James Stirling (3 March 1799, Methven – 10 January 1876,

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

) 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, and brother of

Robert Stirling Robert Stirling (25 October 1790 – 6 June 1878) was a Scottish clergyman and engineer. He invented the Stirling engine and was inducted into the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame in 2014. Early life Robert Stirling was born at Cloag Farm ...

. He originally specialised railway engines and later in dock gates and weirs

Life

He was born at Cloag Farm near Methven in

Perthshire Perthshire (Scottish English, locally: ; ), officially the County of Perth, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore, Angus and Perth & Kinross, Strathmore ...

, the son of Patrick and Janet Stirling. He originally studied divinity, intending to be a minister in the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

. However, inspired by his brother Robert, he instead decided to be an engineer, and was apprenticed to Claude Girdwood & Co in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

as a mechanical engineer. The company specialised in making cotton gins. He then became manager of the Dundee Foundry, which built several locomotives for the

Dundee and Newtyle Railway The Dundee and Newtyle Railway opened in 1831 and was the first railway in the north of Scotland. It was built to carry goods between Dundee and the fertile area known as Strathmore, Angus, Strathmore; this involved crossing the Sidlaw Hills, ...

. In 1827 he patented, together with his brother

Air engine A pneumatic motor (air motor), or compressed-air engine, is a type of motor which does mechanical work by expanding compressed air. Pneumatic motors generally convert the compressed-air energy to mechanical work through either linear or rotary m ...

. In 1842 he built the Dundee

hot air engine A hot air engine (historically called an air engine or caloric theory, caloric engine) is any heat engine that uses the expansion and contraction of air under the influence of a temperature change to convert thermal energy into mechanical work. ...

. The first engine of this kind which, after various modifications, was efficiently constructed and heated, had a cylinder of 12 inches (approx. 30 cm) in diameter, with a length of stroke of 2 feet (approx. 61 cm), and made 40 strokes or revolutions in a minute (40 rpm). This engine moved all the machinery at the Dundee Foundry Company's works for eight or ten months, and was previously found capable of raising 700,000 lbs one foot in a minute (approx. 21 HP). James Stirling and Co was located at East Foundry/Victoria Foundry, Dundee. It is unclear whether it was a separate business from the Dundee Foundry. In 1846 James Stirling left

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

and set up an engineering practice in

. He lived at 11 Hill Street in Edinburgh's First New Town. He died in Edinburgh on 10 January 1876. He is buried in the south-west spur of

Dean Cemetery The Dean Cemetery is a historically important Victorian cemetery north of the Dean Village, west of Edinburgh city centre, in Scotland. It lies between Queensferry Road and the Water of Leith, bounded on its east side by Dean Path and o ...

in western Edinburgh.

Locomotives by Stirling

Steam locomotives A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

built by the Dundee Foundry/James Stirling & Co included: * ''Trotter'', built 1834 for the

* ''Princess'', ''Victoria'' and ''Britannia'', (all

2-2-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-2-2 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, two powered driving wheels on one axle, and two trailing wheels on one axle. The wheel arrangement both ...

s) built 1838/9 for the

Arbroath and Forfar Railway The Arbroath and Forfar Railway (A&FR) was a railway that connected Forfar with the port town of Arbroath, in Scotland. It opened in 1838–1839 and it was successful in making an operating profit, but it was always desperately short of capi ...

- * Two further locomotives for the Arbroath and Forfar Railway * At least one locomotive for the Newtyle and Coupar Angus Railway

Family

In 1837 he was married to Susan Hunter (1800-1877), daughter of Prof James Hunter of

St Andrews University The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, following the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, t ...

. Susan Stirling (as she was afterwards known) was a successful author, including works such as "Fanny Hervey or the Mother's Choice" (1849).

References

Year of birth uncertain 1876 deaths Scottish mechanical engineers People from Perth and Kinross 19th-century Scottish businesspeople Scottish company founders {{Scotland-engineer-stub