It might have been in response to some unrest, at least in the Highlands, but that seems strange. Maybe, as black_hound suggests, it was a way for the son to get to be in charge of an army force. And I found this mention of a later Kennedy having a volunteer army regiment:
His great grandson, the 3rd Marquess (founder of the Ailsa Shipbuilding Company- 1885)... It was he who displayed the 716 flintlock pistols and 367 swords on the walls of the Armoury in a most dramatic array. These along with the canon outside, were to 'fight off Napoleon', and issued to the local volunteer force The West Lowland Fencible Regiment. This force was disbanded soon afterwards and the Ayrshire Yeomanry was formed.
They had really quite huge lands in Scotland, from what I can tell.
Re: yes times a trillion XD
His great grandson, the 3rd Marquess (founder of the Ailsa Shipbuilding Company- 1885)... It was he who displayed the 716 flintlock pistols and 367 swords on the walls of the Armoury in a most dramatic array. These along with the canon outside, were to 'fight off Napoleon', and issued to the local volunteer force The West Lowland Fencible Regiment. This force was disbanded soon afterwards and the Ayrshire Yeomanry was formed.
They had really quite huge lands in Scotland, from what I can tell.