William Symington died in 1831 at 44 Burr Street, Lower East Smithfield, the home of his son in law, Dr. Robert Bowie, who was a general practitioner in London. A post mortem impression was taken in Dr. Bowie’s house and three plaster busts were made. [1] A family friend named Lyon claimed to have procured a modeller who made a plaster cast of Mr. Symington before he was placed in his coffin. [2]

The son of the inventor, William Symington (1802-1867), gave one of the busts to Mr. Bennet Woodcroft for display in the South Kensington Museum. [3] This bust was placed on permanent display along with busts of other great men of science and for decades sat high on a ledge overlooking Symington's twin cylinder engine which powered the little vessel tried at Dalswinton in 1787. 

[1] Explained in a Letter dated Bacchus Marsh April 2, 1910 from William Symington (1840-1929) to W.H. Rankine (Personal collection)

[2] Lyon, J. A., Letter to Professor Sir William Thomson 23 November 1890. Glasgow Museum of Transport Symington file

[3] Letter dated Bacchus Marsh April 2, 1910 from William Symington (1840-1929) to W.H. Rankine

A second bust is held in storage  in the Melbourne Museum. William Symington junior, the son of the inventor, brought this bust to Australia when he emigrated in 1855. [1] Ultimately this bust was passed on by inheritance to William Symington (1840-1921) of Bacchus Marsh and thence to the Melbourne Museum. 

The bust in the Melbourne Museum stands to a total height of 26 inches, the pedestal measuring five inches to the base of the bust. The head circumference is 24 inches, measurement from nasion to inion 13 ½ inches.  

The fate of the third bust is not known. A copy of Dr. Bowie’s Narrative, [2] deposited in the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, may contain a clue as to its whereabouts: the title page is inscribed “To The Edinbr S.S. [3] Library with a bust of Symington from 23 Sept 1835.” [4] By implication, Bowie appears to have donated the third bust to the Library with a copy of his Narrative which was published in 1833. The Library was dissolved in 1880 and part or most of the collection was purchased by the 5th Earl of Rosebery. Rosebery donated his collection to the National Library of Scotland not long after it was founded in 1925.

In September 1835, the Select Subscription Library moved from a site near the Royal Exchange into a hall on the North Side of Waterloo Place, a building subsequently occupied by the Edinburgh Gas-Light Company. In May 1837, the books and other property of the Library were moved into a hall which had been the Saloon of the Scottish Academy of Painting and Sculpture. [5]

Bowie's pamphlet is listed in the 1842 Catalogue of the Edinburgh Select Subscription Library [6] but Symington's bust is not included in the short list of busts in the Hall and apartments of the Library.

[1] Letter dated Bacchus Marsh April 2, 1910 from William Symington (1840-1929) to W.H. Rankine

[2] Bowie, Dr. Robert, A brief narrative, proving the right of the late William Symington, Civil Engineer to be the inventor of steam land carriage locomotion; and also the inventor of steam navigation. London 1833

[3] Select Subscription Library

[4] N.L.S., Edinburgh shelf mark Ry.1.1. 18 (2)

[5] Smith, Hugh, Catalogue of the Edinburgh Select Subscription Library 1842

[6] Smith, Hugh, Catalogue of the Edinburgh Select Subscription Library 1842, pages 39 (Pamph. Vol. cxviii) and 451 (S-655-656)

In 1834 the Mechanics’ Magazine published an engraving by John Roffe, depicting William Symington’s head in profile and drawn from a plaster bust in the possession of Robert Bowie. The Roffe engraving, which was published with a Supplement to the Magazine, was considered by the family to be a "very striking likeness." [1] [2]  This same engraving, in a wooden frame measuring six inches by five inches and then in the possession of W.H. Rankine of Laurieston, is mentioned in an article in the Falkirk Herald, June 1901 “Bonnybridge Ramblers Visit Tophill.” [3] The frame of the Rankine picture is inscribed on the back in pencil “This Frame is made from parts of the Charlotte Dundas." A sketch of the plaster bust appeared also in the August 11 issue of the Falkirk Herald in 1906. 

The bust was later reproduced in an ebony framed ambrotype image which hung long ago in the Symington residence at Hopetoun, Bacchus Marsh, paired with a small pencil and wash portrait. 

[1] Mechanics' Magazine 1834, No. 559 26 April 1834 page 32

[2] Mechanics’ Magazine 1834, Volume 20, facing title page October 5, 1833-March 29, 1834. The caption reads: “William Symington, the Inventor of Steam Navigation Died 22nd March, 1831. Engraved by Roffe from a bust in the possession of Robert Bowie, Esq., Published 1st May 1834 by M Salmon, Mechanics’ Magazine Office.”

[3] The Falkirk Herald & Midland Counties Journal, Wednesday June 5 1901, page 5 columns A-C (This image now in the G. Symington Collection)

Once owned by John Rankine, grandson of William Symington and builder of the Rankine Model of the Charlotte Dundas. Inscribed on the rear of picture "Mrs Symington died 30 June 1844." The cedar backing board is inscribed in pencil "This Frame is made from parts of the Charlotte Dundas". This etching is mentioned in an article in the Falkirk Herald "Bonnybridge Ramblers Visit Tophill." [1] 

[1] Falkirk Herald 5 June 1901 page 5 

This fascinating relic is an early ambrotype image of the death bust of William Symington, comprising a collodion negative on a glass plate, backed by a black laquer, producing a ghostly grey positive image. This photographic technique was introduced in 1851. In all probability, William Symington (1802-1867) had the picture made before he emigrated in 1855. The ambrotype plate measures 2 7/10 by 3 2/10 inches, the black frame 5 by 5 1/2 inches.    

Plaster bust of  William Symington, held in storage at the Melbourne Museum (Item ST 17852). This bust was displayed at the Centennial Exhibition, Melbourne 1888-1889.