Thomas Samson

Thomas 'Tam" Samson 1722-1795

Thomas Samson was a local nurseyman and seedsman from Ochiltree, Ayreshire who in 1759, the year of Robbie Burn's birth, opened his shop in Kilmarnock. His shop was not far from the print shop of John Wilson who was to print the first book of poetry by Burns. Thomas's house was located on London Road in Kilmarnock and is now marked with a brass plaque which refers to Samson as "a seedsman of good credit, a zealous sportsman and a good fellow". Samson was a keen and skilled huntsman and during his leisure time with his fellow companions, Burns amongst them, whilst taking a malt or two in the Bowling Green Inn, he expessed a desire that when his time was up he hoped it would be on the moors whilst hunting guineafowl. One day when Thomas had not returned from a day on the moors his friends lamented that perchance he had fulfilled his wish and as such Burns prompltly penned the first verse of Tam Samson's Elegy. However there was cause for celebration as Samson walked into the the Inn and after much ado Samson prevailed upon his good friend to finish the elegy. 

Tam Samson died in 1795 at the age of 72. He is buried under a grand table tombstone which can still be found in the Kirkyard next to the Laigh West High Kirk in the centre of Kilmarnock. On the stone is carved a cheerful epitaph written by Burns:

"Go, Fame, and canter like a filly,
Thro' a' the streets and neuks of Killie;
Tell every social, honest billie
To cease his grievin';
For, yet unskaithed by Death's gleg gullie,
Tam Samson's livin'."