| Authorised form of name | Smeaton; John (1724 - 1792); civil engineer |
| Dates | 1724 - 1792 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Austhorpe Lodge, Whitkirk, near Leeds, Yorkshire, England |
| Date of birth | 08 June 1724 |
| Place of death | Austhorpe, Whitkirk, near Leeds, Yorkshire, England |
| Date of death | 28 October 1792 |
| DatesAndPlaces | Place of marriage:
St George's, Hanover Square, London, England
Burial:
In the chancel of St. Mary's Church, Whitkirk parish church, Yorkshire, England (1 November 1792) |
| Occupation | Engineer; Civil Engineer |
| Research field | Physics |
| Engineering |
| Civil engineering |
| Activity | Education:
Leeds grammar school (1734-1740)
Career:
Pupil in the office of his father, an attourney, in Leeds (1740-1742); moved to London to pursue further studies (1742-1744); returned to Austhorpe and pursued his interst in instrument making and learned the skills required to become a maker of philosophical instruments (1744); set up a workshop in London, first at Great Turnstile, off Holborn (1748) and later in Furnival's Inn Court where he employed three craftsmen and soon acquired a reputation in scientific circles as a young man of exceptional intelligence; began his classic investigations on the power of water and wind (1752); produced several technical innovations, including a novel pyrometer with which he studied the expansion of various materials (1750s); occupied with his best known achievement, the rebuilding of the Eddystone lighthouse, which confirmed his reputation as an engineer (1756-1759); subsequently became a consultant in the more profitable structural engineering and river harbour works, and adopted the term 'civil engineer' to distinguish civilian consultants from the military engineers graduating from the Military Academy at Woolwich; published a paper on water wheels and windmills, for which he received the Copley Medal of the Royal Society (1759); suffered a period of ill health (1783); suffered a stroke and died six weeks later (1792). |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 15/03/1753 |
| Age at election | 29 |
| Proposer | Thomas Birch |
| James Parsons |
| James Short |
| Gowin Knight |
| John Ellicott |
| William Watson |
| Willoughby |
| Charles Cavendish |
| RSActivity | Activity:
Royal Society Club
Medals and prizes:
Copley Medal 1759 |
| Relationships | Parents: William Smeaton (1684–1749), attorney, and Mary, née Stones (d. 1759).
Spouse: (m. 7 June 1756) Ann Jenkinson (1725–1784), of York.
Children: Ann (b. 1759) and Mary (b. 1761). Mary, married the son of Jeremiah Dixon (FRS 1773). |
| PublishedWorks | RCN R63812
RCN R63813
RCN R63810
RCN R63811
RCN R63814 |
| OtherInfo | Regarded as the father of civil engineering.
Designed bridges, canals, harbours, and lighthouses.
His Eddystone lighthouse design became the standard blueprint for lighthouses.
Pioneered the use of hydraulic lime in concrete, which led ultimately to the invention of Portland cement.
Lord Macclesfield proposed Smeaton for the Royal Society's prestigious Copley Medal for his "Experimental inquiry concerning the powers of water and wind in the moving of Mills" (published in 'Philosophical Transactions' volume 51 1759-1760, pp 100-174) on 22 November 1759. Medal awarded, with 15 page laudatory speech recorded in Journal Book, on 30 November 1759.
He was an occasional guest at meetings of the Lunar Society, and a charter member of the first professional engineering society, the Society of Civil Engineers founded in 1771; after his death it became known as the Smeatonian Society. Its founding reflected the growing sense of professionalism among British civilian engineers during the eighteenth century.
A memorial stone can befound in the floor of the nave of Westminster Abbey inscribed 'John Smeaton, Civil Engineer, 1724–1792'. |
| Related images | Discover a selection of related images in our picture library |
| Image | 
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| Source | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; DSB
Journal Book Original Volume XXIV, pp 399-414
References:
R L Hills, 'John Watt's Map of the Clyde' in NR 1998 vol 52 pp 63-71
A P Woolrich, 'The Printing of Smeaton's Reports' in NR 1980 vol 35 pp 131-133
A W Skempton, 'The Publication of Smeaton's Reports' in NR 1971 vol 26 pp 135-155, plate
J R M Setchell, 'The Friendship of John Smeaton, FRS, with Henry Hindley, Instrument and Clockmaker of York and the Development of Equatorial Mounting Telescopes' in NR 1970 vol 25 pp 79-86
J R M Setchell, 'Further Information on the Telescopes of Hindley of York' in NR 1970 vol 25 pp 189-192
T E Allibone, 'The Club of the Royal College of Physicians, the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers and their Relationship to the Royal Society Club' in NR 1967 vol 22 pp 186-192
Douglas McKie, 'Priestley's Laboratory and Library and Other of his Effects' in NR 1956-57 vol 12 pp 114-136
J A D Ackroyd, 'Sir George Cayley, the father of aeronautics. Part 2. Cayley's aeroplanes' in NR 2002 vol 56 pp 333-348
J Corden, 'Web of Science History' project in NR 2002 vol 56 pp 383-388
See; http://www.timeout.com/london/music/features/76/Kaiser_Chiefs-10_things.html>http://www.timeout.com/london/music/features/76/Kaiser_Chiefs-10_things.html [Ricky Wilson, one of the 'KaiserChiefs' pop group went to Leeds Grammar School and namechecks another ex-pupil in the song "I predict a riot" with the line 'would never have happenede to Smeaton'. John Smeaton (1724-1792) is the father of civil engineering'.]
