Hugh Montgomerie - 12th. Earl of Eglinton

Hugh Montgomerie -  12th Earl of Eglinton
(5 November 1739 – 14 December 1819) 

Montgomerie was styled Lord Montgomerie from 1769, and sat as a Member of Parliament for Ayrshire off and on from 1780 to 1796. That year he became Lord Lieutenant of Ayrshire, which post he held until his death.
In 1798, having previously succeeded to the earldom through his third cousin, he was elected a representative peer and moved to the House of Lords. In 1806 he was created Baron Ardrossan in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, enabling him to sit the Lords in his own right. He was made a Knight of the Thistle in 1814.
As large ships were unable to reach Glasgow due to silting of the River Clyde, Montgomerie promoted and partially funded the Glasgow, Paisley and Ardrossan Canal. However funds ran out and the canal was only constructed from Glasgow to Johnstone via Paisley. The Glasgow terminus of the canal was at Port Eglinton. Though the wharf is now filled in, the neighbouring Eglinton Street still bears his name. Preparatory work on the canal from the new harbour created at Ardrossan was used as the basis for Glasgow Street, which is the main thoroughfare of the town.
He is responsible for the erection of the Beacon Tower on Horse Island just outside Ardrossan Harbour, following a suggestion made to him by the Arctic explorer Sir John Clark Ross
Montgomerie was an amateur composer and cellist. His best known work is the dance tune "Ayrshire Lasses".

No Evidence of Mass Grave

Excavation work at  Ardrossan Cemetery, where there was thought to be a mass grave of bodies from the HMS Dasher disaster, has ended with no positive result.  The archaeology team, led by John Atkinson, hoped to find evidence of a grave site but instead found only undisturbed virgin soil.

HMS Dasher blew up off Arran in March 1943, killing 379 people, but only 23 bodies are in marked graves. The others have never been accounted for.
Some locals believe there could still be a grave site at Ardrossan Cemetery as well as a second site, possibly in a field within a two-mile radius of Ardrossan.

The mystery continues.

Possible Mass Grave - HMS Dasher

Work began at Ardrossan Cemetery on Monday and a team archaeologists began their excavation on Tuesday morning 23 October 2012 to try and resolve an unsolved mystery dating back to World War 2.  They are endeavouring to determine whether victims of a war-time sea tragedy are buried in a mass grave.

The aircraft carrier HMS Dasher exploded and sank in the Firth of Clyde on 27 March 1943 with the loss of 379 of her 528 crew.  Of the 68 bodies recovered, 24 were buried at Ardrossan Cemetery and it is not known what happened to the other 44.  Local historian John Steele believes some of these missing 44 who perished in the tragedy may also be buried in the cemetery.  He persuaded North Ayrshire Council to petition a court for permission to excavate part of the cemetery suspected of being the mass grave.

Much secrecy still applies to this disaster and it's to be hoped that these excavations will go some way to answering some of the unresolved questions hanging over the event.