Colin Alexander McVean,

FRGS The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

(6 March 1838 – 18 January 1912) was a Scottish

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

who made a considerable contribution to Japan's engineering development in 1870s. He left two brief autobiographies, diaries, photos, letters and a collection of Japanese antiques.

Early life and career

He was first son of Reverend Donald McVean, minister of the Free Church of Iona and Mull. After a five-year apprenticeship at Edinburgh, he joined the

Hydrographic Office A hydrographic office is an organization which is devoted to acquiring and publishing hydrographic information. Historically, the main tasks of hydrographic offices were the conduction of hydrographic surveys and the publication of nautical cha ...

, Admiralty, and was engaged in a survey of the

Hebrides The Hebrides (; gd, Innse Gall, ; non, Suðreyjar, "southern isles") are an archipelago off the west coast of the Scottish mainland. The islands fall into two main groups, based on their proximity to the mainland: the Inner and Outer Hebrid ...

under the direction of Captain Henry Charles Otter during 1861-64. He worked together with William Maxwell, RN,

Henry Scharbau Henry Scharbau (1822-1902) or ''Henry Sharbau'' was a British cartographer remembered for his work as an Oyatoi in the Meiji period. Biography Scharbau was born at Lübeck in North Germany in 1822, but came to England in his youth. Due to his ...

and W.E. Cheesman. In 1865-66, he worked for railway construction at Bulgaria. In June, just before departure to Japan, he married Mary Wood Cowan, youngest daughter of

Alexander Cowan Alexander Cowan (17 June 1775 – 13 February 1859) was a Scottish papermaker and philanthropist. He was a cousin and friend of Thomas Chalmers, the prominent Scottish minister. Through his business he was a friend and associate of the publisher ...

, a paper-maker in

Penicuik Penicuik ( ; sco, Penicuik; gd, Peighinn na Cuthaig) is a town and former burgh in Midlothian, Scotland, lying on the west bank of the River North Esk. It lies on the A701 midway between Edinburgh and Peebles, east of the Pentland Hills. Na ...

. Marriage witness were

Archibald Constable Archibald David Constable (24 February 1774 – 21 July 1827) was a Scottish publisher, bookseller and stationer. Life Constable was born at Carnbee, Fife, son of the land steward to the Earl of Kellie. In 1788 Archibald was apprenticed to Pe ...

and

Campbell Douglas Archibald Campbell Douglas (usually simply referred to as Campbell Douglas) (14 June 1828 – 14 April 1910) was a Scottish architect based primarily in Glasgow. He designed many churches in Glasgow and Edinburgh, especially those for the Fre ...

Appointment in Japan

McVean was informed by his friend that the

Northern Lighthouse Board The Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB) is the general lighthouse authority for Scotland and the Isle of Man. It is a non-departmental public body responsible for marine navigation aids around coastal areas. History The NLB was formed by Act of P ...

of Edinburgh was recruiting several engineers for lighthouse construction in Japan in February 1868. It was too late to apply for the Chief Engineer's post, and McVean was appointed as Assistant Engineer together with A.W. Blundell. The chief engineer was Henry Brunton. The first lighthouse construction on Mikomoto-Jima in March to June 1869 was a difficult project, as Japanese masons were not familiar with western construction methods. McVean asked Brunton for revisions to the construction scheme, but Brunton's response was unsatisfactory and McVean made up his mind to resign from the Lighthouse Office together with Blundell, and started engineering business at

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

under the name of

Vulcan Foundry The Vulcan Foundry Limited was an English locomotive builder sited at Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire (now Merseyside). History The Vulcan Foundry opened in 1832, as Charles Tayleur and Company to produce girders for bridges, switches, crossi ...

. He met

Yamao Yozo Yamao (written: ) is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *, Japanese rhythmic gymnast *, Japanese cyclist *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese poet *, Japanese politician *, Japanese samurai {{surname Japanese-language sur ...

, government officer in charge of Yokosuma Arsenal and Yokohama Ironwork at Yokohama, and became close friends with him in both private life and business, as they have had common experience and friends in Scotland. McVean soon encouraged Yamao to establish a survey office to make nationwide geodetic survey. Meanwhile, the Meiji government decided to establish the Ministry of Public Works (Japan) on 12 December 1870 by the advice of Edmund Morel, Chief Engineer of Railway Construction in order to achieve rapid social and industrial development. After long discussions among the Cabinet members, on 28 September 1871 the government finally established the Public Works Ministry, consisting of 11 departments: railroads, shipyards, lighthouses, mines, an iron and steel industry, telecommunication, civil works, manufacturing, industrial promotion, an Engineering education institution and survey. Yamao headed the Engineering Institution and Survey Office, and placed McVean into chief surveyor position for surveying and building.

