He was part of a small dynasty of Scottish chemical scientists including his elder half-brother William Macadam, brother Dr. John Macadam and two sons, William Ivison Macadam and Stevenson J. C. G. Macadam and granddaughter Elison A. Macadam.
Early life
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.[1]
His father William Macadam (1783–1853) was a Burgess[2] and a Bailie [magistrate] of Glasgow.[3]
He was a third generation Burgess[4] of a family of at least ten Burgesses and Guild brothers of Glasgow. William was the eldest son of John McAdam,[5] John in turn was the eldest son of Alexander McAdam.[6] Alexander was in turn the eldest son of an earlier John McAdam, Tanner, of Glasgow.[7]
William was a Glasgow businessman who owned a mill and textile printing works at Greenholme, Kilmarnock.[8][9] 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.[10]
William Macadam[11] and his family lived at 169 East George Street, Glasgow, Scotland.[12] and Stevenson's mother was his father's second wife Helen Stevenson (1803–1857). Helen Stevenson was born 24 August 1803.[13] The wedding took place on 3 January 1825 at Clackmannan.[14] She was the second child of William Stevenson[15] and Helen Grindlay.[16] 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.[17]
Father's wives and their children
William's first wife was Rachel Gentle[18] with whom he had one son:
William Macadam',[19] the eldest child, was the first chemical scientist in the family, and a half brother to Stevenson.[20]
William's second wife was Helen Stevenson (1803–1857) with whom he had a further seven children:
Charles Thomas Macadam[24] a younger brother became senior partner in Odams, a fertiliser company,[3][25] and was to hold the Royal Warrant as Purveyor of Chemical Manures [fertiliser] to Queen Victoria.[26][27]
George Robert Macadam, his youngest brother, followed his older brother John and emigrated to Australia.
[28]
Stevenson studied at the Glasgow Mechanics Institution; College of Science and Arts[30] (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.[3][31]
He received his doctorate (PhD) from Giessen University. Whilst in Germany he also spent some time working in the famous laboratory of Robert Bunsen.[26]
It seems likely that the various types of complex chemical processes involved in their father's factory in his calico printing and manufacturing business was what got William's sons interested in the field of chemistry, in which they were to play such a pioneering role in their later lives. Of the four sons three took to chemical science as a profession.[3] Subsequently, two more generations were involved: Stevenson's two sons William Ivison Macadam and Stevenson J. C. G. Macadam[34] and William Ivison Macadam's daughter, Elison Macadam[35] (later Desch).[36] Seven in all (if one includes Charles Thomas Macadam's involvement in chemical fertilisers)l.[37]
Professional and academic career
Stevenson Macadam House Brighton House, 11 E. Brighton Crescent, Portobello, Edinburgh
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[38]
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 Regis Professor of Technology at Edinburgh University (from 1855 until his death in 1859)[39] although Dr. Wilson retained his rooms at Surgeons Hall.[40] 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.[3] His three-year course led to the qualification ChB, representing a full understanding of medical drugs and their properties. A huge number of Scotland's medical and veterinarian elite passed through his course.
Dr. Macadam was a successful lecturer and his classes were very well attended and "were a standing memorial" to his power of teaching in the view of The Scotsman.[3]
In 1866 a larger lecture hall and laboratory was built at Surgeons Hall and he was then again able to hold his classes there.[3]
He also lectured at both Edinburgh's veterinary colleges. First at The Dick Veterinary College, later to become Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, the Veterinary School of the University of Edinburgh, (since known for the first animal cloning: Dolly the sheep in 1996). It was founded by William Dick (1793–1866) in 1923 and was the first veterinary school in Scotland.