A N Rollinson 'Engineering and technology of Industrial water Power at Castleford Mills from the seventeenth century to the twentieth century.' N&R Vol 70 Issue 1 March 2016, pp45-63
|
| Code | NA6321 |
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| IM/004253 | Smeaton, John | nd |
| IM/004247 | Smeaton, John | nd |
| IM/004256 | Smeaton, John | nd |
| IM/004250 | Smeaton, John | nd |
| IM/004257 | Smeaton, John | nd |
| IM/004252 | Smeaton, John | nd |
| IM/004258 | Smeaton, John | nd |
| IM/004239 | Smeaton, John | 2002 |
| IM/005388 | Smeaton, John | nd |
| IM/004229 | Smeaton, John | 2000 |
| IM/004238 | Smeaton, John | 2002 |
| IM/004235 | Smeaton, John | nd |
| IM/004254 | Smeaton, John | nd |
| IM/005871 | Smeaton, John | nd |
| IM/004228 | Smeaton, John | nd |
| IM/004237 | Smeaton, John | nd |
| L&P/2/507 | Paper, 'Description of a new pyrometer for measuring expansions' by John Smeaton | 1754 |
| IM/004249 | Smeaton, John | nd |
| IM/004242 | Smeaton, John | 1992 |
| IM/004243 | Smeaton, John | 1992 |
| MM/11/10 | Letter from C R Weld, Assistant Secretary, Royal Society, to the Council of the Royal Society | 31 March 1846 |
| IM/004240 | Smeaton, John | nd |
| IM/004226 | Smeaton, John | nd |
| IM/004225 | Smeaton, John | nd |
| IM/004241 | Smeaton, John | 1992 |
| IM/004245 | Smeaton, John | nd |
| IM/005389 | Smeaton, John | nd |
| IM/004255 | Smeaton, John | 2002 |
| CB/1/6/125 | Letter from John Smeaton, York to Charles Blagden, King's Road, near Gray's Inn Lane | 12 August 1784 |
| IM/004246 | Smeaton, John | nd |
| IM/007029 | Smeaton, John | nd |
| IM/004233 | Smeaton, John | nd |
| IM/005872 | Smeaton, John | nd |
| IM/006004 | Smeaton, John | nd |
| IM/004227 | Smeaton, John | nd |
| NLB/37/558 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Major P [Percy Alexander] MacMahon, Fellow of the Royal Society | 6 April 1908 |
| L&P/2/311 | Paper, 'A new tackle or combination of pullies' by John Smeaton | 1752 |
| L&P/2/286 | Letter, 'Improvement in the air pump' from John Smeaton to John Ellicott | 16 April 1752 |
| L&P/2/355 | Paper, 'Of a new sluice or dam invented by Eide Siade Johans' by John Smeaton | 1753 |
| L&P/2/357 | Paper, 'Of the quick firing canons of Eide Siade Johans' by John Smeaton | 1753 |
| L&P/2/163 | Paper, 'Of the structure and use of the azimuth compass' by John Smeaton | 1750 |
| L&P/2/164/1 | Paper, 'Of improvements in the mariner's compass, to render the card and needle proposed by Dr Knight of general use' by John Smeaton | 1750 |
| L&P/2/462 | Paper, 'Remarks on Mr Bruckner's machine for finding the way of a ship at sea' by John Smeaton | 1753 |
| L&P/2/164 | Paper, 'Of improvements in the mariner's compass, to render the card and needle proposed by Dr Knight of general use' by John Smeaton | 1750 |
| L&P/2/491 | Paper, 'Experiments on a machine for measuring the way of a ship at sea' by John Smeaton | 1754 |
| L&P/3/234 | Letter, 'Of cements' from John Smeaton to George Parker | 3 April 1757 |
| L&P/3/235 | Paper, 'About the injury to Lostwithiel church steeple by lightning' by John Smeaton | 1757 |
| L&P/3/152 | Letter, 'Of the machine to measure the way of a ship at sea' from John Smeaton to Thomas Birch | 21 March 1756 |
| L&P/5/36 | Paper, 'A new method of observing the heavenly bodies out of the meridan' by John Smeaton | 1768 |
| L&P/3/403 | Paper, 'Address on presenting the Copley Medal to John Smeaton FRS' by George Parker | 30 November 1759 |
| L&P/5/128 | Paper, 'Observation of the solar eclipse of 4 June 1769 near Leeds' by John Smeaton | 1769 |
| L&P/5/220 | Paper, 'Of a new hygrometer' by John Smeaton | 1771 |
