Alexander Tilloch
FSA (Scot)
The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is the senior antiquarian body of Scotland, with its headquarters in the National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh. The Society's aim is to promote the cultural heritage of Scotland.
The usua ...
(28 February 1759 – 1825) was a Scottish journalist and inventor. He founded the ''
Philosophical Magazine
The ''Philosophical Magazine'' is one of the oldest scientific journals published in English. It was established by Alexander Tilloch in 1798;John Burnett"Tilloch, Alexander (1759–1825)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford Univer ...
''.
Early life
The son of John Tilloch, a
tobacco merchant and magistrate of
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
, he was born there on 28 February 1759. He was educated at
Glasgow University
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, latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis
, motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita
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, and turned his attention to printing.
In 1781, he began work on
stereotypes
In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...
. In 1725,
William Ged had obtained a privilege for a development of Van der Mey's process, but encountered practical difficulties.
Tilloch independently developed a process by 1782, and worked with
Andrew Foulis the younger, printer to the university of Glasgow. On 28 April 1784, they took out a joint patent for England (No. 1431) for ‘printing books from plates instead of movable types,’ and another for Scotland about the same time. They made no great use of it, however. From Tilloch,
Earl Stanhope
Earl Stanhope ()Debrett's Correct Form, Debrett's Peerage Ltd, 1976, pg 408 was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. The earldom was created in 1718 for Major General James Stanhope,Edward Hasted, 'Parishes: Chevening', in The History and T ...
derived knowledge of the process of making stereotype plates.
In London
In 1787, Tilloch moved to London, and in 1789, in connection with others, purchased ''
The Star'', an evening daily paper, of which he remained editor until 1821. At that time
forgery of
Bank of England notes was common, and Tilloch in 1790 laid before the British ministry a mode of printing which would render forgery impossible. Receiving no encouragement, he brought his process before the notice of the Commission d'
Assignat
An assignat () was a monetary instrument, an order to pay, used during the time of the French Revolution, and the French Revolutionary Wars.
France
Assignats were paper money (fiat currency) issued by the Constituent Assembly in France from 1 ...
s of the
Legislative Assembly, at Paris, but then came the outbreak of war. In 1797 he submitted to the Bank of England a specimen of a note engraved after his plan, accompanied by a certificate signed by
Francesco Bartolozzi
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Francesco Bartolozzi (21 September 1727, in Florence – 7 March 1815, in Lisbon) was an Italian engraver, whose most productive period was spent in London. He is noted for popularizing the "crayon" method of engraving.
Early life
B ...
,
Wilson Lowry
Wilson Lowry Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (24 January 1762 – 23 June 1824) was an English engraver.
Life
He was born at Whitehaven, Cumberland, the son of :commons:Strickland Lowry, Strickland Lowry, a portrait painter. The family settled ...
,
William Sharp and other engravers, to the effect that they did not believe it could be copied by any of the known arts of engraving. He could not, however, persuade the authorities to accept it,
though in 1810 they adopted the process of
Augustus Applegath, which Tilloch claimed in 1820, in a petition to parliament, to be virtually his own.
In 1797 he projected and established the ''
Philosophical Magazine
The ''Philosophical Magazine'' is one of the oldest scientific journals published in English. It was established by Alexander Tilloch in 1798;John Burnett"Tilloch, Alexander (1759–1825)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford Univer ...
'', a journal devoted to scientific subjects, and intended for the publication of new discoveries and inventions. He devoted much of his time to the conduct of the magazine, of which he remained sole proprietor until 1822, when
Richard Taylor became associated with him. The only previous journal of this nature in London was the ''
Journal of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and the Arts
''A Journal of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and the Arts'', generally known as ''Nicholson's Journal'', was the first monthly scientific journal in Great Britain. William Nicholson began it in 1797 and was the editor until it merged with anoth ...
'', founded by
William Nicholson in 1797. It was incorporated with Tilloch's ''Magazine'' in 1813.
On 20 August 1808 Tilloch took out a patent (No. 3161) for ‘apparatus to be employed as a moving power to drive machinery and mill work.’
Later life
In later life Tilloch devoted attention to
scriptural prophecy, joined the
Sandemanians, and occasionally preached to a congregation in
Goswell Street. On 11 January 1825 he took out a patent (No. 5066) for improvements in the ‘steam engine or apparatus connected therewith,’ and it is stated that the engineer,
Arthur Woolf
Arthur Woolf (1766, Camborne, Cornwall – 16 October 1837, Guernsey) was a Cornish engineer, most famous for inventing a high-pressure compound steam engine. As such he made an outstanding contribution to the development and perfection of th ...
took up his suggestions. Tilloch was a member of numerous learned societies at home and on the continent, among others of the
Scottish Society of Antiquaries, and of the
Regia Academia Scientiarum of
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
. He collected manuscripts, coins, and medals, of which he left a considerable number.
He died in Barnsbury Street,
Islington, on 26 January 1825. His wife, Margaret née Simpson, (1760–1783) died following the birth of a second child, who also died, leaving a daughter, Elizabeth (1781–1851), who later married
John Galt
John Galt () is a character in Ayn Rand's novel ''Atlas Shrugged'' (1957). Although he is not identified by name until the last third of the novel, he is the object of its often-repeated question "Who is John Galt?" and of the quest to discover ...
.
Works
Tilloch was the author of:
* ‘Dissertation on the opening of the Sealed Book,’ Arbroath; 2nd edit. Perth, 1852; printed from a series of papers published in the ‘Star’ in 1808–9, signed ‘Biblicus.’ From the introduction it appears that the papers were intended to deal with the whole ''
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: , meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of ...
.''
* ‘Dissertations introductory to the Study and right Understanding of the Apocalypse,’ London, 1823.
Tilloch also edited the ‘
Mechanic's Oracle,’ commenced in July 1824 and discontinued soon after his death.
References
*
Notes
;Attribution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tilloch, Alexander
1759 births
1825 deaths
Journalists from Glasgow
Scottish inventors
Engineers from Glasgow
Alumni of the University of Glasgow
Scottish printers
Scottish newspaper editors
Scottish magazine editors
Scottish antiquarians
Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
Members of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences