John Richardson Wigham
| John Richardson Wigham | |
|---|---|
| Born |
15 January 1829 Newington, Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Died | 16 November 1906 (aged 77) Dublin, Ireland |
| Nationality | British |
| Fields | Lighthouse engineering |
| Spouse | Mary Pim |
John Richardson Wigham (15 January 1829 – 16 November 1906) was a prominent lighthouse engineer of the 19th century.)
John R. Wigham was born to a Quaker family in Newington, Edinburgh, Scotland. His father, Henry, operated a mill for the manufacture of shawls. When he was 15 years old he was apprenticed to his brother-in-law Joshua Edmundson in Capel Street, Dublin, Ireland. Edmundson & Co. dealt in iron-mongery, ran a brass foundry, and carried out tin plate working and japanning (metal paintwork). After John joined, they also provided gas generation plants. On 26 January 1848, Joshua died of typhus, which he contracted whilst providing relief within soup kitchens during the Great Famine. Though John was only 19 years old, he took over operation of the company and provided for his sister and her children. His sister Eliza Wigham became a leading citizen of Edinburgh leading campaigns for women's rights and abolitionist.
Despite his relative youth and limited education John Wigham proved to be a very successful businessman. He concentrated on the provision of more efficient gas-plants of his own design, and Edmundson & Co prospered.
John R. Wigham's relatives, in Scotland, were involved in shipbuilding, and he developed an interest in lighting used as a navigational aid at sea. Initially, buoys only had bells to warn mariners at night: the difficulty lay in designing an oil-lamp which could burn while unattended and not be extinguished by waves and storms. The first successful lighted buoy was patented by John Wigham in 1861. It was installed in the river Clyde.
On August 4, 1855, John R. Wigham married Mary Pim, daughter of the respected Irish lawyer, judge, and Liberal politician Jonathan Pim. They had 9 children.
In 1863 John Wigham was given a grant by the Dublin Ballast Board to develop a system for gas illumination of lighthouses. In 1865 the Baily Lighthouse at Howth Head was fitted with Wigham's new gas 'crocus' burner this design was, which was 4 times more powerful than equivalent oil lights. An improved 'composite' design, installed in the Baily light in 1868, was 13 times more powerful than the most brilliant light then known, according to the scientist John Tyndall, an advisor to the United Kingdom's lighthouse authority, Trinity House.
...
Wikipedia