James Jardine (13 November 1776–20 June 1858) was a Scottish civil engineer, mathematician and geologist. He was the first person to determine

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. ...

. He built tunnels and bridges, including for the

Innocent Railway The Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway was an early railway built to convey coal from pits in the vicinity of Dalkeith into the capital. It was a horse-operated line, with a terminus at St Leonards on the south side of Arthur's Seat. Opened in st ...

, and built reservoirs including

Glencorse Glencorse is a parish of Midlothian, Scotland, lying south of Edinburgh.Gazetteer of Scotland, publ, by W & AK Johnston, Edinburgh, 1937. Article on Glencorse. Places are presented alphabetically It is bounded on the north-west by the former p ...

, Threipmuir, Harlaw for

Edinburgh Water Company Edinburgh Water Company and its successors have provided a public water supply and latterly sewerage and sewage treatment services to the Scottish capital of Edinburgh since 1819. The original company was established to supply drinking water and ...

, and

Cobbinshaw Cobbinshaw is a small hamlet in West Lothian, Scotland. It is at the end of a dead end road from nearby Woolfords. Cobbinshaw is at above sea level on the edge of the Pentland Hills. Nearby villages include Woolfords, Auchengray and Tarbra ...

for the

Union Canal Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

Life

Jardine was born in Applegarth,

Dumfriesshire Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries (''Siorrachd Dhùn Phris'' in Gaelic) is a historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the historic county. I ...

, on 30 November 1776, the son of a farmer. He was educated at

Dumfries Academy Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...

and the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. He studied mathematics under Prof

John Playfair John Playfair FRSE, FRS (10 March 1748 – 20 July 1819) was a Church of Scotland minister, remembered as a scientist and mathematician, and a professor of natural philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. He is best known for his book ''Illu ...

. He was a friend of

Thomas Telford Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE, (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scotla ...

and they collaborated on several projects Following survey work at the

Firth of Tay The Firth of Tay (; gd, Linne Tatha) is a firth on the east coast of Scotland, into which the River Tay (Scotland's largest river in terms of flow) empties. The firth is surrounded by four council areas: Fife, Perth and Kinross, City of Du ...

, he was the first person in the world to calculate

. From 1796 to 1808 he lectured in mathematics at the

. From 1811 he began a series of harbour designs, beginning with

Saltcoats Saltcoats ( gd, Baile an t-Salainn) is a town on the west coast of North Ayrshire, Scotland. The name is derived from the town's earliest industry when salt was harvested from the sea water of the Firth of Clyde, carried out in small cottages al ...

. This was followed by Perth (1831), major extensions to

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by '' Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

Docks (1835), and

Eyemouth Eyemouth ( sco, Heymooth) is a small town and civil parish in Berwickshire, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. It is east of the main north–south A1 road and north of Berwick-upon-Tweed. The town's name comes from its location at th ...

(1837). In 1812 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

, John Leslie, Thomas Allan. In 1813 he received the commission to drain the final waters of the

Nor Loch The Nor Loch, also known as the Nor' Loch and the North Loch, was a man-made loch formerly in Edinburgh, Scotland, in the area now occupied by Princes Street Gardens and Waverley station which lie between the Royal Mile and Princes Street. G ...

to create

Princes Street Gardens Princes Street Gardens are two adjacent public parks in the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland, lying in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle. The Gardens were created in the 1820s following the long draining of the Nor Loch and building of the New Town, ...

, and the final waters of the Burgh Loch to create The Meadows both in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. In 1819 he was appointed as the first engineer for the newly formed

. He built an pipeline from the Crawley springs, completed in 1823, which provided

's first reliable supply of drinking water from outside the city. With

acting as chief designer, he oversaw the construction of a new reservoir at

, chiefly designed to supply compensation water to enable mills on the River Esk to continue operating, after some of the water from the Glencorse Burn was extracted to boost water supplies for Edinburgh. He was also involved at the start of construction of two more reservoirs for the Edinburgh Water Company, at Threipmuir and Harlaw, but they were completed by James Leslie in 1847 and 1848, as he retired in 1846. Following his work on the Glencorse Reservoir, he was commissioned to undertake similar improvements in Perth, Dumfries and Glasgow. He re-engineered Loch Leven, reducing its water level by creating the Leven Cut, its first outlet. He did much of the engineering on the Union Canal, including creation of

Cobbinshaw Reservoir Cobbinshaw Reservoir is a reservoir in West Lothian, Scotland. It is situated near the Pentland Hills, 5 km south of West Calder. The site is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and is popular with wildfowl. History Cobbinshaw Re ...

as its water supply. From 1826 he worked on the Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway line, creating its St. Leonards branch, now commonly called the

. This includes a tunnel under the southern edge of

Arthur's Seat Arthur's Seat ( gd, Suidhe Artair, ) is an ancient volcano which is the main peak of the group of hills in Edinburgh, Scotland, which form most of Holyrood Park, described by Robert Louis Stevenson as "a hill for magnitude, a mountain in virtue ...

plus the Glenesk Viaduct. He then embarked on other, more northerly railway projects: Ardrossan (1827), Threave (1825), Inveralmond (1827). He worked on several projects with

, including provision of mathematical calculations to establish the required chain strength to hold the Menai Straits suspension bridge. He was unsuccessful in his designs for Dean Bridge in

and the City Observatory. He retired at age 70 in 1846. He died at home, 18 Queen Street, a ground floor and basement, main-door flat at one of the most prestigious addresses in

. He is buried in

Warriston Cemetery Warriston Cemetery is a cemetery in Edinburgh. It lies in Warriston, one of the northern suburbs of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was built by the then newly-formed Edinburgh Cemetery Company, and occupies around of land on a slightly sloping si ...

, in the upper section, on the main east west path near the old East Gate. He is buried with other family members including his nephew William Alexander Jardine (1811-1886) who was also a civil engineer. His gravestone is currently (2019) lying flat on its face having been toppled by a tree falling in strong winds in 2018. He is known to have trained the railway engineer

Alexander Adie Alexander James Adie FRSE MWS (1775, Edinburgh – 4 December 1858, Edinburgh) was a Scottish maker of medical instruments, optician and meteorologist. He was the inventor of the sympiesometer, patented in 1818. Life He was born the son of Jo ...

. and the civil engineer

James Anderson James Anderson may refer to: Arts *James Anderson (American actor) (1921–1969), American actor *James Anderson (author) (1936–2007), British mystery writer *James Anderson (English actor) (born 1980), British actor * James Anderson (filmmaker) ...

. He was a long time friend of the botanist Daniel Ellis who was also a Fellow of the

and they attended Society meetings together.

Bibliography

* *

References

*''Gazetteer for Scotland: James Jardine

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jardine, James 1776 births 1858 deaths 19th-century Scottish people People from Dumfries and Galloway Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Scottish antiquarians Scottish civil engineers Scottish mathematicians Scottish geologists British bridge engineers Hydraulic engineers