Prof William Barron Coutts

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 ...

(26 May 1885 – 16 December 1946) was a Scottish physicist specialising in military science. He was generally referred to as Willie Coutts.

Life

He was born at the family home of Green Croft in

Kinghorn Kinghorn (; gd, Ceann Gronna) is a town and parish in Fife, Scotland. A seaside resort with two beaches, Kinghorn Beach and Pettycur Bay, plus a fishing port, it stands on the north shore of the Firth of Forth, opposite Edinburgh. According ...

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 ...

on 26 May 1885, the son of Elizabeth Martin Barron and Robert Alexander Coutts, a bank accountant. He attended

Kirkcaldy High School Kirkcaldy High School is a 6-year co-educational comprehensive state school in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland. History The school was established in 1582 as Kirkcaldy Burgh School; the "High School" name dates from the middle part of the 19th&nb ...

until 1903. Originally accepted to study latin and mathematics at 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 ...

in 1904, after limited success in these fields he transferred to study natural philosophy (physics) as part of a broader science degree, again with only partial success. However, he graduated MA in science in 1909. After university he taught at

George Heriot's School George Heriot's School is a Scottish independent primary and secondary day school on Lauriston Place in the Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. In the early 21st century, it has more than 1600 pupils, 155 teaching staff, and 80 non-teaching staff ...

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 1912 he received a further BSc (Pure) by the University of Edinburgh. During this period in Edinburgh he lived in a flat at 125 Warrender Park Road. In 1913 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

Ralph Allan Sampson Ralph Allan (or Allen) Sampson FRS FRSE LLD (25 June 1866 – 7 November 1939) was a British astronomer. Life Sampson was born in Schull, County Cork in Ireland, then part of the UK. He was the fourth of five children to James Sampson, a Corn ...

John Brown Clark John Brown Clark or Clarke CBE LLD FRSE (30 April 1861 – 19 July 1947) was a Scottish mathematician. He was headmaster of George Heriot’s School from 1908 to 1926. He served as Vice President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1931–34. Li ...

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, ...

and James Robert Milne. In the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the

Royal Garrison Artillery The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) was formed in 1899 as a distinct arm of the British Army's Royal Regiment of Artillery serving alongside the other two arms of the Regiment, the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) ...

on 24 November 1915, serving 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 ...

in the role of coastal defence.University of Edinburgh: Roll of Honour: 1914–1919 During the war he had begun to specialise in trajectory paths, range-finding and optics and obtained a post as a senior lecturer at the Artillery College within the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of Sig ...

near

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. After the war (from 1919) he was awarded a full Professorship in Military Science, a role which he continued until 1946, shortly before he died. In 1926 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Astronomical Society (Whatever shines should be observed) , predecessor = , successor = , formation = , founder = , extinction = , merger = , merged = , type = NGO ...

, his address then was given as 74 Vanburgh Park,

Blackheath, London Blackheath is an area in Southeast London, straddling the border of the Royal Borough of Greenwich and the London Borough of Lewisham. It is located northeast of Lewisham, south of Greenwich and southeast of Charing Cross, the traditional ce ...

. He died at Radcliffe Infirmary in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

on 16 December 1946.

Family

He was married to Isabella Muirhead Allen (1884–1973). She was from Chorlton near

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coutts, William Barron 1885 births 1946 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh People from Kinghorn Alumni of the University of Edinburgh