William Murdoch, Inventor

 by Roberta McGee

William Murdoch, the inventor of gas lighting, was born at Bello Mill, Lugar in 1754, the third child of John Murdoch and Anna Bruce. 

Father John was born in 1725 at Skerrington Mill, Cumnock. In 1747, when he married Anna Bruce, whose brother James was a land agent for the Dumfries Estate, John was in Orchard farm, Auchinleck. According to a Cumnock Chronicle report of 1975 he had previously joined the army  and fought in Flanders during the Austrian Succession War (1740-1748). He most likely would have fought at Dettingen under Lord Stair. Dettingen was the last time a British monarch led his troops into battle. Dettingen Wood, on the Dumfries Estate, commemorated this great battle of 1743. John also supported the Government Forces during the Jacobite Rebellion.

John and Anna and their family moved to Bello Mill, Lugar in 1754. They were tenants of James Boswell's Estate in Auchinleck. 

John was a farmer, millwright, miller and inventor, who, in 1760, invented the first iron-toothed pinion gear wheel to be made in Britain. Also, with the assistance of his son William, who showed signs of mechanical genius at an early age. 'made a wooden horse on wheels, on which, by the assistance of propelling poles, he used to visit Cumnock' (Source: The New History of Cumnock, John Strawhorn, p58) This pre-dated Kilpatrick MacMillan's first bicycle by about 75 years.

William Murdoch - Image wmgaz.pl

William Murdoch was schooled firstly in Cumnock and then in Auchinleck. He excelled at mathematics and the principles of mechanics under William Halbert, a well respected author of an arithmetic text book. He also assisted his father working in metal and wood. In addition he carried out experiments in coal gas using coal heated in a copper kettle in a small cave by the River Lugar near his father's mill. 

Entrance to Murdoch’s Cave - Image Wikimedia 

In 1777 he (purportedly) walked 300 miles from Lugar to Birmingham to find work at the Soho Works of James Watt and Matthew Boulton. James Boswell, the Murdoch's landlord, had made several visits to the Boulton and Watt factory and most likely gave him a letter of introduction. At first they were reluctant to employ him but then Boulton noticed his wooden hat made on a lathe of his own design. They were so impressed that they gave him a job. So began his career with Boulton and Watt who manufactured steam engines which were used to drain Cornish tin and copper mines. He moved quickly from making patterns for machine parts into fitting and erecting steam engines and also repairing and refining the ones which the company had installed at various pits and factories.  

In 1779 Murdoch was sent to Redruth in Cornwall as their agent and leading engineer where he was responsible for the erection, maintenance and repair of Boulton and Watt steam engines in the Cornish tin mines to make them more efficient at pumping water out of the mines. He was kept busy travelling around the area and, after being met with some hostility initially, because he had also been engaged by Boulton and Watt to make reports against competitors to determine whether patents had been infringed, he became very well respected there. 

On Christmas Eve 1785 William Murdoch married Anne Paynter at St. Mewan, Cornwall. Sadly, it was a short marriage as Anne died five years later following the birth of their son John. 

Whilst based in Redruth Murdoch spent his spare time at his home, Murdoch House, in Cross Street,working on an idea for a 'horseless carriage' known as The Murdoch Flyer. In 1794, in order to see properly, his spare time being in the evening, he illuminated his house with a gas that he had extracted from coal, also putting a lamp outside, thus making Cross Street the first street in the world to be lit by artificial light. The coal gas was generated in an iron retort at the bottom of his garden, then piped into his house, where he lit the rooms with a variety of burners. 

He built several working models of The Flyer, and it is said that he used to travel from mine to mine in a full-sized version which had a portable gas lantern. 

The Murdoch Flyer from original oil painting by Gordon Grogan

In 1795 he demonstrated methods for producing and storing gas at Neath Abbey, South Wales. Back in Birmingham he lit up the Soho factory in 1802 during the celebrations for the signing of the Treaty for  the peace of Amiens, and in 1816 he lit up his newly-built house at Sycamore Hill by gas supplied from the Soho factory. 

Throughout his time in Redruth and Birmingham Murdoch had made many inventions and improvements to the basic steam engine designs used by Boulton and Watt, who took the credit, their excuse being that Murdoch was their employee so whatever he invented while employed by them was, by rights, theirs. In 1786 Murdoch attempted to patent his steam carriage but was talked out of it by Boulton. His employers did all they could to discourage and hinder Murdoch from pursuing his experiments and, it has been argued, by removing evidence of the origin of some of the inventions they patented. Murdoch, however, was entirely loyal to their interests and he proved an invaluable help to Watt, becoming his right-hand man. 

