William Handyside (1793–1850) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

engineer who was involved in several important construction projects in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Biography

Born 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 ...

on 25 July 1793, to merchant Hugh Handyside and his wife Margaret, he was the eldest brother of Andrew Handyside and nephew of Charles Baird. On a visit to Scotland in 1810, Baird invited William, then a trainee architect, to join his flourishing business in St. Petersburg and live in his household. His first projects included installing machinery at the

imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, Texa ...

arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

and glassworks and helping build the ''Elizaveta'' steamship, launched in 1815. He was a talented engineer and contributed to the development of Baird Works'

steamship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...

and steam engine manufacturing. He developed a gas lighting system for the factory and the sugar refining process conceived by Baird. When the company started working with Wilhelm von Traitteur and Pierre Bazaine on the first Russian

suspension bridges A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridges, which lack vertical ...

in the 1820s, Handyside designed a machine to test the chains which is described in Traitteur's writings. Most famously, Handyside worked with

Auguste de Montferrand Auguste de Montferrand (; January 23, 1786 – July 10, 1858) was a French classicist architect who worked primarily in Russia. His two best known works are the Saint Isaac's Cathedral and the Alexander Column in St. Petersburg. Early ...

on the

Alexander Column The Alexander Column (russian: Алекса́ндровская коло́нна, ''Aleksandrovskaya kolonna'') also known as Alexandrian Column (russian: Александри́йская коло́нна, ''Aleksandriyskaya kolonna''), is the f ...

and

St. Isaac's Cathedral Saint Isaac's Cathedral or Isaakievskiy Sobor (russian: Исаа́киевский Собо́р) is a large architectural landmark cathedral that currently functions as a museum with occasional church services in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is ...

. His experience was the basis for a paper presented to the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters are located in the UK, whi ...

describing "methods of hauling large

monolith A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive rock (geology), stone or rock, such as some mountains. For instance, Savandurga, Savandurga mountain is a monolith mountain in India. Erosion usually exposes the geological for ...

s". In 1835, a "communication" was read to the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh describing "'' ...the cutting and erection of the great Pillar at St Peterburgh in memory of Alexander the I, Emperor of Russia, by Wm. Handyside, Esq. Engineer, St Petersburgh, who was engaged on that occasion, and more particularly in the casting of the Bronze work.''" (original spelling)''The Scotsman'', 28 March 1835 Handyside had a leading role in designing the large iron structure of the cathedral of St. Isaac dome, gilding it and casting the bronze ornamentation, though

Francis Baird Francis Baird (1802–1864) was an engineer of Scottish ancestry in Saint Petersburg, who took over his father's business manufacturing machinery, ships, and metalwork for some of the city's major structures. Life He was born on 28 Febr ...

oversaw the later stages of this process. He worked on the ground level colonnade of pillars and the columns supporting the dome and devised special machinery to help with construction. After Baird's death in 1843, William and Andrew Handyside both returned to the UK though other Handyside brothers remained in Russia. William retired, while taking some part in the proceedings of the

which he had belonged to since 1822. He died on 26 May 1850 at his mother's Edinburgh home, where she had died the preceding month.

Biography

Family

Notes

References

See also