The connection between the Stevenson family of engineers and the Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses (NLC) started with a tinsmith named Thomas Smith (1752-1815). Smith specialised in oil lamps and reflectors and went on to experiment and improve the luminant of lighthouses with mirrors. In 1786 Smith was instructed to build the first four lighthouses under the NLC in four years. He achieved this in just three years.
A widower, Smith married the twice-widowed Jean Lillie or Hogg or Stevenson in 1792. Both had children from their previous relationships, including young Robert Stevenson (1772-1850) who succeeded his step-father in becoming engineer of the NLC.
Robert Stevenson, 1772-1850. Lighthouse engineer, by John Syme. National Galleries of Scotland
Robert Stevenson was first associated with the NLC in 1794 when Thomas Smith entrusted him with the Superintendence of erecting the Pentland Skerries Lighthouse. By 1797, an entry in the NLC minute books records Stevenson attending a board meeting in Smith’s stead. By July 1808 Stevenson had been appointed sole engineer of the NLC.
Bell Rock Lighthouse, J.M.W. Turner. National Galleries of Scotland
Among Stevenson’s achievements, he is remembered for overseeing the construction of the ‘impossible’ Bell Rock Lighthouse. He also introduced the intermittent flashing light for navigating mariners, and designed and built 16 more lighthouses between 1808 and 1843. In 1843 he relinquished the role of engineer to his son Alan (1807-1865) who had been apprenticed to Stevenson at the age of 15.
Alan Stevenson continued his father’s legacy; as NLC’s Chief Engineer he went on to build 13 lighthouses, including Skerryvore (1844).
Over the next 150 years the Stevenson family designed most of Scotland’s lighthouses.