Subsequently, from 1873, Dr. Macadam lectured at the "New Veterinary College" housed in Gayfield House,[41] following its foundation by William Williams (1832–1900) in 1873.[42] Dr. Stevenson Macadam was one of the original six founders.[43]
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.[3] (Prof. W. Ivison Macadam was generally known by his middle name Ivison).[44]
On Dr. Macadam's retirement in 1900 he had completed fifty years as a lecturer, forty-five of which had been as an independent.[3]
He also had a large analytical chemical consulting practice and was sought after for expertise in his field.[3]
1854 Fellow[9] (President 1864–5) of the Royal Scottish Society of the Arts[46] (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).[3]
He lived from the late 1860s at Brighton House, 11 East Brighton Crescent in Portobello, Edinburgh (photograph above),[52] where he died,[53] having previously lived at the addresses of the places of his children's births at their birth dates below.[54]
The family also had a country retreat in Innerleithen.[55] 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.[3][56]
Stevenson Macadam's granddaughter remembers Brighton House, Portobello[56] as:
"a large one built with a semi basement in the front and a full storey basement at the back. The dining room was a long room with three windows looking out to the front and an impressive fireplace guarded by "Knights" in armour.... Behind the dining room stretched a passageway that led to a number of rooms. The drawing-room above the dining room, was full of curios and museum pieces... The parlour was at the back of a spacious hall which reached up to the top of the house. The three parlour windows went down to the floor... the far windows opened on to a balcony...and steps led down into the garden where "Nero" the large great dane lived, also numerous fantailed pigeons. Along one side of the garden was a range of greenhouses with temperatures from medium to warm. Grannie used to spend a lot of time tending to her hothouse flowers – we children often got into trouble when Thomas – the gardener coachman – reported doors left open. A large weeping willow with wooden seat around the trunk grew in the middle of the lawn and here we used to have strawberry feasts in season."[57]
"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."[58] Steps from the hall led down to the kitchen quarters that seemed to go on forever.[59]
"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."[60]
Politics and Church
Dr. Macadam had been a member of the Liberal Party but later became a Unionist.[9][61]
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.[9][62]
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.
He married Jessie Andrew Ivison (1834–1912) in Renfrew in 1855. They had five children:[20]
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).
Stevenson Macadam and wife Jessie Andrew Ivison's grave Portobello Cemetery, Edinburgh, Scotland
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.[9]
He is buried in Portobello Cemetery in eastern Edinburgh. The grave (pictured) lies midway along the original eastern path (before the eastern extension). His wife and second son[63] lie with him. His son William Ivison Macadam and grandson Sir Ivison Macadam lie around 20m to the south.[64]
^Originally burgesses were inhabitants of the city who held land there and contributed to Town and taxation and other burdens. It was later restricted to Merchants and Craftsmen. Only burgesses could enjoy the privileges of trading or practising a craft in the city (in his case he belonged to the Weaver's Guild) or could vote in Municipal or Parliamentary elections. Their political privileges were removed by the Reform Act in 1832 and their ancient exclusive trading rights were abolished in 1846. Thereafter admission as a burgess became a social and charitable function. Archives The Mitchell Library, North Street, Glasgow.
^William's Weaver's Burgess ticket is dated 25 August 1815. His brother-in-law William Stevenson who had married his sister Ann, daughter of John McAdam, was also Burgess (merchant, ticket 26, May 1808) Register of The Burgesses and Guild Brethren of Glasgow, Craig R. Bryce, Trades House archivist, The Trades House of Glasgow. http://www.tradeshousemuseum.org William's father John McAdam is given as 'deceased' on his son William's Burgess ticket at the time of his induction: copy John Macadam, Earthwords, Bodmin, Cornwall supplied to Ivison Macadam Archives, Runton.
^John's Weaver's Burgess ticket dated 19 October 1789 (he was installed as a Weaver Burgess that day contemporaneously with his three younger brothers, James, Thomas and Walter McAdam and brother-in-law John Smellie, who married their sister Elizabeth).. There are two further Burgesses in the family through John McAdam's wife, Margaret, who was the daughter of William Findlay (Wright Burgess ticket 28 August 1754), who was the eldest son of John Findlay, Burgess, a Maltman : The Trades House of Glasgow.
