James Jardine (13 November 1776–20 June 1858) was a Scottish civil engineer, mathematician and geologist. He was the first person to determine

mean sea level A mean is a quantity representing the "center" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. There are several kinds of means (or "measures of central tendency") in mathematics, especially in statist ...

. He built tunnels and bridges, including for the Innocent Railway, and built reservoirs including Glencorse, Threipmuir, Harlaw for Edinburgh Water Company, and Cobbinshaw for the Union Canal.

Life

Jardine was born in Applegarth,

Dumfriesshire Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries () is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the hi ...

, on 30 November 1776, the son of a farmer. He was educated at Dumfries Academy and 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 ...

. He studied mathematics under Prof John Playfair. He was a friend of

Thomas Telford Thomas Telford (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scotland, as well ...

and they collaborated on several projects Following survey work at the

Firth of Tay The Firth of Tay (; ) is a firth on the east coast of Scotland, into which empties the River Tay (Scotland's largest river in terms of flow). The firth is surrounded by four council areas: Fife, Perth and Kinross, Dundee City, and Angus. ...

, he was the first person in the world to calculate

. From 1796 to 1808 he lectured in mathematics at the

. From 1811 he began a series of harbour designs, beginning with

Saltcoats Saltcoats (; Scots: ''Saulcuts'') is a town on the west coast of North Ayrshire, Scotland. The name is derived from the town's earliest industry when salt was harvested from the sea water of the Firth of Clyde, carried out in small cottages ...

. This was followed by Perth (1831), major extensions to

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 ...

Docks (1835), and

Eyemouth Eyemouth is a town and civil parishes in Scotland, civil parish in Berwickshire, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. It is east of the main north–south A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road and north of Berwick-upon-Tweed. The town's name ...

(1837). In 1812 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 were John Playfair, John Leslie, Thomas Allan. In 1813 he received the commission to drain the final waters of the

Nor Loch The Nor Loch, also known as the Nor' Loch and the North Loch, was a man-made loch formerly in Edinburgh, Scotland, in the area now occupied by Princes Street Gardens and Edinburgh Waverley railway station, Waverley station which lie between t ...

to create Princes Street Gardens, and the final waters of the Burgh Loch to create The Meadows both 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 ...

. In 1819 he was appointed as the first engineer for the newly formed Edinburgh Water Company. He built an pipeline from the Crawley springs, completed in 1823, which provided

's first reliable supply of drinking water from outside the city. With

acting as chief designer, he oversaw the construction of a new reservoir at Glencorse, chiefly designed to supply compensation water to enable mills on the River Esk to continue operating, after some of the water from the Glencorse Burn was extracted to boost water supplies for Edinburgh. He was also involved at the start of construction of two more reservoirs for the Edinburgh Water Company, at Threipmuir and Harlaw, but they were completed by James Leslie in 1847 and 1848, as he retired in 1846. Following his work on the Glencorse Reservoir, he was commissioned to undertake similar improvements in Perth, Dumfries and Glasgow. He re-engineered Loch Leven, reducing its water level by creating the Leven Cut, its first outlet. He did much of the engineering on the Union Canal, including creation of Cobbinshaw Reservoir as its water supply. From 1826 he worked on the Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway line, creating its St. Leonards branch, now commonly called the Innocent Railway. This includes a tunnel under the southern edge of

Arthur's Seat Arthur's Seat (, ) is an ancient extinct volcano that is the main peak of the group of hills in Edinburgh, Scotland, which form most of Holyrood Park, described by Robert Louis Stevenson as "a hill for magnitude, a mountain in virtue of its bol ...

plus the Glenesk Viaduct. He then embarked on other, more northerly railway projects: Ardrossan (1827), Threave (1825), Inveralmond (1827). He worked on several projects with

, including provision of mathematical calculations to establish the required chain strength to hold the Menai Straits suspension bridge. He was unsuccessful in his designs for Dean Bridge in

and the City Observatory. He retired at age 70 in 1846. He died at home, 18 Queen Street, a ground floor and basement, main-door flat at one of the most prestigious addresses in

. He is buried in

Warriston Cemetery Warriston Cemetery is a cemetery in List of graveyards and cemeteries in Edinburgh, Edinburgh. It lies in Warriston, one of the northern suburbs of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was built by the then newly-formed Edinburgh Cemetery Company, and o ...

, in the upper section, on the main east west path near the old East Gate. He is buried with other family members including his nephew William Alexander Jardine (1811-1886) who was also a civil engineer. His gravestone is currently (2019) lying flat on its face having been toppled by a tree falling in strong winds in 2018. He is known to have trained the railway engineer Alexander Adie. and the civil engineer James Anderson. He was a long time friend of the botanist Daniel Ellis who was also a Fellow of the

and they attended Society meetings together.

Bibliography

* *

References

*''Gazetteer for Scotland: James Jardine

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jardine, James 1776 births 1858 deaths 19th-century Scottish engineers People from Dumfries and Galloway Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Scottish antiquarians Scottish civil engineers Scottish mathematicians Scottish geologists British bridge engineers Hydraulic engineers Fellows_of_the_Society_of_Antiquaries_of_Scotland