A LIST OF CHARACTERS IN THE LIFE OF WILLIAM SYMINGTON
ALLAN, JOHN
Grangemouth shipwright. Built the hull of the Charlotte Dundas.
BENSON, WILLIAM
Blast furnace manager at Carron ironworks. William Symington’s father-in-law. He lived in Larbert.
BLACK, JOSEPH 1728-1799
Professor of Chemistry at Edinburgh University when William Symington was a student there. Friend of James Watt. Discoverer of fixed air and developed the theory of latent heat.
BLAIKIE, JAMES
Pattern maker, employed by Carron Company. Built a model steamboat for William Symington in 1802. Made the patterns used in the engine castings for the Charlotte Dundas.
BRUCE, JAMES 1730-1794
The Abyssinian explorer. Coal mine proprietor at Kinnaird. William Symington built a pumping engine for him and managed the Kinnaird colliery for a time after Bruce’s death.
CADELL, WILLIAM 1737-1819
William Cadell of Carron Park was one of the founders of Carron Company. He leased the Grange coal fields, near Bo’ness. William Symington managed the Grange Coal Company for a time and built a steam engine for Cadell.
DICKSON, THOMAS
The first Baron of Symington. Progenitor of the Symington family.
DUNDAS, LORD THOMAS 1741-1820
First Baron Dundas of Aske. Fellow of the Royal Society. Governor of the Forth and Clyde Navigation Company. Employed William to design and build steam engines to power vessels for dragging barges on the Forth and Clyde canal.
DUNDAS, CHARLOTTE 1774-1855
The second daughter of Lord Dundas, after whom the steamboat Charlotte Dundas was named.
EGERTON, FRANCIS 1736-1803
The third Duke of Bridgewater. Coal mine and canal proprietor. Engaged Captain Schank R.N. to design a steamboat, the Buonaparte, which was tried on his canal in 1799. Intimated that he would place an order for steam tugs with William Symington before his ill-timed death in 1803.
ROBERT FERGUSON 1769-1840
A nephew of Margaret, the Countess of Dumfries. In 1826 he submitted William Symington’s Petition to Parliament. Robert Ferguson was the eldest son of William Ferguson of Raith, Fife, and Jane Craufurd, second daughter of Ronald Craufurd of Restalrig and sister to Margaret, countess of Dumfries who had connections with the Wanlockhead Mining Company.
Robert Ferguson was elected to the Whig parliament of 1806 for Fifeshire. Due to his amateur interests in mineralogy, in 1805 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. In 1806 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He was Lord Lieutenant of Fife from 1837.
FORBES, SIR WILLIAM 1743-1815
Proprietor of the Callendar Estates at Falkirk. William Symington leased one of his coalfields when living on his estate at Westquarter.
GREIG, JAMES 1782-1859
James Greig of Eccles, advocate, acted for William Symington in his legal action against Henry Bell.
HART, ALEXANDER
Grangemouth ship builder who built the hull of the first boat for Lord Dundas.
HILL, DAVID OCTAVIUS 1802-1870
Artist and pioneer of photography. Made a sketch of William Symington during a voyage from London to Edinburgh.
LAING, MALCOM 1763-1818
Orcadian historian, advocate and politician. He lived at Pabdale, Kirkwall, Orkney which he inherited from his father, Robert Laing 1722-1803, merchant and Provost of Kirkwall from1788 to 1792. [2] He held a prominent position in the law fraternity in Edinburgh and was a highly respected advocate. He retired early from the law and became an eminent historian. His principal work was “The History of Scotland from the Union of the Crowns to the Union of the Kingdoms.” He came to acquire sketches William Symington prepared in 1814 to illustrate his ideas for steam powered ferries. After Laing's death, Symington retrieved the drawings to accompany the submission to Treasury which Sir Robert Ferguson made on his behalf.
