The Montgomerie family, who built and lived at Annick Lodge for nearly a century, left their mark far beyond Irvine.
Captain Alexander Montgomerie (1744–1802)
A Royal Navy captain and brother of Hugh Montgomerie, the 12th Earl of Eglinton. He built Annick Lodge around 1790 and established the ferme ornee gardens. His daughter Elizabeth married David Boyle, Lord Boyle of Kelburn (now Kelburn Castle).
Captain Thomas George Montgomerie — The Man Who Named K2
Perhaps the most remarkable connection: one of the sons of the Annick Lodge family, Captain Thomas George Montgomerie of the Bengal Engineers, was responsible for surveying the Karakoram mountains as part of the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India.
It was Montgomerie who gave K2 — the second highest mountain on Earth — its name. The "K" stands for Karakoram, and "2" was its survey number. He also produced the first map identifying the major peaks of the Karakoram range.
So the next time you hear about K2, the Savage Mountain, remember: the man who named it grew up at Annick Lodge on Annick Road, Irvine.
— Captain Thomas George Montgomerie, of Annick Lodge
Admiral John Eglinton Montgomerie, CB
Another son of the family reached the rank of Admiral and wrote a vocabulary of the American Indian peoples of the Columbia River and Puget Sound in 1848.
The family attended the famous Eglinton Tournament of 1839 — a grand mock-medieval jousting tournament held at the nearby Eglinton Castle estate (now Eglinton Country Park). Major William Eglinton Montgomerie and Mrs Montgomerie were allotted seats in the Grand Stand.