Tour Scotland Video Robert Philp Linen Manufacturer Gravestone Old Kirk Graveyard Kirkcaldy Fife

Tour Scotland video of the Robert Philp, Linen Manufacturer, gravestone in the Old Kirk cemetery on ancestry visit to Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland. Robert Philp was a local linen manufacturer, and a bachelor and with no family to leave his fortune to. He died in 1828 leaving all his estate for the education, books and clothing of poor children in the area.

The Philp surname is Scottish. It is one of the many versions of the Ancient Greek name " Phillipos ," and is almost exclusively from the county of Fife. First introduced into the British Isles by returning crusader soldiers from their expeditions to free the Holy Land in the 11th century, the name as Philip was borne by one of Christ's twelve apostles as well as by several of the early saints. However unusually, for a Christian name, it was a warrior name, and owes its great popularity not to the early Christian church, but to the romantic stories and fables relating to Philip of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great. The earliest recordings are to be found in England, and then as Christian names, and these include Filippus de Crochesbi of Lincolnshire, England in 1142. In the modern idiom the spellings include Phelp, Philp, Phalp, Phelps, Phipps and Phelops, and it is claimed that the surname is first recorded in Scotland with that of Rauf Phelippe of Berwick in 1296, whilst Sir James Philp was curate of Arbroath Abbey in 1467.

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