He was born in
Leven, Fife in 1881. He was educated at
George Heriot's School in Edinburgh. He was apprenticed as an engineer to James Milne & Sons Ltd of Milton House Works in the
Canongate in
Edinburgh probably around 1896. He then went t the
University of London to formally train as an engineer. In 1910 he obtained a post as Professor of Engineering at
Robert Gordons College in
Aberdeen, aged only 29. Here he lived at 374 Great Western Road in Aberdeen. In 1920 he was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Sir
Thomas Hudson Beare,
Richard Stanfield,
George Adam Smith and
John Taylor Ewen. In 1929 he moved to
Heriot Watt University as Professor of Mechanical Engineering and stayed there until retiral in 1945. He died in
Edinburgh on 17 May 1953. ==Positions of Note==