The latest instalment of our Ayrshire Heroes series

And all of them left a big mark across the county.

George Douglas Brown

(Image: Contributed) The village of Ochiltree can lay claim to this famous 19th Century writer - and his legend lives on in the area.

The man who penned ‘The House with the Green Shutters’ overcame a difficult childhood to become one of Scotland’s most well-known authors of his generation

Brown was born in 1869 and despite his father never acknowledging him, he battled adversity to gain First Class honours at the University of Glasgow.

At the age of 30 he moved into the world of journalism and penned several short novels. His first novel though - Love and a Sword - was published under a pseudonym, ‘Kennedy King’.

But it was at the turn of the 20th Century that his most famous novel was conceived and when finally published a year later, received rave reviews.

Today, a ‘House with the Green Shutters’ remains in Ochiltree as a tribute to Brown.

Alfred Nobel

(Image: Contributed) Alfred Nobel’s description of the Ardeer site in Stevenston  where he set up his explosives factory, is nothing if not memorable.

He wrote: “Picture to yourself everlasting bleak sand dunes with no buildings. Only rabbits find a little nourishment here; they eat a substance which quite unjustifiably goes by the name of grass.

“It is a sand desert where the wind always blows often howls filling the ears with sand. Without work the place would be intolerable.”

Nevertheless, Swedish-born Nobel made his home there as he founded what became the largest explosives factory in the world in 1871. It’s peak workforce at one point reached an astonishing 25,000.

The chemist, who lived from 1833 to 1896, was the man who had invented dynamite, one of the most destructive substances known to man.

Yet its practical application in industry and elsewhere, and the legacy of the quiet Swede through the launch of the Nobel Prizes, mean his name will live forever.

William McIlvanney

(Image: Contributed) The son of a miner, author William McIlvanney was born in Kilmarnock.

His early novels depict tough, often violent, men locked in a struggle with their own nature and background - typical McIlvanney characters.

And his later crime novels were considered to be the first books of Tartan Noir.

He studied at Kilmarnock Academy and later at the University of Glasgow before beginning a career as an English teacher from 1960 until 1975 at Irvine Royal Academy and then Greenwood Academy in Dreghorn.

Docherty (1975) was a story about a miner whose courage and endurance is tested during the depression won the Whitbread Novel Award.

The Big Man (1985) is the story of Dan Scoular, an unemployed man who turns to bare-knuckle fighting to make a living, which was later made into a movie starring Liam Neeson and featuring Billy Connolly.

McIlvanney is also an acclaimed poet. His short story “Dreaming”, first published in Walking Wounded in 1989, was filmed by BBC Scotland in 1990 and won a BAFTA. He died in 2015 at the age of 79.

Betsy Miller

(Image: Contributed)

The first woman to be registered as master of a ship hailed from Saltcoats.

Betsy Miller was born in the town and lived in Quay Street overlooking the harbour. Her father, William Miller, was a ship-owner and timber merchant and her only sibling - a brother - tragically drowned.

After the death, Betsy began to help her father to run his business which she later took over when he passed away in 1847 leaving large debts.

Betsy left the counting office to take charge of the family’s ship ‘Clytus’ which carried coal from Saltcoats to Ireland.

 She retired to her house on Quay Street at the age of 70 and died two years later in 1864.

She is buried in the churchyard of the old Ardrossan Parish Church in Saltcoats which is now the North Ayrshire Museum.