Scottish Innovation: Gas Lighting

Scottish engineer and inventor William Murdoch was born this day, August 21, 1754.  Murdoch worked with another great Scottish innovator, the inventor of the steam engine, James Watt, at the firm of Boulton and Watt.  Among other things, Murdoch is credited with developing gas lighting, and as related by Electric Scotland, contributed to Sir Walter Scott’s Abbotsford.

‘…In 1810 Murdock took out a patent for boring steam-pipes for water, and cutting columns out of solid blocks of stone, by means of a cylindrical crown saw. The first machine was used at Soho, and afterwards at Mr. Rennie's Works in London, and proved quite successful. Among his other inventions were a lift worked by compressed air, which raised and lowered the castings from the boring-mill to the level of the foundry and the canal bank. He used the same kind of power to ring the bells in his house at Sycamore Hill, and the contrivance was afterwards adopted by Sir Walter Scott in his house at Abbotsford…’

John Rennie

On June 7, 1761, the civil engineer John Rennie was born.  Rennie had a facility for mechanical work, and as a youth spent time in Andrew Meikle's (inventor of threshing machine) workshop.  Rennie attended Edinburgh University between 1780 and 1783.  In 1784, he visited James Watt, who offered him a position.  Rennie accepted, moving to London to work on a steam engine being built by Boulton & Watt.

Rennie worked on several projects in London, including canals (Kennet and Avon), docks (London docks), harbors (Holyhead harbor), and bridges (London bridge).  He is also credited with designing and building the Bell Rock Lighthouse.

Rennie received early schooling in Prestonkirk.  Walter Scott drew upon this area, including Haddington for some of his character inspiration.  Some of these are detailed in "Reminiscences of the royal burgh of Haddington and old East Lothian agriculturists".  For example (West Port):

...Witches of old were burned in the Gallows Green. Sir Walter Scott had no doubt these atrocious events in his eye when, in his novel of the Bride of Lammermoor, he describes an interview betwixt old Alice, Ravenswood, Henry and Lucy Ashton, in the following words :

— ** * They think,' said Henry Ashton, who came up at that moment, and whispered into Ravenswood's ear,
* that she is a witch that should have been burnt with them that suffered at Haddington.'

" ' What is that you say,' said Alice, turning towards the boy, her sightless visage inflamed with passion ;


* that I am a witch, and ought to have suffered with the helpless old wretches who were murdered at Haddington.?'" ...

WRS

Greenock

On April 8, 1820, prisoners of the Radical War were taken from Paisley to Greenock jail.  The prisoners were escorted by the Port Glasgow Militia, which came under attack from stone throwing Greenock citizens along the way.  Eventually, the militia opened fire, killing eight citizens.  The militia left after jailing the prisoners, but Greenockians broke into the jail, freeing the Radicals.

There are certainly worse places to be jailed than in Greenock.  Greenock lies on the firth of Clyde, and has inspired several literary, musical and cinematic works.  Greenock born composer Hamish MacCunn based his "The Land of the Mountain and the Flood" on Sir Walter Scott's descriptions of the Scottish landscape.

Other notable residents have included James Watt, and according to the pirate William Kidd, Greenock was his birth place (believed to be inaccurate).

George Square Glasgow

George Square in Glasgow was named after King George III.  The square was planned by architects James and Robert Adam, beginning around 1780. 

Robert Adam was the son of Scotland's most famous architect, William Adam who designed Hopetown House and Duff House.  Of William's three architect sons (John, Robert and James), the latter two developed a style known as Adamesque.  Features of this style include Roman motifs, grotesque panels, and pilasters.  Robert Adam died on March 3, 1792.

George Square contains a statue of Sir Walter Scott, which was the first memorial dedicated to him.  Other famous Scott Memorial sites include Edinburgh, and the Literary Walk in New York's Central Park.  The column on which the statue sits was erected in 1837.  Scott shares the square with other notables such as James Watt, Robert Burns, Queen Victoria, Sir John Moore, William Gladstone and  Robert Peel.

James Watt

'the most profound man of science, the most successful combiner of powers and calculator of numbers, as adapted to practical purposes' is how Walter Scott described James Watt.  Born on January 19, 1736, in Greenock, Renfrewshire, Watt showed an aptitude for mathematics and mechanics early in his life. 

Watt studied instrument making in London around 1754, then returned to Glasgow, intent on making this his career.  His application was blocked by the Glasgow Guild of Hammermen.  Instead, Watt gained employment at the University of Glasgow.  The University at one point (1763) asked him to fix a Newcomen engine, and while doing so, Watt employed a separate condenser to generate steam power.  The development of the Watt Steam Engine spurred the industrial revolution.

Development of Watt's invention was funded by his friend John Roebuck, who owned the Carron Iron Works.  Roebuck ran into financial difficulty in the early 1770's, and sold his interest in Watt's invention to Matthew Boulton of the Soho Works, who successfully developed Watt's engine.  Watt moved to Birmingham in 1774, working and living there for the next 45 years.