In 1799 Murdoch invented a much simpler and more efficient steam wheel. This was an early version of the steam turbine. It allowed steam pressure to turn a wheel directly. By this time, Murdoch's contract had changed, and he could patent the device himself. 

Image - IQSdirectory.com

Murdoch is best known for being the inventor of gas lighting and inventing the first steam engine carriage in Britain. However, he had many other strings to his bow. Some other examples of his genius are: -

• Sun and Planet Gear and D slide valve. The 'Sun and Planet Motion' which is included in Watt's patent of 1781 was contrived by Murdoch (Lives of Boulton & Watt 1874 p245)
• Oscillating cylinder steam engine
• Steam gun and steam cannon
• Developed the pneumonic tube message system which worked by using compressed air to propel a message in a cylinder through a tube to its intended destination. It became used in big department stores.
• Worked on one of the first British paddle steamers to cross the English Channel.
• Iron cement used to fix and harden the joints of steam engines.
• A special type of paint for ships' bottoms.
• From 1784-1795 built working models of steam engines.
• In 1795 he developed a replacement for isinglass which was used in the clarifying of beer to remove impurities. 
• The bell crank engine
• Making stone pipes (patent 1810). Sold to Manchester Stone Pipe Co. to supply the City with water.
• Stone and wood borers
• In 1807 designed and built the engine for the North River Steamboat, the first steamboat on the Hudson River.
• In 1815 designed and installed the first modern gravity fed piped hot water system at The Royal Pump Rooms in Leamington Spa.
• In 1817 he moved into a large new house which he had built in Sycamore Hill, outside Birmingham. The house had many innovative features such as gas lighting, a doorbell which worked with compressed air and an air conditioning system.

In 1808 Murdoch was awarded the Rumford Gold Medal, which bears the inscription Ex Fumo dare lucem, which translates as 'to give light from smoke'. This was for 'both the first idea of applying, and the first actual application of gas to economical purposes'.

In 1882 the National Gas Institute founded the Murdoch Medal which is awarded periodically to the authors of useful inventions connected with gas making. 

The town of Redruth holds an Annual Murdoch Day in June. In 2007, they had a parade and the first public journey of a full-sized working copy of Murdoch's Steam Carriage. The whole day is dedicated to the legacy of his creativity and innovation. Thousands of people flock into the town for the festival with street entertainment, workshops, food, street stalls, steam engines, a traditional fairground and the Murdoch Day Parade. (Source: Celebrating Murdoch Day - Discover Redruth)

William Murdoch died 15 November 1839 at his Birmingham home and was buried in St Mary's Churchyard, Handsworth, Staffordshire, England near the graves of Watt and Boulton. There are statues of him at the Wallace Monument, Stirling and in Centenary Square, Birmingham. In 2019 William Murdoch was added to the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame. A truly remarkable man.

Gilded bronze statue of Boulton, Watt and Murdoch in Centenary Square, Birmingham
Image - Wikimedia Creative Commons Attribution License

William Murdoch on the Cumnock Connections tree

Military men

We joined the navy to see the world, chirped Bing Crosby in 1936.  Joining the army or navy took men and families around the world. We look at 3 military men who died in Cumnock.

 

These men are all pre first world war which we have documented on cumnocksoldiers.blogspot.com

 

 

Walter Ferguson was born on 17^th April 1774 in Cumnock. His father James was an innkeeper in Cumnock.

Walter enlisted in the Elgin Fencibles in November1799. The regiment was sent to Cork, Ireland. He transferred to the 72^nd regiment of Foot on 4 July 1800 in Newry, Co Down. He signed on for unlimited service and served 19 years 143 days. He was supernumerary to the regiment and was to a great measure disabled, having lost the use of his right hand  due to an accident while on duty in the engineer department, he was discharged on 9 November 1820 in Cape Town. His rank was Sergeant and his conduct was very good.  He had a pension. He was 5 ft 9 (quite tall for the time period) with brown hair and eyes and a brown complexion. (In another army record his eyes were blue and hair fair, fair complexion and a long face, though his height was the same) His trade was a weaver.

