Thomas Edington

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 letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This so ...

FGS MWS (1814–1859) was a Scottish foundry owner and important amateur

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, alt ...

and

mineralogist Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifacts. Specific studies within mineralogy include the proces ...

. He was proprietor of Thomas Edington & Son.

Life

He was born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...

the eldest son of Thomas Edington of Glasgow (1783-1841) also a keen mineralogist and member of the Geological Society of London, after whom

Edingtonite Edingtonite is a white, gray, brown, colorless, pink or yellow zeolite mineral. Its chemical formula is Ba Al2 Si3 O10·4 H2O. It has varieties with tetragonal, orthorhombic or triclinic crystals. The mineral occurs within cavities in nephelin ...

is named. He published the obituary of his father in 1841 and speculated as to the fate of his large mineral collection. His mother was Anne Storey Grey. He had six siblings. Edington’s grandfather Thomas Edington (1742-1811) was founder of Thomas Edington and Sons (also known as the Phoenix Foundry or Phoenix Works) in Glasgow. Edington senior had originally worked under William Cadell at

Cramond Cramond Village (; gd, Cathair Amain) is a village and suburb in the north-west of Edinburgh, Scotland, at the mouth of the River Almond where it enters the Firth of Forth. The Cramond area has evidence of Mesolithic, Bronze Age and Roman a ...

Iron Works and had married Cadell’s daughter, Christian Cadell, later co-founding the Clyde Ironworks with him. Thomas Edington & Sons began in 1797 at 52 Queen Street in Glasgow and by 1804 was a major industry, specialising in ornamental cast-iron work. It also cast cannon, including many used in the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included t ...

. It later moved to Garscube Road. Thomas the younger probably began managerial roles in the foundry from 1831/32. From the 1840s they began making railway engines for the

Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway The Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway (GPK&AR) was a railway in Scotland that provided train services between Glasgow, Kilmarnock and Ayr. It opened its first line, between Glasgow and Ayr, in stages from 1839 to 1840. The section ...

. In 1835 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh 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 established i ...

his proposer being a cousin,

William Archibald Cadell William Archibald Cadell Royal Society, FRS FRSE FGS MWS (1775–1855) was a Scottish industrialist and mathematician, also known as a travel writer. Life The eldest son of William Cadell the younger, son of William Cadell, the original managi ...

, also involved in the iron foundry business. In later life he served as a Manager of Anderson’s College in Glasgow. At this time he lived at 15 Newton Place, then a new terraced house, still surviving, just north of Sauchiehall Street.Glasgow Post Office Directory 1850-51 Thomas died at the Royal Asylum in Perth on 26 July 1859. The firm had been taken over in 1857 by its sole remaining partner, David Low, who had joined in 1844, but continued under its previous name. The site of the Phoenix Foundry became the Phoenix Park in 1891. The company itself survived until 1903.

Notable works

*The entrance gates to the Jewish Burial Ground at the foot of the Glasgow Necropolis (1832) - lost *The entrance gates to the

Glasgow Necropolis The Glasgow Necropolis is a Victorian cemetery in Glasgow, Scotland. It is on a low but very prominent hill to the east of Glasgow Cathedral (St. Mungo's Cathedral). Fifty thousand individuals have been buried here. Typical for the period, only ...

(1838)

Family

Thomas’ uncle James Edington was involved in the running and management of the Eagle Foundry at

Port Dundas Port Dundas is an area of Glasgow, Scotland, located to the north of the city centre. It lies to the north of Cowcaddens, and to the west of Sighthill, with Hamiltonhill and Possilpark to the north-west. History The Port Dundas terminus was e ...

. Thomas’ great nephew was the geologist

Henry Cadell Dr Henry Moubray Cadell of Grange, DL FRSE LLD (1860 – 10 April 1934) was a Scottish geologist and geographer, noted for his work on the Moine Thrust, the oil-shale fields of West Lothian, and his experiments in mountain building publishe ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edington, Thomas 1814 births 1859 deaths Amateur geologists Scottish mineralogists 19th-century Scottish businesspeople Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Businesspeople from Glasgow Scientists from Glasgow