Stevenson Macadam

Stevenson Macadam was born at North Bank in Glasgow on 27 April 1829, one of four sons and four daughters (the eldest being a half brother). He married Jessie Andrew Ivison on 23 April 1855 in Neilston, Renfrew, Scotland. His father William Macadam (1783–1853) was a Burgess and a Bailie [magistrate] of Glasgow. He was a third generation Burgess of a family of at least ten Burgesses and Guild brothers of Glasgow. William was the eldest son of John McAdam, John in turn was the eldest son of Alexander McAdam. Alexander was in turn the eldest son of an earlier John McAdam, Tanner, of Glasgow. William was a Glasgow businessman who owned a mill and textile printing works at Greenholme, Kilmarnock. He and his fellow industrialists in the craft around Glasgow had developed the expertise in chemistry processes for the large scale industrial printing of fabrics for which these plants in the area became well known, both for domestic and foreign supply. William Macadam and his family lived at 169 East George Street, Glasgow, Scotland. and Stevenson's mother was his father's second wife Helen Stevenson (1803–1857). Helen Stevenson was born 24 August 1803. The wedding took place on 3 January 1825 at Clackmannan. She was the second child of William Stevenson and Helen Grindlay. She died on 20 January 1857 at 6 Kelvinhaugh Street, Glasgow, and was buried with her husband in Glasgow Cathedral (St. Mungo's) Old Burial Ground in the Macadam tomb. Father's wives and their children '''''William's first wife''''' was Rachel Gentle with whom he had one son: William Macadam', the eldest child, was the first chemical scientist in the family, and a half brother to Stevenson. '''''William's second wife''''' was Helen Stevenson (1803–1857) with whom he had a further seven children: Helen Grindlay Macadam John Macadam (Stevenson's eldest full brother) who later emigrated to Australia. Stevenson Macadam, the subject of this entry, was the third son. Margaret Macadam Charles Thomas Macadam a younger brother became senior partner in Odams, a fertiliser company, and was to hold the Royal Warrant as Purveyor of Chemical Manures [fertiliser] to Queen Victoria. George Robert Macadam, his youngest brother, followed his older brother John and emigrated to Australia. Mary Elison Macadam ==Education==

Stevenson studied at the Glasgow Mechanics Institution; College of Science and Arts (now the University of Strathclyde). He received his first tuition at the Mechanics Institution under his elder brother John Macadam after whom the Macadamia nut was later named. He received his doctorate (PhD) from Giessen University. Whilst in Germany he also spent some time working in the famous laboratory of Robert Bunsen.(before emigrating to Australia in 1855 where he died aged 38). Stevenson then became Dr. George Wilson's assistant, in his brother's stead, at the University of Edinburgh and at the Royal College of Surgeons from 1847 to 1855. and William Ivison Macadam's daughter, Elison Macadam (later Desch). Seven in all (if one includes Charles Thomas Macadam's involvement in chemical fertilisers)l. ==Professional and academic career==

In 1850 Dr. Stevenson Macadam began lecturing in the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and became a professor there (and ultimately held that position for 50 years). In 1855 he also began lecturing in Chemistry for pharmaceutical students on his own. He did this from quarters on Princes Street, Edinburgh In 1855, Dr. Macadam was appointed Lecturer on Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh Medical School and the University of Edinburgh College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine after Dr. George Wilson was appointed Regius Professor of Technology at Edinburgh University (from 1855 until his death in 1859) although Dr. Wilson retained his rooms at Surgeons Hall. During that time Dr. Macadam conducted his large classes in Adam Square at the School of Arts, with which he had been connected for several years. following its foundation by William Williams (1832–1900) in 1873. Dr. Stevenson Macadam was one of the original six founders. Dr. Macadam remained on the staff of the New Veterinary College until it moved to its newly built campus at Elm Row, Edinburgh in 1883 when he resigned in favour of his son Professor Ivison Macadam. On Dr. Macadam's retirement in 1900 he had completed fifty years as a lecturer, forty-five of which had been as an independent. ==Learned societies==

