Stevenson Macadam

Stevenson Macadam
A founder of the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain (now the Royal Society of Chemistry)
A founder of the Society of Chemical Industry
Personal details
Born Stevenson Macadam
27 April 1829
Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
Died 24 January 1901 (1901-01-25) (aged 71)
Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Nationality British
Spouse(s) Jessie Andrew Ivison (1834-1912)
Education
Occupation Scottish Analytical Chemist, Lecturer Edinburgh University, 'Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh

Stevenson Macadam FRSE FIC FCS FSSA (27 April 1829 – 24 January 1901) was a Scottish scientist, analytical chemist, lecturer, academic author and part of a small dynasty of Scottish chemical scientists including his elder half-brother William Macadam, full brother Dr. John Macadam and two sons, William Ivison Macadam and Stevenson J. C. G. Macadam and granddaughter Elison A. Macadam.

He was a founding member of the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain (now the Royal Society of Chemistry) and a founding member of the Society of Chemical Industry. He was also a President of the Royal Scottish Society of the Arts. He was a prominent lecturer in chemistry at institutions in Edinburgh, including Edinburgh University and the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the Edinburgh veterinary colleges. He also had a large analytical chemical consulting practise.

Stevenson Macadam was born at North Bank in Glasgow on 27 April 1829, one of four sons and four daughters (the eldest being a half brother). He married on 23 April 1855 in Neilston, Renfrew, Scotland Jessie Andrew Ivison[1]

His Father

His father was William Macadam (1783-1853)[2] and his mother was his father's second wife Helen Stevenson (1803-1857).[3]

His father was a prominent Glasgow businessman who owned a mill and textile printing works in Kilmarnock.[4] [5] He and his fellow industrialists in the craft around Glasgow had developed the expertise in chemistry processes for the large scale industrial printing of fabrics for which these plants in the area became well known, both for domestic and foreign supply.[6]

William Macadam also served as a Burgess[7][8] and as a Bailie [alderman] of Glasgow.[9]

Father's wives and their children

William’s first wife was Rachel Gentle[10] with whom he had one son:

William Macadam',[11] the eldest child, was the first chemical scientist in the family, and a half brother to Stevenson.[12]

William's second wife was Helen Stevenson (1803-1857) with whom he had a further seven children:

Helen Grindlay Macadam[13]

John Macadam (Stevenson’s eldest full brother) who later immigrated to Australia.[14]

Stevenson Macadam, the subject of this entry, was the third son.

Margaret Macadam[15]

Charles Thomas Macadam[16] a younger brother became senior partner in Odams, a fertiliser company,[17][18] and was to hold the Royal Warrant as Purveyor of Chemical Manures [fertiliser] to Queen Victoria.[19][20]

George Robert Macadam, his youngest brother, followed his brother John and emigrated to Australia. [21]

Mary Elison Macadam[22]

Education

It seems likely that the various types of complex chemical processes involved in their father's factory in his calico printing and manufacturing business was what got William's sons interested in the field of chemistry, in which they were to play such a pioneering role in their later lives. Of the four sons three took to chemical science as a profession.[23] Subsequently two more generations were involved: Stevenson's two sons William Ivison Macadam and Stevenson J. C. G. Macadam[24] and William Ivison Macadam's daughter, Elison Macadam[25] (later Desch).[26] Seven in all (if one includes Charles Thomas Macadam's involvement in chemical fertilisers)l.[27]

Stevenson studied at the Glasgow Mechanics Institution; College of Science and Arts. He received his first tuition at the Mechanics Institution under his elder brother John Macadam after whom the Macadamia nut was later named.[28][29]

He received his doctorate (PhD) from Giessen University. Whilst in Germany he also spent some time working in the famous laboratory of Robert Bunsen.[30]

John Macadam then became assistant to Dr. George Wilson, Lecturer in Chemistry at the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine of the University of Edinburgh from 1846-47. The University of Edinburgh Medical School was then as now one of the world's preeminent medical centres of learning and from then on preeminent in the field of chemistry. Afterwards John Macadam returned to Glasgow for further medical studies[31](before emigrating to Australia in 1855[32] where he died aged 38).

