William came from a prosperous Episcopalian family. Educated at Marischal College, he became an apprentice architect in 1836, in 1839 joining the Royal Institute of British Architects as an associate member. In 1842, he was signed up to teach Astronomy and Physics to a College of Native Youth in Calcutta. En route he made paintings …
He was called “The Captain” – he built 8 shipyards, 4 dry docks and 200 ships. He designed ocean- going canal boats, an ore washing device, a hydraulic transporting system, designed and operated Mississippi River barges, created a torpedo- proof military vessel and held 49 patents for his inventions. Read more about Alexander McDougall here.
A Scottish mountaineer, explorer, mountain search and rescuer, author and mountain safety advisor to a number of major films. He has been described as “The Father of modern mountain rescue in Scotland.” The youngest of 5, he had climbed the Matterhorn by the age of 16, and had built his own motor car. He designed …
Born at 9 Charlotte Square, the fourth daughter of Lady Diana Macdonald and Sir John Sinclair, Ist Baronet. They lived at 6 Charlotte Square until she was about 10, then moving to 133 George Street. Later she began to write independently, her first works being children’s books, prompted by an interest in her nephew, the …
Son of a farmer, he became a surgeon, who was the first to inoculate people against the disease of smallpox, which had terrorised Europe for centuries. In 1718, he was serving in the British Embassy in Constantinople, Turkey, and inoculated the Ambassador’s 5 year old son, Edward.The process was carried out by an elderly Greek …
Born in Glasgow, but the family moved to Edinburgh in 1866. Educated at the Royal High School and then the University of Edinburgh, where he read Medicine.By 1889, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and VP from 1927-30. He lived much of his life at 45 Charlotte Square. During WWI, …
A Scottish Physicist/Chemist, known for his discoveries of magnesium, latent heat, specific heat and carbon dioxide.Indeed his theory of latent heat was one of his most important scientific contributions, and the one he has the most fame for. He was Professor of Anatomy and Chemistry at the University of Glasgow from 1756-1766, and then Professor …
He was Accountant-General of excise in Scotland and a local politician, and elected Lord Provost of Edinburgh a number of times between 1725-1764. Educated at the Royal High School in Edinburgh. Strongly anti Jacobite, he fought at Sheriffmuir against the Jacobite army of the Earl of Mar in 1715, and in 1745, he raised a …
A British Civil Servant and the Financial Secretary of Hong Kong from 1961-1971. He turned Hong Kong from one of the poorest places on Earth, to one of the wealthiest and most prosperous. “Low Taxes, lax employment laws, absence of government debt and free trade, are the pillars of the Hong Kong experience of Economic …
Educated at Aberdeen University, he began working life as a clerk in the London office of the P&O Steam Navigation Co, and later was promoted to Superintendent, assigning him to Hong Kong to manage the first Asian operation. In 1863 at the age of 29, he became the first Chairman of the Hong Kong and …