James Nicholas Douglass
Sir James Nicholas Douglass | |
---|---|
Born | 16 October 1826 |
Died | 19 June 1898 | (aged 71)
Nationality | English |
Occupation | civil engineer |
Sir James Nicholas Douglass, FRS (16 October 1826 – 19 June 1898) was an English civil engineer, a prolific lighthouse builder and designer, most famous for the design and construction of the fourth Eddystone Lighthouse, for which he was knighted.[1]
Biography
James Nicholas Douglass was born in Bow, London, in 1826,[2] the eldest son of Nicholas Douglass, also a civil engineer. After serving an apprenticeship with the Hunter and English company, he joined the engineering department of Trinity House, the United Kingdom's lighthouse authority.
Along with his brother
Douglass based his plans on the proven design of
Douglass's design for the Smalls light was a great success and he went on to design some twenty lighthouses for Trinity House, including some wave-swept towers which remain major engineering achievements, such as the Longships Lighthouse off Land's End.[6] Douglass's designs were also used in Sri Lanka. His brother William became the Engineer-in-Chief to the Commissioners of Irish Lights in 1878, serving in the post until 1900.[7]
The crowning achievement of James Douglass's career was the construction of the fourth Eddystone Lighthouse. Douglass was engaged to build a replacement for Smeaton's tower in 1877, and the new lighthouse was completed in 1882, the project being finished both without loss of life or serious injury and £18,745 under budget.
In 1887 Douglass was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. He retired in 1892, being succeeded as Engineer-in-Chief by Thomas Matthews, and died in 1898 at his home on the Isle of Wight. His youngest son Alfred also trained as a lighthouse engineer.[9] His eldest surviving son was William Tregarthen Douglass,[10] who gained a considerable reputation as a civil engineer in the construction of lighthouses.
Controversy
Douglass was involved in a big public disputes with John Richardson Wigham. Wigham claimed that gas lights were superior to oil lamps, Douglass, then chief engineer to Trinity House, disagreed. In 1863 the Dublin Ballast Board funded Wigham's research and the new gas light was installed in the Baily Lighthouse, they then converted other lighthouses until Trinity House prohibited further conversion of lighthouses from oil to gas. After pressure from the Irish Parliamentary Party[11] In 1871 trials were conducted at the two Happisburgh Lighthouses comparing oil with gas. Douglass reported that "the large gas burner was ex-focal and therefore that it was totally useless and wasted".[12]
Douglass claimed that the design of "superposed lenses" at the
Examples of Douglass's designs
- Bishop Rock Lighthouse(a rebuild of Walker's design)
- Bow Creek Lighthouse at Trinity Buoy Wharf, London
- The fourth Eddystone Lighthouse
- Hartland Point Lighthouse, Devon
- Dondra Head Lighthouse, Sri Lanka
- Great Castle Head range lights, Milford Haven
- Les Hanois Lighthouse, Guernsey
- Longships Lighthouse, off Land's End, Cornwall
- Old Higher Lighthouse, Isle of Portland, Dorset
- Old Lower Lighthouse, Isle of Portland, Dorset
- St Bees Lighthouse, Cumbria
- Smalls Lighthouse, off Pembrokeshire, Wales
- Souter Lighthouse, Tyne and Wear
- Southwold Lighthouse, Suffolk
- Winterton Lighthouse, Norfolk[14]
References
- ^ Beare, Thomas Hudson (1901). "Douglass, James Nicholas". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography (1st supplement). London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- ^ William, Thomas (1900). Life of Sir James Nicholas Douglass. London: Longman, Green and Co. p. 1.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-9547062-0-3, p.103
- ^ Trinity House – Smalls Lighthouse Archived 11 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 10-09-09
- ISBN 978-0-8230-2778-1, p.82
- ^ Trinity House – Longships Lighthouse Archived 17 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 10/09/08
- ^ Commissioners of Irish Lights – William Douglas Archived 19 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 10-09-08
- ^ Palmer, p.121
- ^ Palmer, p.122
- ^ William, Thomas (1900). Life of Sir James Nicholas Douglass. London: Longman, Green and Co. p. 101.
- ^ Parliament, Great Britain (1870). Hansard's parliamentary debates. p. 984.
- Fortnightly Review. p. 811.
- ^ Tag, Thomas (2005). Brilliance and Prejudice. Dayton, Ohio: Great Lakes Lighthouse Research. p. 25.
- ^ Williams, Thomas (1900). Life of Sir James Nicholas Douglass: F.R.S., &c., &c. (formerly Engineer-in-Chief to the Trinity House.). London: Longmans, Green & Co. p. 74.