Died: March 21, 2021.
IN the 1950s James Hardie Brown and his brother Ian left their native Fife for Perthshire and bought Innergask Farm, in the parish of Findo Gask. Part of the land was covered by a concrete aerodrome and, towards the end of the decade, they decided to get rid of it by using a Traxcavator, a combined tractor and excavator.
The machine aroused interest in the neighbourhood and the brothers began renting it out. This inspired their plant hire business and, in 1964, they founded I & H Brown, which in time would diversify into construction, mining, house-building and land remediation.