| L&P/7/11 | Paper, 'Of the further use of steam engines and the conversion of reciprocating into circular motion' by John Stewart and John Smeaton | 31 January 1778 |
| L&P/7/247/2 | Plate, 'Machine of collusion' by John Smeaton | 1782 |
| L&P/7/247/1 | Letter, 'New fundamental experiments upon the collision of bodies' from John Smeaton to Joseph Banks | 10 April 1782 |
| L&P/9/104/2 | Plate, 'Cross sections of the instrument' by John Smeaton | 1788 |
| L&P/5/35 | Paper, 'Of the menstrual parallax' by John Smeaton | 17 April 1768 |
| L&P/7/247 | Paper, 'New fundamental experiments upon the collision of bodies' by John Smeaton | 10 April 1782 |
| IM/004231 | Smeaton, John | September 2002 |
| IM/004244 | Smeaton, John | nd |
| IM/004251 | Smeaton, John | nd |
| IM/004230 | Smeaton, John | September 2002 |
| IM/004232 | Smeaton, John | September 2002 |
| EC/1752/34 | Smeaton, John: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| P/0119 | Portrait of Smeaton, John | |
| IM/004234 | Smeaton, John | nd |
| IM/004248 | Smeaton, John | nd |
| JS | Working design drawings of civil engineering projects by John Smeaton | 1741-1792 |
| MC/1/337 | Letter from [William Frederick] Witherington, 29 Hadlow Street, Burton Crescent, to [Prince Augustus Frederick], President of the Royal Society and to the Council | 2 November 1831 |
| MC/1 | Volume 1 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1800-1831 |
| L&P/3/279 | Letter, 'Observations on Dr Huxham's paper on the heat of the air in July 1757' from John Smeaton to the Royal Society | 12 January 1758 |
| L&P/9/55/2 | Plate, 'Observation of the right ascension and declination of Mercury out of the meridian' by John Smeaton | 1787 |
| L&P/9/55/1 | Paper, 'Account of an observation of the right ascension and declination of Mercury out of the meridian near his greatest elongation, September 1786, with an equatorial micrometer of his own invention and workmanship; with an investigation of a method of allowing for refraction in such observations' by John Smeaton | 1787 |
| L&P/9/104/1 | Letter, 'Description of an improvement in the application of the quadrant of altitude to a celestial globe, for the resolution of problems dependent on azimuth and altitude' from John Smeaton to William Wales | 19 November 1788 |
| AP/25/17 | Unpublished paper, 'Description of an observatory constructed at Ardwick [England]' by John Jerse | 1841 |
| L&P/6/173/1 | Paper, 'Of the quantity and proportion of mechanical power required to give different degrees of velocity to heavy bodies' by John Smeaton | 1776 |
| L&P/6/173 | Paper, 'Of the quantity and proportion of mechanical power required to give different degrees of velocity to heavy bodies' by John Smeaton | 1776 |
| L&P/8/154 | Paper, 'Observations on the graduation of astronomical instruments with an explanation of the method of dividing circles invented by the late Henry Hindley' by John Smeaton | 1785 |
| L&P/9/55 | Paper, 'Account of an observation of the right ascension and declination of Mercury out of the meridian near his greatest elongation, September 1786, with an equatorial micrometer of his own invention and workmanship; with an investigation of a method of allowing for refraction in such observations' by John Smeaton | 1787 |
| L&P/9/104 | Paper, 'Description of an improvement in the application of the quadrant of altitude to a celestial globe, for the resolution of problems dependent on azimuth and altitude' by John Smeaton | 19 November 1788 |
| RSL/3/3 | Letter from Alex Aubert, Highbury, to Sir Joseph Banks | 7 November 1799 |
| P/0120 | Portrait of Smeaton, John | |