, proud, warm-hearted man, combining sound understanding with high passions and a vigorous and excursive imagination. He was alive to every species of emotion; and he is one of the few poets who have at once excelled in humour, in tenderness, and in sublimity. Research Robert Burns
Sir William Arrol was a Scottish engineer. He was born in 1839 and died in 1913. In 1868 he founded the firm of William Arrol and Company which was responsible for the Forth Bridge, Tower Bridge and the Manchester Ship Canal. In 1890 William Arrol was knighted and from 1895 until 1906 sat in Parliament as Liberal Unionist member for South Ayrshire. Research William Arrol
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Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Turnberry Castle
