Alexander Bryson

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

FGS

FRSSA The Royal Scottish Society of Arts is a learned society in Scotland, dedicated to the study of science and technology. It was founded as The Society for the Encouragement of the Useful Arts in Scotland by Sir David Brewster in 1821 and dedicated ...

FSAScot The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is the senior antiquarian body of Scotland, with its headquarters in the National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh. The Society's aim is to promote the cultural heritage of Scotland. The usu ...

FRPSE (12 October 1816 – 7 December 1866) was a Scottish biologist, geologist and horologist who served as president of the

Royal Scottish Society of Arts The Royal Scottish Society of Arts is a learned society in Scotland, dedicated to the study of science and technology. It was founded as The Society for the Encouragement of the Useful Arts in Scotland by Sir David Brewster in 1821 and dedicate ...

(1860–61) and as president of the

Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh The Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh was a learned society based in Edinburgh, Scotland "for the cultivation of the physical sciences". The society was founded in 1771 as the Physico-Chirurgical Society but soon after changed its name to the ...

(1863).

Life

He was born on 12 October 1816 in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, the son of Janet Gillespie (1788-1858) and Robert Bryson

(1778-1852), a watchmaker. He attended the

High School A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

in Edinburgh then trained as a watchmaker and entered the family business, then renamed Robert Bryson & Son. With his first wife, Elizabeth Waterstone Gillespie (possibly a cousin) he had two children who died in infancy, and a daughter and son ( William Alexander Bryson) and died 10 April 1855 aged 44. His second wife, Catherine McDonald Cuthbertson, also died young in September 1859, aged 32. Together they had a son. With his third wife, Jane Thomson, he had another son, Leonard Horner Bryson, who survived him and remarried. He was President of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 1860–1861. He was President of the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh in 1863. He was also a member of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh and the Edinburgh Geological Society. In 1858 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. He was President of the

Royal Scottish Society of the Arts The Royal Scottish Society of Arts is a learned society in Scotland, dedicated to the study of science and technology. It was founded as The Society for the Encouragement of the Useful Arts in Scotland by David Brewster, Sir David Brewster in 18 ...

1860–61. He died on 7 December 1866 at Hawkhill House, a country villa between

Leith Leith (; ) is a port area in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith and is home to the Port of Leith. The earliest surviving historical references are in the royal charter authorising the construction of ...

and

. He is buried in

New Calton Cemetery New Calton Burial Ground is a burial ground in Edinburgh. It was built as an overspill and functional replacement to Old Calton Burial Ground and lies half a mile to its east on Regent Road in Edinburgh, Scotland, on the south-east slopes of Ca ...

with his two wives next to his parents.

Works

* ''On a Method of rendering Baily's Compensation Pendulum insensible to Hygrometric Influences'' (1854) * ''On an improved method of preparing siliceous and other fossils for microscopic investigation: with a description of a new pneumatic chuck'' (1856) * ''On a new method of measuring watch-glasses'' (1860) * ''Memoir of Rev. John Fleming, D.D., F.R.S.E.'' (1861) * ''Memoir of General Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, G.C.B., & C. president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh'' (1861) * ''Notes of a trip to Iceland in 1862'' (1864)

References

1816 births 1866 deaths 19th-century Scottish biologists Scientists from Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 19th-century Scottish antiquarians 19th-century Scottish businesspeople Scottish geologists Scottish clockmakers Scottish watchmakers (people) Scottish photographers 19th-century Scottish inventors Scottish biographers Scottish zoologists Scottish mineralogists People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Burials at the New Calton Burial Ground British scientific instrument makers Fellows_of_the_Geological_Society_of_London {{UK-geologist-stub