Thomas Stevenson
Thomas Stevenson PRSE MInstCE FRSSA FSAScot (1818–1887) was a pioneering Scottish lighthouse designer and meteorologist, who designed over thirty lighthouses in and around Scotland, as well as the Stevenson screen used in meteorology. His designs, celebrated as ground breaking, ushered in a new era of lighthouse creation.
He served as president of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts (1859–60), as president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1884-6), and was a co-founder of the Scottish Meteorological Society.[1]
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[edit] Background
The youngest son of engineer Robert Stevenson, and brother of the lighthouse engineers Alan and David Stevenson, between 1854 and 1886 he designed many lighthouses, with his brother David, and then with David's son David Alan Stevenson. He married Margaret Balfour and their son was the writer Robert Louis Stevenson, who caused him much disappointment by failing to follow the engineering interests of his family.
Thomas Stevenson was a devout and regular attender at St. Stephen's Church in St Stephen's Place, Silvermills, at the north end of St Vincent Street, Edinburgh.
He was involved in regrettable efforts to rubbish the inventions of John Richardson Wigham.[2]
[edit] Lighthouses designed by Thomas Stevenson
- Whalsay Skerries (1854)
- Out Skerries (1854)
- Muckle Flugga (1854)
- Davaar (1854)
- Ushenish (1857)
- South Rona (1857)
- Kyleakin (1857)
- Ornsay (1857)
- Sound of Mull (1857)
- Cantick Head (1858)
- Bressay (1858)
- Ruvaal (1859)
- Corran Point (1860)
- Fladda (1860)
- McArthur's Head (1861)
- St Abb's Head (1862)
- Butt of Lewis (1862)
- Holborn Head (1862)
- Monach Islands (1864)
- Skervuile (1865)
- Auskerry (1866)
- Lochindaal (1869)
- Scurdie Ness (1870)
- Stour Head (1870)
- Dubh Artach (1872)
- Turnberry Point (1873)
- Chicken Rock (1875)
- Lindisfarne (1877, 1880)
- Fidra (1885)
- Oxcar (1886)
- Ailsa Craig Lighthouse (1886)
[edit] See also
- Richard Henry Brunton "Father of Japanese lighthouses"
- John Richardson Wigham Irish inventor and lighthouse engineer
[edit] References
- ^ Waterston, Charles D; Macmillan Shearer, A (July 2006). Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783-2002: Biographical Index. II. Edinburgh: The Royal Society of Edinburgh. ISBN 9780902198845. http://www.rse.org.uk/fellowship/fells_indexp2.pdf. Retrieved December 31, 2010.
- ^ Tyndall A Story of Lighthouses page 827
[edit] External links
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- 1818 births
- 1887 deaths
- 19th-century Scottish people
- Lighthouse builders
- Presidents of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
- People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh
- Scottish civil engineers
- Scottish inventors
- Burials at the New Calton Cemetery
- Scottish meteorologists
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- People from Edinburgh
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