 

He had married Anne Phillips, an Irish girl from Cork, about 1809 in Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. They had 10 children born in Mauritius (an island formerly called Isle de France in the Indian Ocean), Ireland and Cape of Good Hope, South Africa.  4 of their children died before age 5. We know all this from his army record.

 

By the 1841 census they were in the village of Cumnock and in 1851 census they were in the village of Skares above the town. His source of income was his army pension. His rate of pension was 2/3 (two shillings and three pence) which was comparatively high.

 

He died aged 84 in February 1861 in Townhead, Cumnock. 

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John Johnston was born in Clackleith near Sanqhuar, Dumfriesshire. His father William Johnston was the “Laird of Clackleith” a sheep farmer known to the National Bard Robert Burns and referred to in the Kirk’s Alarm. John was one of 14 children.

 

We find him in the 1841 census a teacher at Braehead of Glaisnock and in 1851 census, teacher at Benston School. Benston is on the same road as Glaisnock so it may have been essentially the same school. The Marchioness Bute built him a school and schoolhouse. Strangely John appeared not to be in receipt of an army pension and his case was taken up by local journalist Adam B Todd.

 

Our Cumnock correspondent last week forwarded us a letter containing an appeal on behalf of a surviving hero of Trafalgar, but which came to hand too late for insertion. It appears that Mr Johnstone, the subject of the letter, is in his 91st year, is sprung from a highly respectable family, and having left the navy in 1814, without a pension, has earned a livelihood as a teacher, up till six years ago. It is certainly a disgrace to the country as the writer ably points out, that any one of the very few who now remain of those who perilled their lives for their country in the most eventful crisis of her history should, from no fault of his, be forced " To join the poor, and eat the parish bread." Mr Johnston is in receipt of 3s (id a week from the parish ! on which sum it seems a grateful country has decided he should starve. Mr A. B. Todd, the writer of the letter, concludes as follows :—" Mr Johnstone, we may add is a man of most unblemished reputation, and for forty years has been an entire abstainer from all intoxicating drink. When his circumstances are known, we do hope that there are individuals who will do something to cheer the closing days of his long life before he goes down (as soon he must) into the valley and shadow of death." The writer might do well to name some gentleman who would act as treasurer.   Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald - Saturday 21 October 1871

 

 

DEATH OF TRAFALGAR VETERAN 

On Wednesday, John Johnston, of Benston Cottage, Cumnock, died the age 99 years and 41 days. He was one of the last of the great Lord Nelson's heroes, and was born at Clackleith, in the parish of Sanquhar, on the 21st day of July 1781, his father being one the most extensive sheep farmers in the South of Scotland. Being somewhat restless disposition in his youth, his mind was easily fired by the stirring events which followed the first French Revolution, and in 1802 he enlisted in the Royal Marines without the knowledge of his family and continued in the service until 1814. Shortly before the escape of the French fleet from Toulon, he was drafted from on board the Hibernia to the Colossus, and joined in Lord Nelson's pursuit of the enemy to the West Indies and back to Europe, when the combined fleets France and Spain were come upon and signally defeated near Cape Trafalgar on the 21st day October 1805. In this ever-memorable fight Johnston received a severe flesh wound, which strangely enough broke out afresh 55 years after it had been received. Leaving the navy in 1814 without pension, and having been disinherited by his father for some fresh offence, he betook himself to teaching as a means of support, having received a superior education in his youth. With the exception of two years spent as agent and lecturer for the Western Temperance Union, nearly 50 years ago, he continued to teach until he was long past his 80th year—the late amiable and kind Marchioness Bute being kind to him in his latter years, building for him a cottage and a school, and giving him a small salary besides. When unfit any longer to teach he was reduced to sore straits after the death of his patroness, but his sad state having been made known to the country by Mr A. B. Todd, Cumnock, a liberal response was made to his appeal, and on the application of the same gentleman, the Admiralty, nine years ago, granted him a Greenwich Hospital pension of £27. 7s. yearly. With this, and with a cottage and a small sum of money kindly given him by the present Marquis of Bute, his closing years have been spent in comfort and content. He kept his faculties to the last, and his end came calmly and without pain. Mr Johnston had quite a literary turn of mind, and soon after leaving the navy he wrote, in a poem, an animated account the great battles the Nile and of Trafalgar. This poem, which met with much success on its publication, was published in 1874, with a biographical Sketch of the author by Mr A B. Todd. 

