The John Smith History Mystery

We know a little about Captain John Smith, the man who left money to set up the school, but not very much.

Historical research to date in parish records and old newspapers tells us very little to add to the general information about him in a number of books on Ayrshire history.

We know that he was a ship's captain, though this term was sometimes applied to ship-builders as well as sailors.

We know that he owned land in Ayr, and various buildings around the harbour area.

We know that he was a generous man who, on his death, left money to members of his wife's family, the Brydens, and to the Kirk (Church of Scotland) in Newton-on-Ayr, as well as providing for a new school to be set up.

We believe that he may have had one daughter, who died before him.

We don't know anything about the ships he sailed, or the places he went, or what goods he carried. All this would be useful to give us a better understanding of the man who started Holmston School.

Things were complicated by his having a very common name - John Smith - and there being several other John Smiths recorded as sailors living in Ayr in the late 1700s.

The Internet gave us a copy of the entry of his marriage, from the records available over the Internet from the Scottish General Registry Office in Edinburgh. Unfortunately it didn't contain as much information as present-day marriage certificates.

Despite further research during the Anniversary year, by Former Pupils and Board members in Edinburgh and Ayr, nothing much more was learned about John Smith. Though he was a well-known and important man in Ayr in his own time, we weren't able to learn much about the details of his life.

But we do have to thank him for setting up a free school in Ayr, about 50 years before free schools became available to all children in Scotland with the 1871 Education Act.