He was born at Weedingshall in
Polmont near
Falkirk on 5 June 1860 one of at least nine children of Anna Nathalia and Johannis Theodore Salvesen who had come to Scotland from Norway in 1846. He was educated at
Blairlodge School in Polmont the
Stirling Collegiate School. He then studied engineering at the
University of Edinburgh training as a naval architect. He appears to have detached himself wholly from the family firm of
Christian Salvesen but was perhaps involved in ship design for them. From 1882 he joined his father's firm of J T Salvesen & Co, shipowners, timber importers and coal exporters, based in
Grangemouth. He also operated for many years from
Greenock. He was a keen car enthusiast, owning a 6 hp
Daimler, a 10 hp steam-car of his own design, and a 12 hp Benz. In 1923 (aged 63) he was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were
Theodore Salvesen,
William Archer Tait, Sir
Edmund Taylor Whittaker and Sir
Robert Blyth Greig. He died at Lathallan House near
Falkirk on 13 May 1924. The company of J T Salvesen & Co was dissolved following his death. ==Family==