Edward Meldrum

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". ...

DL (1821 – 13 June 1875) was a Scottish chemist who was partner to James Young in his oil and paraffin ventures creating the company Young & Meldrum and the independent company of Meldrum & Co in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

Life

He was born in 1821, in

Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy ( ; ; ) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, making it Fife's second-largest s ...

. He was educated at Kirkcaldy and then

St Andrews St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...

. He gained early experience at Muspratt's Chemical Works in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. Here in 1842 he encountered and befriended the company's manager, James Young. In 1848, he went into partnership with Young in the petrol works at

Alfreton Alfreton ( or locally ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Amber Valley district of Derbyshire, England. The town was formerly a Norman Manor and later an Urban District. The population of the Alfreton parish was 8,79 ...

discovered by

Lyon Playfair Lyon Playfair, 1st Baron Playfair (1 May 1818 – 29 May 1898) was a British scientist and Liberal politician who was Postmaster-General from 1873 to 1874. Early life Playfair was born at Chunar, Bengal, the son of George Playfair (1781–1 ...

. When Young made his famous paraffin discoveries near

Bathgate Bathgate ( or , ) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, west of Livingston, Scotland, Livingston and adjacent to the M8 motorway (Scotland), M8 motorway. Nearby towns are Linlithgow, Livingston, and West Calder. A number of villages fall under ...

it was Meldrum with whom he formed a business partnership to extract the paraffin. In 1855, he was running the oil firm of Meldrum & Co from 33, 35 Great Dovehill in Glasgow. In 1863, 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 proposers was

. In 1866, he formed with P McLagan MP to create the

Uphall Uphall (, ) is a village in West Lothian, Scotland. It forms a conurbation with Broxburn, West Lothian, Broxburn to the east, Dechmont to the west and the major town of Livingston, Scotland, Livingston to the south west. Uphall is 30 miles from ...

Mineral Company. At this time he acquired and rebuilt Dechmont House nearby, renaming it Dechmont Castle. He was Deputy Lieutenant of

Linlithgowshire West Lothian, also known as Linlithgowshire (its official name until 1925), is a counties of Scotland, historic county in the east central Lowlands of Scotland. until 1925. It is bounded geographically by the River Avon, Falkirk, Avon to the wes ...

. He died at home in

Dechmont Dechmont (Gaelic: ''Deagh Mhonadh'') is a small village located near Uphall, West Lothian in Scotland. Bangour Village Hospital is located to the west of Dechmont. It has an approximate population of 989 people. Its postal code is EH52. An al ...

, on 13 June 1875.

Family

He was married with four children.

Artistic Recognition

His marble bust sculpted by

William Brodie William Brodie (28 September 1741 – 1 October 1788), often known by his title of Deacon Brodie, was a Scottish cabinet-maker, deacon of a trades guild, and Edinburgh city councillor, who maintained a secret life as a burglar in order to supp ...

was presented to

Town Hall in 1876 by James Young.

References

1821 births 1875 deaths People from Kirkcaldy Scottish company founders Scottish chemists Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 19th-century Scottish businesspeople {{UK-chemist-stub