Stevenson, Robert

SUBJECT AREA: Land transport, Ports and shipping, Railways and locomotives

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b. 8 June 1772 Glasgow, Scotland

d. 12 July 1850 Edinburgh, Scotland

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Scottish lighthouse designer and builder.

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After his father's death when he was only 2 years old, Robert Stevenson was educated at a school for children from families in reduced circumstances. However, c. 1788 his mother married again, to Thomas Smith, Engineer to the Northern Lighthouse Board. Stevenson then served an apprenticeship under his new stepfather. The Board, which is still an active force in the 1990s, was founded in 1786 to oversee the lights and buoyage in some of the wildest waters in Western Europe, the seas around the coasts of Scotland and the Isle of Man.

After studies at Andersen's College (now the University of Strathclyde) and later at Edinburgh University, Stevenson assumed responsibility in the field for much of the construction work sanctioned by the Board. After some years he succeeded Smith as Engineer to the Board and thereby the long connection between the Northern Lights and the Stevenson family commenced.

Stevenson became Engineer to the Board when he was about 30 years old, remaining in that office for the best part of half a century. During these years he improved catoptric lighting, adopted the central lamp refracting system and invented the intermittent flashing light. While these developments were sufficient to form a just memorial to the man, he was involved in greater endeavours in the construction of around twenty lighthouses, most of which had ingenious forms of construction. The finest piece was the Bell Rock Lighthouse, built on a reef off the Scottish East Coast. This enterprise took five years to complete and can be regarded as the most important construction of his life.

His interests fitted in with those of the other great men living in and around Edinburgh at the time, and included oceanography, astronomy, architecture and antiquarian studies. He designed several notable bridges, proposed a design for the rails for railways and also made a notable study of marine timber borers. He contributed to Encyclopaedia Britannica and to many journals.

His grandson, born in the year of his death, was the famous author Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94).

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Principal Honours and Distinctions

FRS Edinburgh.

Further Reading

Sir Walter Scott, 1982, Northern Lights, Hawick.

FMW