1854 Fellow (Queen Victoria's consort Prince Albert, as a result of his interest in the subjects, became a regular presence while Dr Stevenson Macadam was president). 1877 A founder of the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain (now the Royal Institute of Chemistry). 1881 A founder of the Society of Chemical Industry in London. 1900 Institute of Chemistry GBI Council Member ==Publications==

He was the author of many papers on scientific subjects such as water supply, drainage and on chemistry to the arts and manufacturing. • Inorganic Chemistry (1866) (co-author with George Wilson) • Practical Chemistry (1872) (reprinted 1881) • On the Detection of Strychnine (1856) ==Personal life==

Residences He lived from the late 1860s at Brighton House, 11 East Brighton Crescent in Portobello, Edinburgh (photograph above), where he died, having previously lived at the addresses of the places of his children's births at their birth dates below. The family also had a country retreat in Innerleithen. There he was able to engage in his favourite outdoor pursuits, fly fishing on the Tweed and Leithen Water, hill walking, rowing and following the Otter Hounds. Stevenson Macadam's granddaughter remembers Brighton House, Portobello "Connected with the principal bedrooms at the back of the house were semi-circular turrets ending in peaks in the roof – like a Scottish castle – these were really W.C.s reached from the bedrooms." Steps from the hall led down to the kitchen quarters that seemed to go on forever. "The kitchen was a large one, two storeys high, nearby was a big store room which generally had hams, plum puddings and such like hanging from hooks in the ceiling." Politics and Church Dr. Macadam had been a member of the Liberal Party but later became a Unionist. He was a member of The Church of Scotland and was a church elder at Duddingston Kirk. A stained glass window to his memory is erected there (photograph above). He also helped found and build St. James's Church, at Rosefield Place, Portobello. Recreations He was active in outdoor and country sports while leading a busy professional life. A keen fly fisherman for both trout and salmon. He was President of the Edinburgh Angling Club at the time of his death. He was a regular follower of the Dumfriesshire Otter Hounds. An ardent walker and good rower. Wife and children He married Jessie Andrew Ivison (1834–1912) in Renfrew in 1855. They had five children: • William Ivison Macadam, born 27 January 1856 at 11 Brandon Street in Edinburgh and died 24 June 1902, Surgeon's Hall, Nicolson Street, Edinburgh. (He married Sarah McConnichie MacDonald, 28 Mar 1879). • Helen Ann Cochran Macadam born 23 Jan 1859 at 11 Brandon Street, Edinburgh, Midlothian. (She married Dr John St Clair Boyd of Belfast, 1 November 1887 at Duddingston Parish Church). • Jessie Margaret Mary Macadam, born 4 May 1862 at 25 Brighton Place, Portobello, Midlothian, Scotland and died 20 Jan 1943, 2 Strathearn Road, Edinburgh. (She married Alexander William Gordon Price on 5 July 1913, St Mark's Episcopal Church, Portobello). • Stevenson John Charles George Macadam FIC FCS, born 30 January 1866 at 25 Brighton Place, Portobello, Midlothian, Scotland. He died 26 Jan 1939 at Kevock Tower, Lasswade, Scotland (a bachelor). • Constance Elizabeth Louise Macadam, born 6 September 1867 at Brighton House, 11 Brighton Crescent, Portobello, Midlothian, Scotland and died on 28 August 1871 at Brighton House, Portobello (at less than five years old). ==Unexpected death==

While fishing on the River Tweed at Clovenfords, a stretch of water belonging to the Edinburgh Angling Club, of which he was president, he injured himself, which resulted in blood poisoning and complications and he died rather unexpectedly a week later on 24 January 1901, aged 72. lie with him. His son William Ivison Macadam and grandson Sir Ivison Macadam lie around 20m to the south. ==References==