This text was published in several newspapers including the Edinburgh Evening News Thursday 02 September 1880:  

 

NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS 

There is still alive, at Benstone , in the parish of Cumnock , Ayrshire , a survivor of Trafalgar Mr John Johnston, the author of Lord Nelson : a Poem, was born in July 1781, in Sanquhar, Dumfriesshire, and fought at Trafalgar on board the Colossus , where he received a severe wound. After quitting the navy, Mr Johnston laboured till he was considerably more than eighty years of age as a schoolmaster. When compelled to abandon this avocation, he was left without any means of making a livelihood , and was reduced to great distress, from which .

, however, he was relieved by a liberal public subscription and a small Greenwich Hospital pension granted by the Admiralty at the intercession of a friend, who made known the circumstances in which he was placed. For the last few years, therefore, the veteran has enjoyed well-earned comfort and repose, and the celebration of his centenary seems a by no means impossible event. The poem which is printed in this little booklet was written more than sixty years ago, soon after Mr Johnston left the navy. Its theme is the exploits of England's greatest naval hero. The verse is rather practical and prosaic in character but gives a minute and graphic account of the battles of the Nile and Trafalgar and evinces the possession by the author of considerable general information.  

The Scotsman - Saturday 28 April 1877

 

The poem and biographical sketch have been digitised:

 

Title	Lord Nelson: a Poem
Author	John Johnston (of Benstone.)
Published	1874
Original from	National Library of Scotland
Digitized	10 Aug 2023
Length	45 pages

 

Link https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=x29bUYc0nnMC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false  

 

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JOHN KIRK

John Kirk died in Cumnock in 1856 . 

His death certificate gives his age as 69. His occupation is pauper, formerly weaver  and soldier of the 91st regiment of foot. He was married at the time of death in Townhead but the wife’s name not given. He died of asthma and the death was registered by Archibald McCowan, Inspector of Poor.

The Glasgow Sentinel printed this: 

DEATHS. Cumnock, the 27th ult., John Kirk, weaver. Deceased was a veteran of the Peninsular war, but had a pension. The Glasgow Sentinel - Saturday 02 August 1856

His pension was clearly not enough to support him.

In the 1851 census this appears to be him

Townfoot, Tanyard st Cumnock

John Kirk 63 Head handloom weaver born Durisdeer

Barbara Kirk 55 Wife born Campbeltown

And this is likely him in 1841 census

Village

John Kirk 50 cotton handloom weaver journeyman b Ayrshire

Margaret Kirk 50 born Scotland not Ayrshire

Alexander Kirk 15 born Ayrshire

Alexander Kirk was born in1825 in Cumnock to John Kirk and Margaret Blackstocks. They were married on 28 September 1821  in Muirkirk.  There was an earlier Alexander born 1823 in Muirkirk.

John Kirk married Barbara McDonald in 1846 in Cumnock. Can't find her again after the1851 census..She could have been a widow in 1846.

I found his army record. WO 97 429 130

JOHN KIRK

Born DUNFIRMLINE, Fife

Served in 91st Foot Regiment 1 nov 1804 - 24 March 1817

then 23rd Foot Regiment; 25 march 1817 -15 sep 1818

Enlisted in St Paul? France in 1817 at the age of 28

Discharged aged 30

Served 14 years 29 Days

general disability, chronic rheumatism

general conduct - very bad

5 ft 7 gray eyes light hair

occupation labourer

Although the birthplace differs from the census record, it does seem to be the same man.

or

Name	John Kirk
Age	20
Birth Date	abt 1789
Birth Place	Muirkirk, Ayr
Military Date	17 Jan 1809
Unit	91st Foot Soldiers, 1st Battalion

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17th company Imperial Yeomanry in 2nd Boer War

17 local men  took part in the 2nd Boer War under Captain John Douglas Boswell of Garrallan. They left for South Africa by train on 23rd February 1900. They included McLanachan brothers David, George and William from Loganhill farm, Adam Montgomerie of Lessnessock, William Montgomerie of Guelt.  Most were farming men, but also William McMillan a coachman at Garrallan and David Tear a joiner from the Village. They were away for over a year. George McLanachan remained in South Africa where he died in 1923.

McLanachans at Loganhill c 1900

from a Pictorial History of Cumnock, Dane Love