Robert Mackay Smith

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". ...

(1802–1888) was a Scottish businessman, meteorologist and philanthropist.

Glasgow University The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ...

's Mackay Smith Prizes were founded by him in 1882. He was the Chairman of the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce and a Director of the Commercial Bank of Scotland.

Life

He was born 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 ...

on 24 May 1802 the son of Peter Smith, a flax merchant living at 76 Stirling Street and his wife, Euphemia MacKay. He attended

studying Sciences and graduated MA in 1815, aged only thirteen. He moved 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 The earliest surviving historical references are in the royal charter authorising the construction of ...

in 1834 to work as a commission agent and lived and worked there for most of his life. He originally lived at 4 Windsor Street near the top of

Leith Walk Leith Walk is one of the longest streets in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is the main road connecting the east end of the city centre to Leith. Forming most of the A900 road, it slopes downwards from Picardy Place at the south-western end of the str ...

. In 1855 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 being

Charles Piazzi Smyth Charles Piazzi Smyth (3 January 1819 – 21 February 1900) was a British astronomer who was Astronomer Royal for Scotland from 1846 to 1888; he is known for many innovations in astronomy and, along with his wife Jessica Duncan Piazzi Smyth, hi ...

. He was a member of multiple scientific societies including the Meteorological Society of Scotland, the

Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 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 ...

, 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 ...

(serving as their president) and the Edinburgh Philosophical Society (Director 1851). He died on 4 April 1888 at his home, 4 Bellevue Crescent 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 ...

Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1887-1888 He is buried in one of the small south sections in

Dean Cemetery The Dean Cemetery is a historically important Victorian cemetery north of the Dean Village, west of Edinburgh city centre, in Scotland. It lies between Queensferry Road and the Water of Leith, bounded on its east side by Dean Path and o ...

in the west side of the city. He never married and had no children.

References

1802 births 1888 deaths Alumni of the University of Glasgow Businesspeople from Glasgow Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Scottish meteorologists 19th-century Scottish philanthropists 19th-century Scottish businesspeople {{UK-scientist-stub