Robert Thom (1774

Tarbolton Tarbolton () is a village in South Ayrshire, Scotland. It is near Failford, Mauchline, Ayr, and Kilmarnock. The old Fail Monastery was nearby and Robert Burns connections are strong, including the Bachelors' Club museum. Meaning of place-name ...

, South Ayrshire, Scotland - 1847) was a Scottish

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

who worked upon major hydraulic projects on the Isle of Bute and

Inverclyde Inverclyde (, , , "mouth of the Clyde") is one of 32 council areas used for local government in Scotland. Together with the East Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire council areas, Inverclyde forms part of the historic county of Renfrewshire, which ...

. On Bute, he created aqueducts to increase the flow of water which powered the

cotton mill A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system. Although some were driven ...

s there, so that their capacity was increased. This economic success resulted in him becoming the

laird Laird () is a Scottish word for minor lord (or landlord) and is a designation that applies to an owner of a large, long-established Scotland, Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a Baronage of ...

of Ascog. He then created a larger system to supply water power to

Greenock Greenock (; ; , ) is a town in Inverclyde, Scotland, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The town is the administrative centre of Inverclyde Council. It is a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, and forms ...

. The reservoir is named after him — Loch Thom — and the supply aqueduct is known as the Greenock Cut. In the early 1800s, he designed the first water purification plant in Scotland.

References

1774 births 1847 deaths Scottish civil engineers People from Tarbolton {{Scotland-engineer-stub

See also

References