MCDOUALL CRICHTON, MARGARET 1744-1799
The Countess of Dumfries. A shareholder in the Wanlockhead Mining Company. Her father's company, Ronald Craufurd and Company, leased the Wanlockhead lead mines. Margaret “Peggy” Craufurd was the eldest child of RONALD CRAUFURD of Restalrig and Katharine Forbes. She married Patrick McDouall Crichton 1726-1803, 6th Earl of Dumfries, on 12 September 1771. She died on 5 May 1799. [1] Her uncle, JAMES CRAUFURD, was a partner in the lead mines at Wanlockhead, with GILBERT MEASON.
MEASON, GILBERT 1725-1810 [3]
Gilbert Meason of Moredun. Managing partner of the Wanlockhead Mining Company. A staunch supporter of William Symington who sponsored him to attend Dr. Black’s lectures at the Edinburgh University.
In 1756 the lease of the Wanlockhead lead mines, owned by the Duke of Queensberry, passed to Ronald Craufurd & Co, a British mercantile house based in Rotterdam. Gilbert Meason joined the company as the managing partner. Originally from Orkney, Meason settled in Edinburgh where he accumulated considerable wealth as a merchant trader. His principal business partner was Robert Laing of Kirkwall. Apart from selling kelp and importing and exporting grain, they operated a smuggling trade in brandy, tea, spices and tobacco. Robert Laing’s youngest son, Samuel, described Gilbert Meason as “a shrewd, sensible little man, purse proud and disagreeable.” However, he was kind and generous to the Laing family. He lived in a grand residence in St. Andrew Square, where he was a n eighbour of the Countess of Dumfries, and also had a country residence, Moredun, about four miles out of Edinburgh. Meason was not an academic but he was on intimate terms with scholars including David Hume 1711-1776, Adam Smith 1723-1790, author of "Wealth of Nations", and Adam Ferguson 1723-1816. Meason had no children. Gilbert Laing, a younger brother of Malcolm Laing of Kirkwall, was the beneficiary of his will, conditional upon assuming the Meason surname. Gilbert Laing Meason became a partner in the Wanlockhead lead mining company.
Meason was a demanding businessman. In a letter to Stewart Moodie dated Birmingham Feb. 8 1787, James Watt writes, "He is by much the most difficult to deal with of all our numerous customers & we should now be very well pleased to be off with him, with the loss of all our trouble provided he would retrieve the materials & drawings. Indeed he has given so much vexation by his perpetual & ill founded complaints to the writer that he is resolved to drop all personal correspondence with him or interference in his concerns." [4]
He was a friend of the Countess of Dumfries. The closeness of their friendship is evident in her letter to Meason from Dumfries House dated 30th October 1774 in which she discusses in minute detail the parlous state of health of her cousin, “poor Sandy Craufurd.” [5] Alexander Craufurd, born in Rotterdam in 1757, died in Edinburgh in December 1775. (Edinburgh Advertiser December 15 1775)
Gilbert Meason was also an intimate of William Ferguson of Raith, the father of Robert Ferguson who submitted William Symington's Memorial and Petition to the Treasury.[6]
MILLER, JAMES
A distiller from Craigend, near Bannockburn. Business partner with William Symington in a coal mining venture at Callendar which failed.
MILLER, PATRICK 1731-1815
Edinburgh banker. A director and deputy governor of the Bank of Scotland, he purchased the Dalswinton estate in 1785. On the advice of James Taylor, tutor to Miller's children, he engaged William Symington to design a steam engine to power a double-hulled boat which was demonstrated in 1788 on the loch at Dalswinton.
NASMYTH, ALEXANDER 1758-1840
Artist and friend of Patrick Miller. Prepared drawings for some of Miller’s maritime experiments. Sketched the Dalswinton steamboat and painted portraits of Miller and his family.
SCHANK, JOHN 1740-1823
Captain, later Admiral, in the Royal Navy. Designed the hull of the first steamboat built under the patronage of Lord Dundas.
SPIERS, ARCHIBALD 1758-1832
Archibald Spiers of Elderslie, businessman and son of a Glasgow tobacco lord. Chairman of the committee of management of the Forth and Clyde Navigation Company which halted William Symington’s steamboat experiments on the canal.