Stevenson then became Dr. George Wilson’s assistant, in his brother's stead, at the University of Edinburgh and at the Royal College of Surgeons from 1847 to 1855.[33]

Professional and academic career

In 1850 Dr. Stevenson Macadam began lecturing in the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and became a full professor (and ultimately held that position for 50 years).

In 1855 he also began lecturing in Chemistry for pharmaceutical students on his own. He did this from quarters on Princes Street, Edinburgh [34]

In 1855, Dr. Macadam was appointed Lecturer on Chemistry at the Edinburgh University School of Medicine (College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine of the University of Edinburgh) after Dr. George Wilson was appointed Regis Professor of Technology at Edinburgh University (from 1855 until his death in 1859)[35] although Dr. Wilson retained his rooms at Surgeons Hall.[36] During that time Dr. Macadam conducted his large classes in Adam Square at the School of Arts, with which he had been connected for several years.[37] His three-year course led to the qualification ChB, representing a full understanding of medical drugs and their properties. A huge number of Scotland’s medical and veterinarian elite passed through his course.

Dr. Macadam was a successful lecturer and his classes were very well attended and "were a standing memorial" to his power of teaching in the view of The Scotsman.[38]

In 1866 a larger lecture hall and laboratory was built at Surgeons Hall and he was then again able to hold his classes there.[39]

He also lectured at both Edinburgh’s veterinary colleges. First at The Dick Veterinary College, later to become The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, the Veterinary School of the University of Edinburgh, (since known for the first animal cloning: Dolly the sheep in 1996). It was founded by William Dick (veterinarian) (1793 – 1866) in 1923 and was the first veterinary school in Scotland.

Subsequently from 1873, Dr. Macadam lectured at the New Veterinary College upon its foundation by William Williams (1832-1900) in 1873.[40] He was one of the original six staff[41]

Dr. Macadam remained on the staff of the New Veterinary College until it moved to its newly built campus at Elm Row in 1883,[42] when he resigned in favour of his son Professor Ivison Macadam.[43] (Prof.William Ivison Macadam was generally known by his middle name Ivison).

On Dr. Macadam's retirement in 1900 he had completed fifty years as a lecturer, forty-five of which had been as an independent.[44]

He also had a large analytical chemical consulting practice and was sought after for expertise in his field.[45]

He acted as Scientific Advisor to the Northern Lighthouse Board in Scotland.[46]

Learned societies

1854 Fellow[47] (President 1864-5) of the Royal Scottish Society of the Arts[48] (Queen Victoria’s consort Prince Albert, as a result of his interest in the subjects, became a regular presence while Dr Stevenson was president).[49]

1855 Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.[50]

1877 A founder of the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain(now the Royal Institute of Chemistry).[51][52]

1881 A founder of the Society of Chemical Industry in London.[53][54]

1900 Institute of Chemistry GBI Council Member[55]

Publications

He was the author of many papers on scientific subjects such as water supply, drainage and on chemistry to the arts and manufacturing.[56]

Among them were:

Personal life

Recreations

He was also active in outdoor and country sports while leading a busy professional life.

He was a keen fly fisherman for both trout and salmon. He was President of the Edinburgh Angling Club at the time of his death.

He was also a regular follower of the Dumfriesshire Otter Hounds.

He was an ardent walker and good rower.[61]

Wife and children

He married Jessie Andrew Ivison (1834-1912) in Renfrew in 1855. They had five children:[62]

The grave of Stevenson Macadam, Portobello Cemetery, Edinburgh

One of his grandsons was Ivison Macadam

Residence, Politics, Church

He lived at Brighton House, 25 Brighton Place in Portobello, Edinburgh from 1860 onwards.[63]The family also had a country cottage in Innerleithen.[64]

Dr. Macadam was a member of the Liberal Party.[65]

He was a member of The Church of Scotland and helped found and build St. James’s Church,[66] at Rosefield Place, Portobello.

Unexpected death

While fishing on the River Tweed at Clovenfords, a stretch of water belonging to the Edinburgh Angling Club, of which he was president, he injured himself, which resulted in blood poisoning and complications and he died rather unexpectedly a week later on 24 January 1901, aged 72.[67]

He is buried in Portobello Cemetery in eastern Edinburgh. The grave (pictured) lies midway along the original eastern path (before the eastern extension). His wife and second son[68] lie with him. His son William Ivison Macadam and grandson Ivison Macadam lie around 20m to the south.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stevenson Macadam.

