Robert Stevenson (civil engineer)
| Robert Stevenson | |
|---|---|
_-_Google_Book_Search_-_Biographical_Sketch_of_the_Late_Robert_Stevenson.jpg)
Bust of Robert Stevenson by Samuel Joseph, commissioned 19 July 1824 by the Northern Lighthouse Board.
Illustration from the Biographical Sketch of the Late Robert Stevenson: Civil Engineer by his son Alan Stevenson, 1851 |
|
| Born |
8 June 1772 Glasgow, Scotland |
| Died | 12 July 1850 (aged 78) Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Resting place | New Calton Cemetery, Edinburgh |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Education |
Andersonian Institute University of Edinburgh |
| Spouse(s) | Jean Smith |
| Children | Alan, David and Thomas |
| Engineering career | |
| Discipline | Civil engineer |
| Institutions |
Royal Society of Edinburgh Geological Society Royal Astronomical Society Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Wernerian Society Institution of Civil Engineers |
| Employer(s) | Northern Lighthouse Board |
| Projects | Bell Rock Lighthouse |
| Significant design | lighthouses |
Robert Stevenson FRSE, FGS, FRAS, FSA Scot, MWS, MInstCE (8 June 1772 – 12 July 1850) was a Scottish civil engineer and famed designer and builder of lighthouses.
One of his finest achievements was the construction of the Bell Rock Lighthouse.
Stevenson was born in Glasgow; his father was Alan Stevenson, a partner in a West India trading house in the city. He died of an epidemic fever on the island of St. Christopher when Stevenson was an infant; at much the same time, Stevenson's uncle died of the same disease, leaving Alan's widow, Jane Lillie, in straitened financial circumstances. As a result, Stevenson was educated as an infant at a charity school.
His mother intended Robert for the ministry and to this end sent him to the school of a famous linguist of the day, Mr. Macintyre. However, in Stevenson's fifteenth year, Jane Lillie married Thomas Smith a tinsmith, lamp maker and ingenious mechanic who had in 1786 been appointed engineer to the newly formed Northern Lighthouse Board.
Stevenson served as Smith's assistant, and was so successful that, at age 19, he was entrusted with the supervision of the erection of a lighthouse on the island of Little Cumbrae in the River Clyde. He devoted himself with determination to follow the profession of a civil engineer, and applied himself to the practice of surveying and architectural drawing and attended lectures in mathematics and physical sciences at the Andersonian Institute at Glasgow. Study was interleaved with work - his next project was lighthouses on Orkney. He made use of winter months to attend lectures in philosophy, mathematics, chemistry and natural history, as well as moral philosophy, logic and agriculture at the University of Edinburgh. He did not take a degree, however, having a poor (for the time) knowledge of Latin, and none of Greek.
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