David Milne-Home of Milne Graden

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 PGSE LLD (1805–1890) was a Scottish

advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. List of country legal systems, Different countries and legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a ba ...

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

and

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists ...

. He was the founder of the Scottish Meteorological Society in 1855, and served as its chairman. From 1874 to 1889 he served as president of the Edinburgh Geological Society

Life

He was born David Milne in Inveresk east of

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 ...

on 22 January 1805 the son of Grace (née Purves) and Admiral Sir David Milne of Milne-Graden

. His younger brother became

Admiral of the Fleet An admiral of the fleet or shortened to fleet admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to field marshal and marshal of the air force. An admiral of the fleet is typically senior to an admiral. It is also a generic ter ...

Sir Alexander Milne, 1st Baronet Admiral of the Fleet Sir Alexander Milne, 1st Baronet, (10 November 1806 – 29 December 1896) was a Royal Navy officer. As a captain on the North America and West Indies Station he was employed capturing slave-traders and carrying out fis ...

. David was educated at

Musselburgh Musselburgh (; ; ) is the largest settlement in East Lothian, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth, east of Edinburgh city centre. It had a population of as of . History The name Musselburgh is Old English language, Old English in ...

Grammar School then the High School in Edinburgh. He studied law at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

and became an advocate in 1826. In 1828 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 ...

his proposer was Norwich Duff. At age 23 this made him one of its youngest members. He served as secretary to the society 1840 to 1848 and as vice president for most of the period 1865 to 1888, serving more years in this role than any other person. Milne was the junior

defence counsel In a civil proceeding or criminal prosecution under the common law or under statute, a defendant may raise a defense (or defence) in an effort to avert civil liability or criminal conviction. A defense is put forward by a party to defeat a s ...

for the notorious grave-robber William Burke, and later served as

Advocate-Depute The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service () is the independent public prosecution service for Scotland, and is a Ministerial Department of the Scottish Government. The department is headed by His Majesty's Lord Advocate, who under t ...

for the Crown Office. In 1840 he was living at 10 York Place, Edinburgh, a huge Georgian townhouse. In 1845 he inherited Milne-Graden House, and Paxton House in 1852. As a deeply religious man, he viewed glacial deposits as evidence of the biblical flood. He is remembered today chiefly for his work on earthquakes. As Secretary of the British Association of the Advancement of Science Earthquakes Committee from 1840 to around 1845, he published extensive reports into the earthquake swarm at Comrie, Perthshire, a catalogue of earthquakes in Britain culled from historical sources, and theoretical observations on earthquake phenomena that were advanced for their time. It was Milne who coined the word "

seismometer A seismometer is an instrument that responds to ground displacement and shaking such as caused by quakes, volcanic eruptions, and explosions. They are usually combined with a timing device and a recording device to form a seismograph. The out ...

" in 1841, to describe an instrument designed by

James David Forbes James David Forbes (1809–1868) was a Scottish physicist and glaciologist who worked extensively on the conduction of heat and seismology. Forbes was a resident of Edinburgh for most of his life, educated at its University and a professor ...

. From 1876 until 1889 he led

Berwickshire Berwickshire (; ) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. The county takes its name from Berwick-upon-Tweed, its original county town, which was part of Scotland at the ...

County Council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Australia In the Australian state of New South Wales, county councils are special purpose ...

during which period (in 1881) he organised for the relief of the families of the numerous fishermen lost in the Eyemouth Disaster. He died at Milne-Graden House on 19 September 1890. He is buried in Hutton churchyard.

Family

Milne married Jean Margaret Home in 1832. On the death of her father in 1852 they adopted the famous name Home, thereafter being Milne-Home. At this point they inherited the Wedderburn, Billie and Paxton estates in 1852.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Milne-Home, David 1805 births 1890 deaths 19th-century Scottish businesspeople Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Councillors in Scotland Elders of the Church of Scotland Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Members of the Faculty of Advocates People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh People from East Lothian Politics of the Scottish Borders Scottish geologists Scottish meteorologists Fellows_of_the_Geological_Society_of_London