| Authorised form of name | Neilson; James Beaumont (1792 - 1865) |
| Surname | Neilson |
| Forenames | James Beaumont |
| Dates | 1792 - 1865 |
| Nationality | British |
| Dates and places | Birth:
Shettleston, Lanarkshire, England (22 June 1792)
Death:
Queenshill, Kirkcudbrightshire (18 January 1865) |
| Activity | Profession:
Civil engineer, inventor of the 'Hot Blast' for which he took out a patent in 1828
Education:
Left school at 14 and was apprenticed to an engineer to learn the trade, spent his spare time leraning English grammar, draeing and mathematics.
Career:
Appointed Engineer at an Irvine colliery (1814) at £70 per annum where he built a railway three miles long from the pit to the harbour at Irvine. Glasgow Gas Company formed (1817) and Beaumont applied successfully for the post of foreman at £90 per annum, then Manager of the Gas Works, where he worked for thirty years. Here he continued to study physics in his spare time and introduced many inmprovements, including fireclay retorts and fish tail gas burners. |
| Royal Society activity | Membership:
Fellow
Election Date:
15/01/1846 |
| Relationships | Married Barbara Montgomerie (18150. Son Walter Montgomerie Neilson (diaries held in Mitchell Museum, Glasgow containing details of building of Suez Canal) |
| Sources | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB |
| Royal Society code | NA7634 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| Reference number | Title | Date |
| EC/1846/01 | Neilson, James Beaumont: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |