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Summary

Description

Robert Samson Ingram, architect, 1885. Matthew Muir, builder. Tall fluted Corinthian column on square plinth with chamfered corners. Dressed Giffnock stone on coursed stepped red ashlar plinth with random rubble base.

S (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: later base leading to stepped plinth: lower stage carved: "UNVEILED by the Right Hon. THE EARL OF ROSEBERY, Oct. 17, 1885." Upper stage containing aediculed frame with RM monogram with inset plaque inscribed: "To the memory of Captain Thomas Baird and Alexander McLaren, as also John Burt, John Kennedy, Archibald Craig and other Kilmarnock pioneers of Parliamentary reform who, in the early part of the 19th Century, devoted themselves with unselfish zeal to the cause of the people. Erected by public subscription 1885"; bell shaped detail to corners of chamfered base. Octagonal base with Corinthian column surmounting.

W ELEVATION: later base leading to stepped plinth with bell shaped detail to corners of chamfered base, stone to 2nd stage inscribed "RO. S. INGRAM ARCHITECT" and "MATTHEW MUIR BUILDER"; octagonal base with Corinthian column surmounting.

N AND E ELEVATIONS: later base leading to stepped plain plinth with bell shaped detail to corners of chamfered 2nd stage; octagonal base with Corinthian column surmounting.

Statement of Special Interest

The monument was erected in remembrance of a public gathering held in Dean Park on Saturday, 7th December 1816 to protest at the voting system in Kilmarnock. Around 6,000 people (out of a population of 13,000) attended to campaign for Parliamentary reform and representation for working class people. Only one man in Kilmarnock at that time was eligible to vote, with the whole of Ayrshire having only 156 votes. Alexander McLaren, a local weaver; Thomas Baird, a local shopkeeper; John Kennedy, Archibald Craig and John Burt all gave speeches highlighting dissatisfaction with the way the country was being run. Afterwards, the speeches were published and sold to raise funds for expenses towards the meeting and sending a petition to the Prince Regent. McLaren and Baird were arrested and accused of "wickedly and feloniously printing, selling, publishing and circulating the said tract or statement." They were imprisoned in the Tollbooth in Edinburgh for 6 months and both died shortly after their release. Craig and Kennedy were imprisoned but released without charge and they emigrated to America. Burt fled the country. They were remembered in 1885 when Lord Rosebery unveiled the monument in a special ceremony. The Melbourne Age wrote: "It is only right that posterity should treasure the names of Alexander McLaren and Thomas Baird. These men do not belong to Scotland alone. Wherever the British race is planted in the enjoyment of constitutional liberties, their memory ought to be cherished." Originally surmounted by a female statue symbolising liberty, by Charles Grasby, this was blow off in a severe storm in 1936 and was never replaced. The monument was on a large plinth accessed by flights of 5 steps to the east and west elevations, but work was carried out to remove these and return the base to a plain high stone plinth.

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