Dr James Cameron Smail

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

FRSGS PRSSA CBE LLD (1880-1970) was a Scottish university Principal. Heriot Watt University library is named the Cameron Smail Library in his honour. He wrote extensively on printing and the history of printing.

Life

He was born in 1886 the son of Adam Smail, a bookseller and stationer in Bruntsfield, living at 18 Spittal Street in

Tollcross, Edinburgh Tollcross ( gd, Toll na Croise) is a major road junction to the south west of the city centre of Edinburgh, Scotland which takes its name from a local historical land area. It lies between the more affluent area of Bruntsfield and the Grassmarke ...

. He was privately educated at Daniel Stewart's College in Edinburgh. From 1902 until 1911 he was a school inspector in Ireland. In 1911 he appears to live at 31 Brighton Road in Rathmines on the outskirts of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

. From 1911 to 1928 he worked for

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

. In 1928 he became Principal of

Heriot-Watt College Heriot-Watt University ( gd, Oilthigh Heriot-Watt) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and subsequently granted univ ...

and started a major expansion programme. In 1929 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

. His proposers were Sir

James Alfred Ewing Sir James Alfred Ewing MInstitCE (27 March 1855 − 7 January 1935) was a Scottish physicist and engineer, best known for his work on the magnetic properties of metals and, in particular, for his discovery of, and coinage of the word, '' h ...

, Richard Stanfield,

Francis Gibson Baily Francis Gibson Baily FRSE (1868–1945) was a British electrical engineer remembered for his research into electromagnetism. He was one of the first to suggest the use of water power to produce electricity and as such was the forefather of hydr ...

and

Alfred Archibald Boon Alfred may refer to: Arts and entertainment *'' Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series * ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne * ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák *"Alfred (Interl ...

. He was a regular attender of meetings. He retired in 1950. In 1951 he was made a member of the Royal Fine Art Commission for Scotland. He died on 26 April 1970.

Family

In 1908 he married Louisa Florence Davidson. His daughter was Elizabeth Margaret Cameron Smail.

Artistic recognition

His portrait by

Mary Remington Mary Remington (1910–2003) was a British oil painter and artist. Biography Remington was born at Reigate in Surrey and, after attending the Redhill School of Art, won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art in London. She studied at the Ro ...

is held at Heriot-Watt University.

Publications

See *''Some Aspects of Education for the Printing Trade'' (1937) *''Technical Education'' (1946) *''Scottish Enterprise Printing'' (1947) *''

James Watt James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was fun ...

and the Heriot Watt College'' (1949) *''Education and Training of Printers'' (1951) *''Printing in Scotland 1507-1947'' (1963) *''The Phrenological Museum, Edinburgh'' (1963)

References

1880 births 1970 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Academics of Heriot-Watt University Scottish non-fiction writers {{UK-bio-stub