James William Hunter of Thurston Manor

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". ...

(May 1783 – 3 December 1844) was a Scottish landowner, inventor and agricultural improver. His main claim to fame is the improvement to the mechanical

odometer An odometer or odograph is an instrument used for measuring the distance traveled by a vehicle, such as a bicycle or car. The device may be electronic, mechanical, or a combination of the two (electromechanical). The noun derives from ancient Gr ...

in 1827, creating a single-handed and single-wheeled device, setting a series of three 100-tooth cogs against 101-tooth cogs, attached to a wheel of circumference either 6 or 10 feet. This created a very convenient apparatus for land measurement, and is still the basis for modern day mechanical surveying odometers. The larger version was attached to the rear of a carriage and was the first known instrument calculating total vehicle distance travelled in a precise and visually clear way.

Life

He was born at Thurston Manor near Innerwick in

East Lothian East Lothian (; ; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a Counties of Scotland, historic county, registration county and Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In ...

in 1783, the son of Robert Hunter of Thurston Manor (d.1810) and his wife Isabella Ord. The family was related to the Hunters of Hunterston. From around 1798 he served in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

then returned to Scotland to run the family estates following the death of his father. In 1820 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

Thomas Charles Hope Thomas Charles Hope (21 July 1766 – 13 June 1844) was a Scottish physician, chemist and lecturer. He proved the existence of the element strontium, and gave his name to Hope's Experiment, which shows that water reaches its maximum density at ...

, Sir

David Brewster Sir David Brewster Knight of the Royal Guelphic Order, KH President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, PRSE Fellow of the Royal Society of London, FRS Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, FSA Scot Fellow of the Scottish Society of ...

and

Basil Hall Basil Hall (31 December 1788 – 11 September 1844) was a British naval officer from Scotland, a traveller, and an author. He was the second son of Sir James Hall, 4th Baronet, an eminent man of science. Early life Although his family home wa ...

. In 1839 he appeared in the trial of Alexander Humphreys in his false claim to be Earl of Stirling. At this time he is listed under the address of his Edinburgh townhouse: 10 Moray Place. He died in Leamington (where the family held a second estate) on 3 December 1844. He is buried in Innerwick in

with his family. His will is held in the National Archive at Kew.

Family

He was married to Elizabeth Jennings. They had seven children: four boys and three girls. * James William Hunter of Thurston Manor (1812-1879)(''s.p.'') * Robert Francis Hunter (1815-1855) Major of 71st Highland Light Infantry regiment. Killed at Kertch in the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

. * Richard (1816-1885) Colonel in the Honorable East India Company's 7th

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

Cavalry. (Succeeded his brother at Thurston."Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, landed & Official Classes", 29th edition, London, 1903, p.794.) * John Alexander Hunter (1820-1848). * Isabella Hunter (b.1813) * Sarah Elizabeth (b.1819). * Margaret Eleanor (b.1824) Their daughter Sarah Elizabeth is said to have married George Seton of

Careston Careston is a hamlet in Angus, Scotland, that is in the parish of the same name, 5 miles west of Brechin. The parish and hamlet supposedly took their name from a stone laid in commemoration of a Danish chieftain, called Caraldston. It has a ca ...

. He was distant cousin to Very Rev Andrew Hunter

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunter, James Wiliam 1783 births 1844 deaths People from East Lothian Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 19th-century Scottish landowners Scottish inventors 19th-century British businesspeople