Walter Biggar Blaikie FRSE DL LLD (23 November 1847 in

Pilrig Pilrig is an area of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. The name probably derives from the long field (rig) on which a peel tower (pil/peel) stood. There is evidence of a peel tower situated on an area of higher ground above the Water of ...

, Edinburgh – 3 May 1928) was a Scottish civil engineer, printer, historian and astronomer.

Life

Second of the seven recorded sons of Margaret Catherine Biggar and

William Garden Blaikie William Garden Blaikie FRSE (5 February 1820, in Aberdeen – 11 June 1899) was a Scottish minister, writer, biographer, and temperance reformer. Life His father James Ogilvie Blaikie was the first Provost of Aberdeen following its reformed ...

, minister of

Free Church, Walter Biggar Blaikie was educated at

Edinburgh Academy The Edinburgh Academy is an independent day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, which was opened in 1824. The original building, on Henderson Row in the city's New Town, is now part of the Senior School. The Junior School is located on Arboretum Ro ...

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 worked as a civil engineer with the Department for Public Works in India from 1870 until 1873, but after the birth of their first child he and his wife returned to Scotland to work for the large engineering firm of Blyth & Blyth where he worked until 1880. In 1879, he became involved in the printing business which became T and A Constable of

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

. He would work with the firm for almost 50 years, and for many years he ran it. He became one of the leading scholars of the Jacobite period, especially of the life of

Bonnie Prince Charlie Bonnie, is a Scottish given name and is sometimes used as a descriptive reference, as in the Scottish folk song, My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean. It comes from the Scots language word "bonnie" (pretty, attractive), or the French bonne (good). That ...

. In 1897, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, his proposers being

John George Bartholomew John George Bartholomew (22 March 1860 – 14 April 1920) was a Scottish cartographer and geographer. As a holder of a royal warrant, he used the title "Cartographer to the King"; for this reason he was sometimes known by the epithet "the ...

, Sir John Murray, Frederick Bailey and Hugh Robert Mill. He served as Vice President of the Society 1924 to 1927. He is buried in the grave of his maternal grandfather, Henry Balfour Biggar, in the north-east corner of the north extension to St Cuthberts Churchyard in Edinburgh. He is the last named on a badly eroded stone.

Walter Blaikie Collection

In 1928 his daughters donated a large collection of his historical papers concerning the Jacobite Uprising and the Stuarts to the National Library of Scotland. This ran to 1076 printed items in 756 volumes, 42 manuscripts, 3 charters and around 400 engravings.

Publications

*''Itinerary of Prince Charles Edward'' (1896) *''Edinburgh at the Time of the Occupation of Prince Charles'' (1910) *''Origins of the 45'' (1914)

Awards and honours

* Honorary degree "Doctor of Laws" from the

* 1897 Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh ("Ordinary Fellow") * 1918 Deputy Lieutenant of the County and City of Edinburgh

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blaikie, Walter Biggar 1847 births 1928 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Scottish civil engineers Scottish printers 20th-century Scottish historians Scottish astronomers People educated at Edinburgh Academy Alumni of the University of Edinburgh 19th-century Scottish historians Deputy Lieutenants of Edinburgh