References

  1. ↑ Born 16 December 1834 - Died 3 February 1912: Edwin Macadam:http://www.shelwin.com/e/ancestry/macadam/macadam_history.htm
  2. ↑ William Macadam lived at 169 East George Street, Glasgow, Scotland. (Now the site of The Premier Inn Glasgow City Centre George Square across from where the University of Strathclyde is now situated). He was the last in the family to spell his name as both MacAdam and Macadam before the latter spelling was settled on.
  3. ↑ Helen Stevenson was born 24 August 1803. The wedding took place on 1 January 1825 at Clackmannan. She died on 20 January 1857 at 6 Kelvinhaugh Street, Glasgow, and is buried in the Sighthill Cemetery in Glasgow. She was the second child of William Stevenson (Born 25 August 1765 at Dunlop in Ayrshire. Died 27 July 1839 at his home, Park Farm, Clackmannan and buried in the Churchyard at Clackmannan on 2 August 1839) and Helen Grandly (born 27 May 1781 probably at Seabegs; died 8 November 1844 at Blindwells Cottage, Tranent). Baptised 31 August 1803, in the Parish Church at Cumbernauld. Edwin Macadam: http://www.shelwin.com/e/ancestry/macadam/macadam_history.htm
  4. ↑ It appears to have been a large enterprise and occupied some ten acres.: http://www.shelwin.com/e/ancestry/macadam/macadam_history3.htm
  5. ↑ Belfast News, 30 January 1901
  6. ↑ http://www.valeofleven.org.uk/famousfolk/industrials.html.
  7. ↑ William's burgess ticket is dated 25 August 1815 (his father John McAdam is given as 'deceased' on it): John Macadam: http://www.earthwords.fsnet.co.uk/macadam.htm and Edwin Macadam: http://www.shelwin.com/e/ancestry/macadam/macadam_history3.htm
  8. ↑ Originally burgesses were inhabitants of the city who held land there and contributed to Town and taxation and other burdens. It was later restricted to Merchants and Craftsmen. Only burgesses could enjoy the privileges of trading or practising a craft in the city (in his case he belonged to the Weaver's Guild) or could vote in Municipal or Parliamentary elections. Their political privileges were removed by the Reform Act in 1832 and their ancient exclusive trading rights were abolished in 1846. Thereafter admission as a burgess became a social and charitable function: Archives The Mitchell Library, North Street, Glasgow.
  9. ↑ The Scotsman, 25 January 1901. (Most newspaper references here originate and are verified from the original newspaper cutting archives of Dr. William St. Clair Boyd, Belfast passed in keeping to Mr Barkly Macadam then passed in keeping to Christopher Taylor, who in turn supplied them to the Ivison Macadam Archives, Runton Old Hall, East Runton, Norfolk)
  10. ↑ William and Rachel were married 1 June 1813: http://www.shelwin.com/e/ancestry/macadam/macadam_history.htm
  11. ↑ William born about 1814, died sometime after September 1877, when his letters to his nephew Charlie (C T Macadam) cease, he having written about his illness at that time:source John Macadam(of http://www.earthwords.fsnet.co.uk/macadam.htm) quoted by Edwin Macadam: http://www.shelwin.com/e/ancestry/macadam/macadam_history.htm
  12. ↑ http://www.shelwin.com/e/ancestry/macadam/macadam_history3.htm
  13. ↑ Born. 29 Aug 1825, Glasgow and believed to have died aged 14: Edwin Macadam http://www.shelwin.com/e/ancestry/macadam/macadam_history.htm
  14. ↑ Edwin Macadam http://www.shelwin.com/e/ancestry/macadam/macadam_history3.htm
  15. ↑ Born: 11 January 1831 in Glasgow, Lanarkshire. Died: 1 August 1865 at Innerleithen, Peebles-shire, having been ill with cancer for the last 16 months.: Edwin Macadam: http://www.shelwin.com/e/ancestry/macadam/macadam_history.htm
  16. ↑ Born: 5 November 1832, at 169 East George Street, Glasgow. Died 22 April 1906. [Christchurch, 2b p.407]: Edwin Macadam: http://www.shelwin.com/e/ancestry/macadam/macadam_history.htm#Charles%20Thomas%20Macadam
  17. ↑ The Scotsman, 25 January 1901
  18. ↑ Odams was later acquired by Fisons (and then by ICI, and subsequently Akko Nobel): John Macadam: http://www.earthwords.fsnet.co.uk/macadam.htm