STIRLING, JAMES 1692-1770
James Stirling of Garden FRS. Brilliant mathematician who was appointed manager of the mines at Leadhills at the time William Symington's father was working there as a mines mechanic.
SYMINGTON, Rev. JAMES 1842-1921
Presided over the unveiling of the Symington monument at Leadhills in 1890. His family were from Monkshead Farm, near Douglas. He claimed to be related to William Symington.
TAYLOR, JAMES 1758-1825
Classmate of William Symington at Edinburgh University. Introduced him to Patrick Miller. Made exaggerated and fraudulent claims regarding his part in Miller's steamboat experiments.
TAYLOR, JOHN 1753-1806
Overseer of Wanlockhead mines for many years. Elder brother of James Taylor. Business partner of George and William Symington. He became engaged also in agriculture and was the tenant of the farm of Sanquhar Castle Mains for many years. He was a member of the Sanquhar Town Council from 1784 until 1797. To John Taylor, Robert Burns addressed the verses beginning “With Pegasus upon a day,” recalling the occasion when he required his mare’s shoes to be frosted at Wanlockhead.
WALKER, JAMES 1781-1862
Civil Engineer. A native of Falkirk. William Symington wrote to him seeking support. This correspondence included a Memorial in which he detailed his place in the origins and progress of steam navigation, also an itemised account of the expenses which he had incurred in his steamboat experiments.
WEIR, ROBERT
Engine fireman on the first Dundas steamboat. He fired up the engine when William Symington took Robert Fulton for a trial voyage in the steamboat.
WIGHT, ROBERT 1785-1870
Edinburgh juridicial accountant. Friend and adviser to William Symington.
YOUNG, Dr. THOMAS 1773-1829
A genuine polymath. Wrote an article on William Symington’s model steamboat which was published in the Journal of the Royal Institution in 1802.
FAMILY MEMBERS
BENSON, ELIZABETH 1773-1844
Wife of Willliam Symington. Known as Betty. Twin daughter of William Benson, blast furnace manager at Carron Company.
BOWIE, Dr. ROBERT 1788-1869
Married Margaret, the second daughter of William Symington and Betty Benson. Author of a biography of William Symington, published in 1833. Emigrated to Australia in 1851 and was appointed psychiatrist superintendent at the Yarra Bend Asylum.
RANKINE, JOHN 1812-1870
Falkirk engineer and property owner. William Symington’s grandson and son of Elizabeth Symington. Built a model of the Charlotte Dundas and published a biography of William Symington in 1862.
SYMINGTON, ANDREW 1803-1878
Clockmaker and inventor of Kettle, Fifeshire. The third and youngest son of William Symington and Betty Benson. In 1851 he made a model of the Charlotte Dundas which is now in the Melbourne Museum.
SYMINGTON, GEORGE
Mines engineer. William Symington’s elder brother. Erected a Boulton and Watt pumping engine on the Margaret mine at Wanlockhead in 1786.
There is no record of his birth or death.
SYMINGTON, JAMES 1788-1862
The son of William Symington and Ann Millar. Worked as a miner in Wanlockhead before moving to Sanquhar.
SYMINGTON, JOHN
Mines mechanic. Father of George and William Symington.
SYMINGTON, MARGARET
William Symington's elder sister. She was baptized in Wanlockhead in 1757. She married John Williamson, a miner at Leadhills.
SYMINGTON, WILLIAM 1802-1867
Engineer and inventor. The second son of William Symington and Betty Benson. Emigrated to Australia in 1855 and established the Hopetoun Brewery at Bacchus Marsh..
REFERENCES
[1] Death notice Oxford Journal Saturday 11 May 1799 page 3
[2] Hossack, B.H., Kirkwall in the Orkneys 1900
[3] Obituary The Scots Magazine 1808 Volume LXX page 958
[4] Birmingham Library, Boulton and Watt collection MS 3147/3/86 page 144a
[5] The Consultation Letters of Dr. William Cullen (1710-1790) at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh ID: 930
[6] Fereday, R. P., Editor, The Autobiography of Samuel Laing of Papdale 1780-1868 Bellavista Publications 2000