Chief Surveyor of Public Works and Home Office

1. Building Work (1) Engineering College Buildings: McVean was appointed as a chief surveyor for the Survey Department and extensively assisted Yamao, who had to head both the Survey and Engineering Institution. Morel and Yamao rushed to open the engineering college, but Morel passed away in October 1871. While McVean concentrated to design and construct the college buildings together with

Henry Batson Joyner Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) * Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

, he endeavoured to reunite Yamao with Hugh Matheson via Colin Brown. Matheson kindly arranged appointment of teaching staff for the engineering college through his connection,

Lewis Gordon Lewis Ricardo Gordon (born May 12, 1962) is an American philosopher at the University of Connecticut who works in the areas of Africana philosophy, existentialism, phenomenology, social and political theory, postcolonial thought, theories of ...

William Rankine William John Macquorn Rankine (; 5 July 1820 – 24 December 1872) was a Scottish mechanical engineer who also contributed to civil engineering, physics and mathematics. He was a founding contributor, with Rudolf Clausius and William Thomson ( ...

and William Thompson (Lord Kelvin). McVean asked

, a prominent architect in Glasgow, to send building materials and a young architect to Japan in 1872.

Charles Alfred Chastel de Boinville Charles Alfred Chastel de Boinville (1849 – April 25, 1897) was an Anglo-French architect, who worked in Japan and Britain. His father was a well known clergyman who completed 30 years of missionary service in France, and left several public ...

, Anglo-French architect aged 23 arrived at Tokyo in the end of 1872. (2) Ginza Redevelopment Scheme: In March 1872, big fire took place in downtown area of Tokyo, and McVean arranged redevelopment scheme by order of Yamao. (3) Design of Government Officers' Residence: He prepared plan of official residences for

Sanjō Sanetomi Prince was a Japanese Imperial court noble and statesman at the time of the Meiji Restoration. He held many high-ranking offices in the Meiji government. Biography Born in Kyoto, Sanjō was the son of ''Naidaijin'' Sanjō Sanetsumu. He hel ...

, Yamao, etc. 2. Surveying (1) Survey School: McVean started in his duty from setting up the survey school hiring two instructor; Richard Rymer Jones and George Eaton (2) Former Castle Site: In May 1872, Yamao ordered McVean to survey the former Caste site, in which new Imperial palace was to be constructed. (3) Appointment of Surveyors:

Cosmo Innes Cosmo Nelson Innes FRSE (9 September 1798 – 31 July 1874) was a Scottish advocate, judge, historian and antiquary. He served as Advocate-Depute, Sheriff of Elginshire, and Principal Clerk of Session. He was a skilled decipherer of ancient S ...

a chief of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

's Public Works at the time, sent McVean 3 surveyors. McVean invited

and W.E. Cheesman, both McVean's friends during the

period. (4) Setting up of Triangular Survey: After returned from the Britain with new instruments in May 1874, he directed nationwide triangular survey. 3. Meteorological Astrological and Seismic Observation (1) Purchase of Instruments: McVean discussed extent of the function of the Survey Office with Yamao, when returned home to purchase various instruments in February 1873. Under the name of Yamao, he requested assistant to the

Scottish Meteorological Society The Scottish Meteorological Society was founded in 1855 by David Milne-Home with private funding, particularly from wealthy landowners who wished to compile meteorological records in order to improve agriculture. The Society founded the observato ...

to start up observations including selection and setting up of instruments, observation manners, positioning of observation, role of central observatory and stations, seismic observation, special observation of

typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

, reference books. According to the Memorandum with the Society, McVean bought various instruments from the Casella Co., survey and astrological instruments from

Troughton & Simms Troughton & Simms was a British scientific instrument firm. It was formed when Edward Troughton in his old age took on William Simms as a partner in 1826. It became a limited company in 1915 and in 1922 it merged with T. Cooke & Sons to form ...

, and seismic instruments from

Luigi Palmieri Luigi Palmieri (22 April 1807 – 9 September 1896) was an Italian physicist and meteorologist. He was famous for his scientific studies of the eruptions of Mount Vesuvius, for his researches on earthquakes and meteorological phenomena and for i ...

. In September 1873, McVean and Schaubau visited the Royal Observatory at Charlton to learn how to observe

Venus Transit frameless, upright=0.5 A transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and a superior planet, becoming visible against (and hence obscuring a small portion of) the solar disk. During a trans ...

from James Simms. (2) Observation of Venus Transit: On 4 December 1874 McVean successfully made official observation of the

on Gotenyama in present of Sanjo Sanetomi,

Ito Hirobumi Ito may refer to: Places * Ito Island, an island of Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea * Ito Airport, an airport in the Democratic Republic of the Congo * Ito District, Wakayama, a district located in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan * Itō, Shiz ...