  19. ↑ John Macadam: http://www.earthwords.fsnet.co.uk/macadam.htm
  20. ↑ Edwin Macadam: http://www.shelwin.com/e/ancestry/macadam/macadam_history.htm#Charles%20Thomas%20Macadam
  21. ↑ Born: 22 July 1837 at 169 East George Street, Glasgow, Scotland. Died: 16 September 1918, and buried at Malvern, Melbourne, Australia: Edwin Macadam: http://www.shelwin.com/e/ancestry/macadam/macadam_history.htm
  22. ↑ Born: 9 September 1835 at 169 East George Street, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland. Died spinster: 21 July 1889, and buried at Farnham, Surrey.: Edwin Macadam: http://www.shelwin.com/e/ancestry/macadam/macadam_history.htm
  23. ↑ The Scotsman 25 January 1901
  24. ↑ Edwin Macadam: http://www.shelwin.com/e/ancestry/macadam/macadam_history.htm
  25. ↑ Elison A. Macadam FIC become the first woman to graduate in Chemistry from King's College, London. In this she valiantly persevered in spite of the hostility towards women entering from the all male students: Ivison Macadam Archives. Elison had studied under her father Prof. William Ivison Macadam and "had wished to continue study for a degree in Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh but at that time women were excluded. Curiously, despite the formal ban from King's College London she was able to study chemistry under Professor F.C. Thompson and Professor Herbert Jackson (chemist) and sit the Chemistry examinations and was then hired by Professor Huntingdon about 1902 in his Laboratory". Chemistry was Their Life: Pioneer British Women Chemists, 1880-1949: Marlene Raynor-Canham, Geoff Raynor-Canham; Imperial College Press 2008. While Elison worked in the chemical laboratory for Professor A.K. Huntington, Professor of Metallurgy at King's, she met Cecil Desch. She was engaged in the accurate analyses of metal samples, which were then examined metallographically by Cecil Desch. According to a biography of Cecil Desch, written after his death in 1958, Professor Huntington remarked regretfully that Cecil had robbed him of his best assistant.
  26. ↑ She later married Professor Dr. Cecil Henry Desch in 1909. Cecil Henry Desch (1874-1958) who became a prominent Professor of Metallurgy. He had gained his Ph.D at Wurtzburg University in 1902 and subsequently, in the same year, his D.Sc at University College, London. He then obtained the job at King's. Elison and Cecil were married in Jan. 1909 and moved to Glasgow University, where Cecil had obtained a lectureship in metallurgical chemistry, under Professor John Ferguson
  27. ↑ It is interesting to speculate why King's College, London made a exception in Elison Macadam's case. It may have been, in addition to her determination, that her father Professor W. Ivison Macadam did not feel he could make an exception for his daughter at Edinburgh University because of their rule, in spite of having fostered academic involvement of women in other spheres (such as his pupil Aleen Cust who was to become the first veterinary surgeon in Britain against great odds). These two King's College, London professors of chemistry may have circumvented the college rule of male only students out of respect for her father and made this groundbreaking exception. Her younger brother Ivison Macadam subsequently attended King's College, London and for the last 18 years of his life sat on its governing body :Ivison Macadam Archives, Runton Old Hall, Norfolk
  28. ↑ The Scotsman 25 January 1901
  29. ↑ Edwin Macadam: http://www.shelwin.com/e/ancestry/macadam/macadam_history.htm#John%20Macadam,%20MD.
  30. ↑ John Macadam: http://www.earthwords.fsnet.co.uk/macadam.htm
  31. ↑ L.F.P.S., M.D., 1854; and F.F.P.S.G., 1855; K. F. Russell, 'Macadam, John (1827–1865)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University: http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/macadam-john-4054/text6453, published first in hardcopy 1974, accessed online 21 May 2016.
