A Thomas Annan photograph of a portrait of James Beaumont Neilson of Queenslie (1792-1865). The painting was by John Graham-Gilbert.
Neilson was the son of an engineer and worked in the coal and iron industry before joining Glasgow's first gas company and rising to become its manager and chief engineer. In 1828 he patented the hot blast method of smelting iron, a revolutionary process that enabled poor-quality coal to be used without coking in the processing of iron ore. His son, Walter Montgomerie Neilson, became a famous locomotive builder and built the Fairy Queen, the first iron steamship constructed on the River Clyde.
Reference: Mitchell Library, GC 920.041435 COR
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Learning
Keywords:
chief engineers, coal mines, coal mining, engineers, Fairy Queen, gas companies, gasworks managers, hot blast furnaces, hot blast process, inventions, inventors, iron manufacturing, iron ore, iron steamships, ironfounders, managers, portraits
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