, etc. (3) Meteorology: Each of the numbers of Mr. McVean's publication gave the tri-daily observations of the various meteorological elements for five days, beginning with 2 December 1875. 4. Discard The Public Works released the Survey Office to newly founded Home Office (Naimu sho) in January 1874. The minister Toshimichi Ookubo had negative idea for appointment of foreign officers and discarded high ranking foreign officers including McVean,

Richard Henry Brunton Richard Henry Brunton FRGS MICE (26 December 1841 – 24 April 1901) was the so-called " Father of Japanese lighthouses". Brunton was born in Muchalls, Kincardineshire, Scotland. He was employed by the government of Meiji period Japan as ...

(Lighthouse) and Murray Day (Hokaido Development Agency) in 1876. 5. Life in Tokyo (1)

John Francis Campbell John Francis Campbell (Scottish Gaelic: Iain Frangan Caimbeul; Islay, 29 December 1821 – Cannes, 17 February 1885), also known as Young John of Islay (Scottish Gaelic: Iain Òg Ìle) was a Scottish author and scholar who specialised ...

visited: Campbell of Isley was a friends of Reverend Donald McVean, and stayed at McVean's residence of Tokyo in November 1874. McVean took Campbell to several places around Tokyo including Nikko. Campbell walked along

Nakasendō The , also called the ,Richard Lane, ''Images from the Floating World'' (1978) Chartwell, Secaucus ; pg. 285 was one of the five routes of the Edo period, and one of the two that connected Edo (modern-day Tokyo) to Kyoto in Japan. There were 6 ...

Post-way through

Lake Suwa is a lake in the Kiso Mountains, in the central region of Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Geography The lake is the source of the Tenryū River. It ranks 24th in lake water surface area in Japan. The cities of Suwa and Okaya and the town of Shimosuw ...

and

Lake Biwa is the largest freshwater lake in Japan, located entirely within Shiga Prefecture (west-central Honshu), northeast of the former capital city of Kyoto. Lake Biwa is an ancient lake, over 4 million years old. It is estimated to be the 13th ol ...

toward

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

for 2 months, and left Japan from

Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...

to next destination. (2) Sending Bird Skins to

Henry Eeles Dresser Henry Eeles Dresser (9 May 183828 November 1915) was an English businessman and ornithologist. Background and early life Henry Dresser was born in Thirsk, Yorkshire, where his father was the manager of the bank set up by his grandfather. Dres ...

: Dresser got interested in McVean's research on "On the Ornithology of Yedo (Tokyo)", asked McVean to send bird skins to London.

Back Home and Retirement

After working at several places as an engineer, in 1885 McVean settled down in Scotland. He rented residence of Duke of Argyll at Kilmore, Isle of Mull, and retired there with his family. The McVeans took care of his grand children including

Colin McVean Gubbins Major-General Sir Colin McVean Gubbins (2 July 1896 – 11 February 1976) was the prime mover of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in the Second World War. Gubbins was also responsible for setting up the secret Auxiliary Units, a command ...

. When the McVeans were living in Edinburgh in 1877-1878, they met

Isabella Bird Isabella Lucy Bird, married name Bishop (15 October 1831 – 7 October 1904), was a nineteenth-century British explorer, writer, photographer, and naturalist. With Fanny Jane Butler she founded the John Bishop Memorial Hospital in Srinagar ...

quite frequently. Bird was interested in visiting Japan, but hesitated travelling alone. McVean introduced Bird to his wide circle of acquaintances in Japan so that she could make safe journey. For 1888 Glasgow International Exhibition, McVean lent his collection of Japanese arts more than 1,000 items to the Kelvingrove Museum.Kelvingrove museum - Japanese Art - Property of C.A. McVean, McVean Archives.

Social life

1. Royal Physical Society in Edinburgh, 1873. "On the Ornithology of Yedo" read in 1874 Annual Meeting of Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh. 2.

, 1873. 3.

Royal Company of Archers The Royal Company of Archers, The King's Bodyguard for Scotland is a ceremonial unit that serves as the Sovereign's bodyguard in Scotland—a role it has performed since 1822 during the reign of King George IV when the company provided a perso ...

, Queen’s Body Guard for Scotland, 1873. 4.

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

, 1874.

Source

*1. Colin Alexander McVean, Celtic Monthly, 24 December 1898. *2. Little Journal, Griffis' Collection, Rutgers University, 1908. *3. McVean Archives, National Records of Scotland (GD543). *4. McVean Website https://sites.google.com/site/archisslh/mcvean *5. Olive Checkland, Japan and Britain After 18590Creating Cultural Bridges, 1989, . *6. Hugh Cortazzi and Gordon Daniels ed., Britain and Japan 1859-1991, 1991, .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McVean, Colin 1838 births 1912 deaths Place of birth missing Place of death missing Scottish civil engineers