  32. ↑ He was the first Professor of Chemistry University of Melbourne, member of the Legislature for Castlemaine and Postmaster-General: The Scotsman, 25 January 1901
  33. ↑ The Scotsman, 25 January 1901
  34. ↑ Supported by John Mackay, the founder of the firm John Mackay & Sons, wholesale chemists: The Scotsman, 25 January 1901
  35. ↑ Later after Professor Wilson's death changed to Regis Professor of Engineering (Edinburgh)
  36. ↑ At that time the rooms at Surgeons’ Hall were held in lease by the individual lecturers and George Wilson, although now lecturing at Edinburgh University, retained his rooms at Surgeon’s Hall and it was not until a few years later that adequate laboratories were available there: The Scotsman, 25 January 1901
  37. ↑ The Scotsman, 25 January 1901
  38. ↑ The Scotsman, 25 January 1901
  39. ↑ The Scotsman, 25 January 1901
  40. ↑ After William Dick's death in 1866, William Williams was appointed the third principal of the college, where he had originally qualified, a position he held until July 1873. Then owing to differing views it seems by the Trustees (William Dick on his death had left the College to the Burgh council of Edinburgh) and the then Principal Williams and some of the staff and students as to its direction, William Williams then formed a new college The New Veterinary College in the same year. The New Veterinary College, Edinburgh 1873-1904; C.M. Warwick and A.A.MacDonald, The Veterinary Record, 27 September 2003.
  41. ↑ The New Veterinary College, Edinburgh 1873-1904; C.M. Warwick and A.A.MacDonald, The Veterinary Record, 27 September 2003.
  42. ↑ In 1904 it moved to Liverpool, England, forming the basis of the University of Liverpool Faculty of Veterinary Science:The New Veterinary College, Edinburgh 1873-1904; C.M. Warwick and A.A.MacDonald, The Veterinary Record, 27 September 2003.
  43. ↑ The Scotsman, 25 January 1901
  44. ↑ The Scotsman, 25 January 1901
  45. ↑ The Scotsman, 25 January 1901
  46. ↑ The United States Lighthouse Society
  47. ↑ Belfast News, 30 January 1901
  48. ↑ http://www.rssa.org.uk/history/past-presidents.shtml
  49. ↑ The Scotsman, 25 January 1901
  50. ↑ His proposer being George Wilson whose assistant and co-author he had been: https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf
  51. ↑ The Scotsman, 25 January 1901.
  52. ↑ Belfast News, 30 January 1901
  53. ↑ The Scotsman, 25 January 1901
  54. ↑ Belfast News, 30 January 1901
  55. ↑ Edwin Macadam: http://www.shelwin.com/e/ancestry/macadam/macadam_history.htm
  56. ↑ The Scotsman, 25 January 1901
  57. ↑ Published by T. Nelson and Sons, London 1866
  58. ↑ Published by W & R Chambers, London 1866
  59. ↑ There was a different and subsequent book of the same name published by his son Stevenson (J.G.C.) Macadam Jun.FIC FCS by Darien Press Edinburgh in 1895 as perhaps a Revision guide"...prepared with special reference to the requirements of the different examining boards..."
  60. ↑ Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 26th. Meeting, Cheltenham, 1856
  61. ↑ All recreations listed by The Scotsman, 25 January 1901
  62. ↑ http://www.shelwin.com/e/ancestry/macadam/macadam_history3.htm
  63. ↑ Edinburgh and Leith Post Office directory (Portobello) 1863-64
  64. ↑ The Firs standing above Leithen Water on Horsbrugh Terrace, Innerleithen, where he was able to engage in his favourite outdoor pursuits, including fly fishing on the Tweed and Leithen Water and hill walking. A long clock from the clockmaker in Innerleithen (Wm. Ruickbie who was making clocks there at the time) remains in possession of Christopher Taylor, a great-great grandson.
  65. ↑ Belfast News, 30 January 1901
  66. ↑ Belfast News, 30 January 1901
  67. ↑ Belfast News, 30 January 1901
  68. ↑ Stevenson John Charles George Macadam (born 30th January 1866 at 25 Brighton Place, Portobello, Midlothian, Scotland. Died 26 Jan 1939, Kevock Tower, Lasswade, Scotland).


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