Lieutenant-Colonel Ninian Imrie of Denmuir (died 1820) was a Scottish army officer and geologist. He gave the first wholly geological description of the

Rock of Gibraltar The Rock of Gibraltar (from the Arabic name Jabel-al-Tariq) is a monolithic limestone promontory located in the British territory of Gibraltar, near the southwestern tip of Europe on the Iberian Peninsula, and near the entrance to the Mediterr ...

. He stirred the Plutonist versus

Neptunist Neptunism is a superseded scientific theory of geology proposed by Abraham Gottlob Werner (1749–1817) in the late 18th century, proposing that rocks formed from the crystallisation of minerals in the early Earth's oceans. The theory took its ...

debate during the

Scottish Enlightenment The Scottish Enlightenment ( sco, Scots Enlichtenment, gd, Soillseachadh na h-Alba) was the period in 18th- and early-19th-century Scotland characterised by an outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments. By the eighteenth century ...

Life

His family owned an estate known as Denmuir, near Abdie in

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

. He is thought to be born around 1750. He was commissioned as an Ensign in 1768, the commission being purchased by a Stephen Gually. He became Lieutenant in 1772 and Captain in 1777. Imrie served in the Second Regiment of Foot (later renamed the

Royal Scots The Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment), once known as the Royal Regiment of Foot, was the oldest and most senior infantry regiment of the line of the British Army, having been raised in 1633 during the reign of Charles I of Scotland. The regimen ...

) in

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

from 1784 to 1793. Here he rose to be Aide-de-Camp for Lt General John Gordon Cuming Skene. During this period he is known to have corresponded with

James Hutton James Hutton (; 3 June O.S.172614 June 1726 New Style. – 26 March 1797) was a Scottish geologist, agriculturalist, chemical manufacturer, naturalist and physician. Often referred to as the father of modern geology, he played a key role i ...

in Edinburgh. He was promoted to Lt Colonel in 1798. In the same year 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 Walker, Alexander Keith and

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 retired on half pay in 1799. He was living permanently in Edinburgh from around 1805 at 63 Queen Street.Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1805–06 He died at 63 Queen Street in Edinburgh’s First New Town on 13 November 1820.

Publications

*''The Geology of the Rock of Gibraltar'' (1798) *''A Catalogue of Specimens Illustrative of the Geology of Greece'' (1817)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Imrie, Ninian 1820 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Scottish geologists Scottish landowners Royal Scots officers People from Fife