Thomas Cuthbert Day

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 ...

EGS FCS (1852-1935) was a British chemist, photo-engraver and geologist. He was the joint founder of the firm Hislop & Day who made major advances in the reproduction of photographs in printed books. Day also independently published books showing their skills in printing photographs in books, utilising his own photographs and text, and usually published under T. C. Day.

Life

He was born in

Burton-on-Trent Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. In 2011, it had a population of 72,299. The d ...

the son of Rev Henry Day who was headmaster of the Grammar School. Originally adopting a life in the brewing industry (typical of

, and having moved to

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 ...

to pursue that career, his religious views led him to abandon this in the 1890s and instead pursue a new use for his chemical skills. After some studies in Europe, he began a photo-engraving business. In 1894 he joined Edinburgh photographer John Hislop and in 1897 they formed Hislop and Day. They moved to new premises at 9 Albany Street in the

Edinburgh New Town The New Town is a central area of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It was built in stages between 1767 and around 1850, and retains much of its original neo-classical and Georgian period architecture. Its best known street is Princes Street ...

in 1901. The company survived until 1963. In 1917 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 fellow-geologists

John Horne John Horne PRSE FRS FRSE FEGS LLD (1 January 1848 – 30 May 1928) was a Scottish geologist. He served as President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh from 1915 to 1919. Life Horne was born on 1 January 1848, in Campsie, Stirlingshire, the ...

, Benjamin Peach, Sir

John Smith Flett Sir John Smith Flett (26 June 1869 – 26 January 1947) was a Scottish physician and geologist. Early life Born in Kirkwall, Orkney, the son of James Ferguson Flett, a merchant and baillie, and Mary Ann (née Copland). He was educated at Kir ...

, and

Cargill Gilston Knott Cargill Gilston Knott FRS, FRSE LLD (30 June 1856 – 26 October 1922) was a Scottish physicist and mathematician who was a pioneer in seismological research. He spent his early career in Japan. He later became a Fellow of the Royal Society, ...

. In Edinburgh his address was 36 Hillside Crescent an attractive flat just north of

Calton Hill Calton Hill () is a hill in central Edinburgh, Scotland, situated beyond the east end of Princes Street and included in the city's UNESCO World Heritage Site. Views of, and from, the hill are often used in photographs and paintings of the ci ...

. He was President of the Edinburgh Geological Society 1921-2. He died in

on 13 June 1935. He left £500 to the Edinburgh Geological Society in his will.

Publications

*''The Influence of Light on the Respiration of Barley and Wheat'' (a brewing textbook) *''Notes on the Hummell Rocks,

Gullane Gullane ( or ) is a town on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth in East Lothian on the east coast of Scotland. There has been a church in the village since the ninth century. The ruins of the Old Church of St. Andrew built in the twelft ...

'' (1912) *''Notes on the

Inchcolm Inchcolm (from the Scottish Gaelic "Innis Choluim", meaning Columba's Island) is an island in the Firth of Forth in Scotland. It was repeatedly attacked by English raiders during the Wars of Scottish Independence, and was fortified during both Wo ...

Anticline'' (1928) *''

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 ...

: A Ruined Volcano'' (1933)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Day, Thomas Cuthbert 1852 births 1935 deaths British geologists Photographers from Staffordshire Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 20th-century Scottish photographers