^Alexander's Weaver's Burgess ticket dated 5 September 1755 : The Trades House of Glasgow,
^He was the last in the family to spell his name as both MacAdam and Macadam before the latter spelling was settled on. John Macadam: Earthwords Archives, Bodmin, Cornwall (copies also supplied Ivison Macadam Archives, Runton, Norfolk
^His house is now the site of The Premier Inn Glasgow City Centre George Square across from where the University of Strathclyde is now situated. The house backed onto St. David's "Ramshorn", Kirkyard or churchyard. Ivison Macadam Archives, Runton Old Hall, Norfolk, UK
^marriage certificate a copy from John Macadam: Earthwords Archives, Bodmin, Cornwall (copies supplied to Ivison Macadam Archives, Runton Old Hall, Norfolk)
^Born 25 August 1765 at Dunlop in Ayrshire. Died 27 July 1839 at his home, Park Farm, Clackmannan and buried in the Churchyard at Clackmannan on 2 August 1839
^key to the tomb and letter sent by John St.Clair Boyd September 1955 to D.L.D. Macadam referencing this. Copy from John Macadam – Earthwords – in Ivison Macadam Archives, Runton Old Hall, Norfolk
^William born about 1814, died sometime after September 1877, when his letters to his nephew Charlie (C T Macadam) cease, he having written about his illness at that time:source John Macadam: Earthwords Archives, Bodmin, Cornwall (copies supplied to Ivison Macadam Archives, Runton, Norfolk) quoted by Edwin Macadam: http://www.shelwin.com/e/ancestry/macadam/macadam_history.htm
^Odams was later acquired by Fisons (and then by ICI, and subsequently Akko Nobel): John Macadam: Earthwords Archives, Bodmin, Cornwall (copies supplied to Ivison Macadam Archives, Runton, Norfolk)
^George Robert Macadam (born 22 July 1837 – died 16 September 1918). After emigrating to Australia he became a teacher at Wickliffe, Gisborne and Flemington. He was appointed headmaster of schools at Avoca in 1866 and then at Malvern in 1884. He retired to "Clyde", 11 Irving Street, Malvern, Australia and died there on 16 September 1918 aged 81. He was buried in Avoca General Cemetery, Australia. The Argus (Melbourne), 17 September 1918.
He had married Elizabeth Standen (1848–1919) at Amherst on 30 November 1866. The Age (Melbourne), Thursday 27 December 1866.
They had five children: George S. Macadam (1867–1933), John Melnotte Macadam(1869–1874), Charles William Macadam (died in 1947), Robert Robertson Macadam (died in 1956) and Mary S. King (died May 1956). Avoca Mail, 24 Sept 1918 and research on children's dates by John Macadam – Earthwords – Bodmin, Cornwall from the Australian sources.
^L.F.P.S., M.D., 1854; and F.F.P.S.G., 1855; K. F. Russell, 'Macadam, John (1827–1865)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University: http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/macadam-john-4054/text6453, published first in hardcopy 1974, accessed online 21 May 2016.
^He was the first Professor of Chemistry University of Melbourne, member of the Legislature for Castlemaine and Postmaster-General: The Scotsman, 25 January 1901
^Elison A. Macadam FIC become the first woman to graduate in Chemistry from King's College, London. In this she valiantly persevered in spite of the hostility towards women entering from the all-male students: Ivison Macadam Archives. Elison had studied under her father Prof. William Ivison Macadam and "had wished to continue study for a degree in Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh but at that time women were excluded. Curiously, despite the formal ban from King's College London she was able to study chemistry under Professor F.C. Thompson and Professor Herbert Jackson and sit the Chemistry examinations and was then hired by Professor Huntingdon about 1902 in his Laboratory". Chemistry was Their Life: Pioneer British Women Chemists, 1880–1949: Marlene Raynor-Canham, Geoff Raynor-Canham; Imperial College Press 2008. While Elison worked in the chemical laboratory for Professor A.K. Huntington, Professor of Metallurgy at King's, she met Cecil Desch. She was engaged in the accurate analyses of metal samples, which were then examined metallographically by Cecil Desch. According to a biography of Cecil Desch, written after his death in 1958, Professor Huntington remarked regretfully that Cecil had robbed him of his best assistant.
