Josiah Livingston

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 ...

(1818–1896) was a Scottish merchant who twice served as President of the Edinburgh

Chamber of Commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ad ...

. He was co-founder of the Edinburgh Literary Institute. He was partner in the Edinburgh company of Livingston & Weir.

Life

He was born at Roxburgh Place around 1818, the son of Josiah Livingston of Whitehead & Livingston, wine merchants. It is thought his mother, Euphans Murray, died at or soon after, his birth. In early life the family lived at 26 Buccleuch Place. He was educated at the Southern Academy at 1 Buccleuch Place. In 1873 he founded the Edinburgh Literary Institute in 1873 and served as Chairman until death. In 1881 he became Master of the Merchant Company of Edinburgh. In 1882 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 Sir

Thomas Jamieson Boyd Sir Thomas Jamieson Boyd, (22 February 1818–22 August 1902) publisher and philanthropist, was Lord Provost of Edinburgh from 1877 to 1882. He was the catalyst behind the building of the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on Lauriston Place. Life ...

, Sir

James Falshaw Sir James Falshaw, 1st Baronet JP, DL, FRSE (21 March 1810 – 14 June 1889), was a British railway engineer and politician. Life He was born in Leeds, of an "old yeoman family" and was the son of William Falshaw, wool merchant, and Hanna ...

, James Sime[] and John Murray (oceanographer), Sir John Murray. He served twice as President of the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce: 1869 to 1872 and 1879 to 1880. In later life he lived at 4 Minto Street in south Edinburgh.Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1895–96 He died on 13 January 1896.

Publications

*''Our Street: Memories of Buccleuch Place'' (1893) *''The New North Church, Edinburgh'' (1893) note, this is now the

Bedlam Theatre Bedlam Theatre is a theatre in the Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. The building was completed in 1848 for the New North Free Church. After closing as a church in 1941, the building served as a chaplaincy centre and then a store for the Universi ...

Artistic Recognition

His portrait by

Norman Macbeth Norman Macbeth (Greenock 1821 – 27 February 1888 London) was a Scottish portraitist. Life He was born at Greenock, where his father James Macbeth was an excise official. He served a seven years' apprenticeship as an engraver in Glasgow ...

hangs in the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Livingston, Josiah 1818 births 1896 deaths Businesspeople from Edinburgh 19th-century Scottish merchants Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh