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Relatives: Husband of Marion Brown. Father of Thomas Brown Armour Stone Condition: Sound, Tilted Material: Sandstone Height: 2.01 Breadth: 0.89 Depth: 0.4 Inscription Condition: Clear but worn Inscription Technique: Incised Mason: G. Galloway, Glasgow Pre 1855 no. 53 ( What's this? )

Monument Inscription

ERECTED
BY

THOMAS ARMOUR
IN MEMORY OF HIS FATHER
JOHN ARMOUR ESQR
HILLHEAD
DIED 9TH MARCH 1880,
AND HIS MOTHER,
MARION BROWN,
DIED 30TH AUGUST 1894,
AGED 79 YEARS.
ALSO THE SAID
THOMAS BROWN ARMOUR ESQ. J.P.
WHO DIED 13TH DECEMBER 1924,
AGED 74 YEARS.


“I AM THE RESURRECTION; AND THE LIFE: HE THAT
BELIEVETH IN ME
THOUGH HE WERE DEAD; YET SHALL HE LIVE:”

Family History

John Armour the principal subject of this memorial was born in Kilmarnock in 1805. When he arrived in the Mearns is unknown, but he appears to have come via Kirkoswald before taking occupancy of the farm at South Hillhead. He was obviously a man of substance as he is listed as a landowner as well as a farmer. This combination usually denotes that he was the owner of the farm as opposed to a tenant.

The farm at South Hillhead, sixty acres of arable land, was to be found within a short distance of the inn and fermtoun of Malletsheugh travelling towards Pilmuir.

John married another native of Kilmarnock, Marion Brown, in 1847. This couple produced six children, only two of which survived until adulthood. One such was son Thomas who was responsible for the erection of this monument. His deceased siblings are commemorated on the adjoining stone (Memorial K06) in this graveyard, along with their grandparents.

Thomas Armour never married, but inherited not only the farm at South Hillhead but the high moral standards his father and grandfather had practised during their lifetimes. Being held in such esteem locally he was appointed a Justice of the Peace, an honour not lightly given. One example of Thomas Armour’s high Christian principles was illustrated by his taking into his bachelor household his widowed sister and her six children. He maintained this family until all the children reached adulthood and made their own way in life. In addition to this massive responsibility Thomas also kept his widowed mother in his home until she died aged seventy-nine years in 1894.

Thomas and his sister Mary-Ann remained at South Hillhead until his death in 1924.