^Elison Macadam later married Professor Dr. Cecil Henry Desch in 1909. Cecil Henry Desch (1874–1958) became a prominent Professor of Metallurgy. He had gained his PhD at Wurtzburg University in 1902 and subsequently, in the same year, his D.Sc at University College, London. He then obtained the position at King's. Elison and Cecil were married in Jan. 1909 and moved to Glasgow University, where Cecil had obtained a lectureship in metallurgical chemistry, under Professor John Ferguson
^It is interesting to speculate why King's College, London made an exception in Elison Macadam's case. It may have been, in addition to her determination, that her father Professor W. Ivison Macadam did not feel he could make an exception for his daughter at Edinburgh University because of their rule, in spite of having fostered the academic involvement of women in other spheres (such as his pupil Aleen Cust who was to become the first veterinary surgeon in Britain against great odds). These two King's College, London professors of chemistry may have circumvented the college rule of male only students out of respect for her father to make this groundbreaking exception. Her younger brother Ivison Macadam subsequently attended King's College, London, was elected a Fellow and for the last 18 years of his life sat on its governing bodies :Ivison Macadam Archives, Runton Old Hall, Norfolk
^Supported by John Mackay, the founder of the firm John Mackay & Sons, wholesale chemists: The Scotsman, 25 January 1901
^Later after Professor Wilson's death this was changed to Regis Professor of Engineering (Edinburgh)
^At that time the rooms at Surgeons' Hall were held in lease by the individual lecturers and George Wilson, although now lecturing at Edinburgh University, retained his rooms at Surgeon’s Hall and it was not until a few years later that adequate laboratories were available there: The Scotsman, 25 January 1901
^After William Dick's death in 1866, William Williams was appointed the third principal of the Dick Veterinary College, where he had originally qualified, a position he held until July 1873. Owing to differing views with the Trustees (William Dick on his death had left the College to the Burgh Council of Edinburgh), the Principal Williams and some of the staff and students were at odds as to the college's direction under the Council's trustees. This resulted in the former principal William Williams to form a new college The New Veterinary College in the same year. The New Veterinary College, Edinburgh 1873–1904; C.M. Warwick and A.A.MacDonald, The Veterinary Record, 27 September 2003.
^The New Veterinary College, Edinburgh 1873–1904; C.M. Warwick and A.A.MacDonald, The Veterinary Record, 27 September 2003.
^In 1904 the New Veterinary College moved to Liverpool, England, forming the basis of the University of Liverpool Faculty of Veterinary Science:The New Veterinary College, Edinburgh 1873–1904; C.M. Warwick and A.A.MacDonald, The Veterinary Record, 27 September 2003.
^There was a different and subsequent book of the same name published by his son Stevenson (J.G.C.) Macadam Jun. FIC FCS by Darien Press Edinburgh in 1895 as perhaps a Revision guide"...prepared with special reference to the requirements of the different examining boards..."
^Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 26th. Meeting, Cheltenham, 1856
^Designed by John Baxter of Portobello circa 1823–27. This house is a very fine example of John Baxter's work in Portobello and has an important position in the local history of the area. It is now a Category B Listed building. See:
^Ivison Macadam Archives at Runton Old Hall East Runton, Norfolk.
^The Firs standing above Leithen Water on Horsbrugh Terrace, Innerleithen. A long clock from the house by the clockmaker in Innerleithen (Wm. Ruickbie who was making clocks there at the time) is still in possession of Christopher Taylor, a great-great grandson.
^ abMemories of Her Edinburgh Childhood, Elison Ann Macadam (Mrs. Cecil Desch 1883–1965). Ivison Macadam Archives, Runton
^Memories of Her Edinburgh Childhood, Elison Ann Macadam
^"The handwork [and embroidery that her grandmother and aunts did] was done in a small room on the right of the hall…", Memories of Her Edinburgh Childhood, Elison Ann Macadam
^"Here Janet the cook, small and thin, presided and fat good natured Annie Landels the house parlourmaid was generally somewhere about." Memories of Her Edinburgh Childhood, Elison Ann Macadam.
^"There also, more interesting to us children, were tins of sweet biscuits and jars containing such things as almonds, raisins, prunes, etc., some of which Janet used to produce when we went to see her."
"Just before [her mother had a baby] sister Myra and I would be sent to stay with Grannie for a few days at Brighton House. We always enjoyed this because we were looked after by our Aunts with very active help from Annie the house and table maid, and Janet the cook, who used to bath us in the bedroom and then tuck us up into a large double bed with a canopy over it." Memories of Her Edinburgh Childhood, Elison Ann Macadam (Mrs. Cecil Desch 1883–1965). Ivison Macadam Archives, Runton.
^The Edinburgh Citizen and Portobello Advertiser, 25 January 1901. John Macadam – Earhwords Archives – copy in Ivison Macadam Archives, East Runton
^The Edinburgh Citizen and Portobello Advertiser, 25 January 1901.
^Stevenson John Charles George Macadam (born 30 January 1866 at 25 Brighton Place, Portobello, Midlothian, Scotland. Died 26 Jan 1939, Kevock Tower, Lasswade, Scotland).
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