Architects

Name:

James Leslie

Designation :

Engineer

Date of Birth:

Exact Date

Exact DOB:

25/09/1801

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Date of Death:

Exact Date

Exact DOD:

29/12/1889

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Bio Notes :

James Leslie was born on 25 September 1801, the son of Alexander Leslie, architect-builder of Largo, Fife. He was educated at local parish schools and at Mackay's Academy, Edinburgh, and studied at the University of Edinburgh. In 1818 he was articled to William Hugh Playfair. However, he decided to become a civil engineer rather than an architect, and left Playfair in 1824 to work in the offices of G & J Rennie in London.

He returned to Scotland to take up an appointment as Clerk of Works to the Leith Dock and Harbour Commissioners in 1828, and in 1832 secured the post of Resident Engineer for the Dundee Harbour Works. Thereafter he continued to practise as a civil engineer specialising in harbour and water works, moving to Edinburgh in 1846 as Engineer to the Edinburgh Water Company.

He later acted as Engineer to the Dundee Water Company, which was taken over by the Town Council in 1869, and was involved with proposals for its water supply at that period, along with John Frederic La Trobe Bateman. The town's water commissioners appointed Bateman as their engineer and provided him with reports by the burgh engineer John Fulton and the Edinburgh engineer James W Stewart of Stewart & Menzies who recommended drawing water from the River Isla, and from Leslie who recommended the Loch of Lintrathen as providing a better and purer supply. Bateman concurred with Leslie's recommendation and produced a scheme which received the royal assent in 1871; but the commissioners then obtained a further report from Stewart who recommended substituting a direct line of cast-iron pipes instead of the gentler fall achieved by a combination of pipes, reservoirs and aqueducts proposed by Bateman. At a meeting of the commissioners in October Stewart's direct line was approved, although William Robertson, its mill engineer convener, strongly dissented. In an unsolicited report of January 1872 Bateman set out the problems of the unprecedented pressures which would arise from Stewart's scheme and proposed a direct line of his own with lesser gradients: he also refuted allegations of extravagance. Leslie then proposed a partial modification of Stewart's scheme but Stewart declined to change it, as did the Commissioners. The pipes burst and the joints leaked as Bateman and Robertson predicted and the scheme had to be modified under powers obtained in the Dundee Water (Additional Powers) Act of 1874.

Although he did not practise officially as an architect, he did design buildings from time to time, including Wood's Hospital, Largo (1830) and Dundee Custom House (1839-40). By 1872 he had taken his son Alexander Leslie (born 1844) into partnership as J & A Leslie.

James Leslie died in Edinburgh on 29 December 1889, and is commemorated by a monument in the Dean Cemetery. His practice was continued by his son Alexander and his son-in-law Robert Carstairs Reid, who appears to have been taken into partnership a couple of years earlier, as J & A Leslie & Reid. The son died in 1893. James's grandson Alexander Leslie (1881-1921) and great-grandson of the same name (1910-82) were also civil engineers.

Bio Notes continued...

Additional Notes

The following private or business addresses are associated with this person:

Business Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From	Date From Type	Date To	Date To Type	Notes
Dundee Scotland	Business

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The following individuals or organisations employed or trained this person (click on an item to view details):

Employers2 classic

Name	Name Link	Date From	Date To	Position	Notes
J & A Leslie	205284	Before 1872	c. 1887	Partner
J & A Leslie & Reid	205287	c. 1887	In year 1889	Partner

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This person was involved with the following buildings or structures from the date specified (click on an item to view details):

Buildings and Designs2 classic

Building Name	Date Started	Town, District or Village	City or County	Country	Notes
Wood's Hospital	In year 1830	Upper Largo	Fife	Scotland	Rebuilding
Earl Grey Dock	In year 1832		Dundee	Scotland	Acted as Superintending Engineer
Victoria Dock (with Swing and pedestrian bridges)	In year 1833		Dundee	Scotland	Following Thomas Telford's projections
Camperdown Dock	In year 1833		Dundee	Scotland	Tide harbour begun (not completed)
Telford Light	c. 1834		Dundee	Scotland	With Thomas Telford as consultant
Harbour workshops and patent slip	In year 1837		Dundee	Scotland
Methil Harbour and Docks	In year 1838	Methil	Fife	Scotland	Restoration
Dundee Custom House and Harbour Chambers	In year 1839		Dundee	Scotland	Collaborated with John Taylor on original building (Leslie was mainly responsible for the plan)
Arbroath Harbour	In year 1839	Arbroath	Angus	Scotland	Wet Dock and New Harbour
Leven Bridge	In year 1839	Leven	Fife	Scotland
Kirkcaldy Harbour, East Pier	In year 1843	Kirkcaldy	Fife	Scotland	Addition
Auldbar Castle	In year 1843		Angus	Scotland	Bridge and new approach
Finlathen Aqueduct	In year 1845		Dundee	Scotland
Leith Docks, Old East Dock	In year 1846	Leith	Edinburgh	Scotland	Improvements
Burntisland Harbour, pier, engineering workshop and conversion of manse to hotel	In year 1846	Burntisland	Fife	Scotland	Extension of pier

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The following books contain references to this person:

Bib ref classic

Author	Title	Date	Publisher	Part	Notes
Colvin, H M	A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840	1995	New Haven and London: Yale University Press	3rd edition
Institution of Civil Engineers	Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers	2002	V.1 and 2
Scotlands People Website	Wills & Testaments				Edinburgh Sheriff Court Wills Sc70/4/243 and Inventories SC70/1/282
Pride, Glen L	The Kingdom of Fife	1999	The Rutland Press	2nd Edition	p175

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Basic Biographic Details

Addresses

Business Addresses

Business Addresses2 classic

Employment and Training

Employers2 classic

Buildings and Designs

Buildings and Designs2 classic

References

Bibliographic References

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