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John Clerk (later Clerk Maxwell) of Middlebie (1790–1856) was a Scottish advocate and father of the mathematical physicist
John Clerk (later Clerk Maxwell) of Middlebie (1790–1856) was a Scottish advocate and father of the mathematical physicist James Clerk Maxwell
James Clerk Maxwell (13 June 1831 – 5 November 1879) was a Scottish mathematician and scientist responsible for the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, which was the first theory to describe electricity, magnetism and li ...
.
Life
He was born in Edinburgh on 10 November 1790, the son of Janet Irving and Captain James Clerk. He studied law and qualified as an advocate in 1811. He inherited the Middlebie estate in Dumfriesshire from his grandmother Dorothea Clerk Maxwell upon her death in 1793; and assumed the additional surname of Maxwell. He built a new mansion designed byWalter Newall
Walter Newall (3 April 1780 – 25 December 1863) was a Scottish architect and civil engineer, born at Doubledyke in the parish of New Abbey in the historic county of Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland. He was the leading architect in the Dumfries a ...
on his estate in Kirkcudbrightshire at Glenlair
Glenlair, near the village of Corsock in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire, in Dumfries and Galloway, was the home of the physicist James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879). The original structure was designed for Maxwell's father by Walter N ...
.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1821, his proposer being Sir George Steuart Mackenzie.
In the 1830s he is recorded as living at 14 India Street in Edinburgh's Second New Town, which is where James Clerk Maxwell
James Clerk Maxwell (13 June 1831 – 5 November 1879) was a Scottish mathematician and scientist responsible for the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, which was the first theory to describe electricity, magnetism and li ...
was born.
He died on 3 April 1856. He is buried in Parton in Kirkcudbrightshire
Kirkcudbrightshire ( ), or the County of Kirkcudbright or the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright is one of the historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Kirkcudbrightshire was an administrative count ...
.
Family
He was the brother of Sir George Clerk of Penicuik, and brother-in-law of James Wedderburn. He married Frances Hodshon Cay (d.1839), daughter ofRobert Hodshon Cay
Robert Hodshon Cay FSSA LLD (7 July 1758 – 31 March 1810) was Judge Admiral of Scotland overseeing naval trials. He was husband of the artist Elizabeth Liddell, father of John Cay FRSE and maternal grandfather of James Clerk Maxwell.
Life
Ca ...
and Elizabeth Liddell
Elizabeth Liddell, later Mrs. Robert Hodshon Cay, (22 February 1770 – 1831) was an amateur British artist specialising in pastel portraits. She was wife of Robert Hodshon Cay, mother of John Cay, mother-in-law of John Clerk-Maxwell of Middlebi ...
. Their children included the mathematical physicist James Clerk Maxwell
James Clerk Maxwell (13 June 1831 – 5 November 1879) was a Scottish mathematician and scientist responsible for the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, which was the first theory to describe electricity, magnetism and li ...
.
His brother-in-law was John Cay.
References
1790 births 1856 deaths 19th-century Scottish people Members of the Faculty of Advocates Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh {{Scotland-law-bio-stub