William Dyce Cay, MICE

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". ...

(28 March 1838 – 13 December 1925) was a Scottish civil engineer. He was responsible for the majority of late 19th century works to

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

harbour. He was described by his cousin,

James Clerk Maxwell James Clerk Maxwell (13 June 1831 – 5 November 1879) was a Scottish physicist and mathematician who was responsible for the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, which was the first theory to describe electricity, magnetism an ...

, as a "watery engineer".

Life

He was born the son of Robert Dundas Cay, an

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 ...

lawyer, and Isabella Dyce (1811–1852). In 1844 the family moved to Hong Kong following his father's appointment as Registrar to the Supreme Court of that city. His mother died there as the result of injuries from a carriage accident in 1852 and is buried in the Happy Valley Cemetery in Victoria, Hong Kong. William returned to

soon after this, to study mathematics at

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the town council under the authority of a royal charter from King James VI in 1582 and offi ...

, winning the prestigious Straiton Gold Medal in 1856. He then moved to

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

to serve as an apprentice engineer under Lord Kelvin's brother, James Thomson. On completion of his training in 1858 he began to specialise in harbour design, and spent the bulk of his working life improving Aberdeen's docks and harbours. From 1873 he was assisted by James Barron who later set up as an independent harbour engineer. 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 ...

in 1882. In 1890 he obtained a house on Blackford Road in

. He died at

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a coastal town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour, shipping port, and fashionable coastal res ...

, Kent on 13 December 1925.

Known works

The entrance to the harbour at Buckie - geograph

* Castle Douglas to

Portpatrick Portpatrick is a village and civil parishes in Scotland, civil parish in the historical county of Wigtownshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is located on the west coast of the Rhins of Galloway. The parish is about in length and in br ...

Railway (as assistant to

Benjamin Blyth Benjamin Hall Blyth (14 July 1819 – 21 August 1866) was a Scottish civil engineer. Life Blyth was born at 26 Minto St in Newington, Edinburgh, the son of Robert Brittain Blyth, an iron merchant, and his wife, Barbara Cooper. He was their t ...

) (1861) *Glenlair Bridge near Corsock, Kirkcudbrightshire, (1861) built for his cousin,

who owned Glenlair House *Cluny Harbour,

Buckie Buckie () is a burgh town (defined as such in List of burghs in Scotland, 1888) on the Moray Firth coast of Scotland. Counties of Scotland, Historically in Banffshire, Buckie was the largest town in the county until the administrative area was ...

(1873) *Southern Breakwater, Aberdeen Harbour (1874) *

Lerwick Lerwick ( or ; ; ) is the main town and port of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland. Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick had a population of about 7,000 residents in 2010. It is the northernmost major settlement within the United Kingdom. Centred ...

Harbour extensions and improvements (1881)

Family

His uncles (his mother's brothers) were

William Dyce William Dyce (; 19 September 1806 in Aberdeen14 February 1864) was a Scottish painter, who played a part in the formation of public art education in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom, and the South Kensington Schoo ...

the artist and Professor

Robert Dyce Professor Robert Dyce FRSE (1798–1869) was a Scottish surgeon and Professor of Midwifery at Aberdeen University. Life He was born in Aberdeen on 30 November 1798 the son of Dr William Dyce of Fonthill and Cuttlehill FRSE (1770–1835) and his ...

. His cousin (through his father's sister) was

. They were close friends and Cay served as Maxwell's best man upon his marriage.

References

1838 births 1925 deaths People associated with Aberdeen Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh British civil engineers {{Scotland-engineer-stub