Lindsay Burnet
Lindsay Burnet (1855-1895) of Lindsay Burnet and Co
1895 Obituary [1]
LINDSAY BURNET, second son of Mr. John Burnet, well known as an architect in Glasgow, was born in that city on the 5th of November, 1855.
In 1871 he was apprenticed to Barclay, Curle and Co, engineers, of Glasgow. After remaining two years with that firm, he went through the pattern-shops and drawing-office of Thomas Wingate and Co at Whiteinch, and then, in order to enlarge his experience, spent some months at sea in 1876 as fourth engineer on the British India Steam Navigation Company’s S.S. 'Assyria.
Mr. Burnet was next for a time in the employment of the late W. F. Batho in Westminster and subsequently attended for eighteen months the engineering classes of Professor Kennedy at University College.
He then assisted in the erection of marine-engine works for Ramage and Ferguson, at Leith.
In 1883 Mr. Burnet started in business on his own account in Glasgow. He designed and erected the Moore Park Boiler Works at Govan, where he showed much judgment and skill in laying down machinery and tools for the purpose, to which he constantly adhered, of turning out work of the best description.
He was joined in 1887 by Sinclair Couper, the style of the firm continuing, however, as Lindsay Burnet and Co. Mr. Burnet was not only a specialist in the design and manufacture of steam-boilers ; he devoted much attention to all matters connected with steam engineering and made a special study of the combustion of coal and other fuels, of the analysis of water, of the various fuels and of the waste products of combustion. He gave very close attention also to the best means of dealing with different qualities of water, to the most efficient methods of stoking and burning fuel, and to the question of smoke abatement. His services were in frequent request as an arbiter and expert, in which capacity he displayed the thoroughness and enthusiasm, the close and painstaking attention, which characterised all his work.
His amiable disposition endeared him to all with whom he came into contact, while his relations with those whom he employed, whose best interests he had at heart, were always of the most cordial nature. Mr. Burnet’s health, however, was latterly not robust, and, in December, 1894, a chill settled on his lungs.
He was recovering and making arrangements for a voyage to Madeira, when he was attacked by influenza, to which he succumbed on the 14th of March, 1895, at the age of thirty-nine, Mr. Burnet was a Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, of the Institution of Naval Architects, of the Philosophical Society of Glasgow, and at the time of his death was serving on the Council of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland.
He was elected an Associate Member on the 31st of May, 1881, having previously, as a Student, received a Miller Prize for a Paper entitled 'Description of a Cargo-Carrying Coasting Steam Ship, with detailed investigation as to its efficiency,' which was considered of sufficient merit to be printed by the 1nstitution.
1895 Obituary [2]
LINDSAY BURNET was born in Glasgow on 5th November 1855, being the second son of Mr. John Burnet, the father of the architectural profession in Glasgow.
He served his apprenticeship as a mechanical engineer partly with Messrs. Barclay, Curle, and Co., and partly with Messrs. T. Wingate and Co., Whiteinch, Glasgow.
On its completion he went to sea for a short time, in order to get some further insight into his profession.
He afterwards entered the office of Messrs. Bruce and Batho, civil engineers, Westminster.
While in London he became an engineering student in University College, under Professor Alexander B. W. Kennedy, with whom the relations of professor and student were soon exchanged for those of a warm personal friendship which lasted for life.
In 1883 he commenced business in Glasgow on his own account, devoting himself more particularly to the construction of strain boilers, for which purpose he built the Moore Park Boiler Works at Govan.
In 1887 he was joined as a partner by Mr. Sinclair Couper, and the works were thenceforward carried on as the firm of Lindsay Burnet and Co. Besides devoting himself especially to the design and manufacture of steam boilers, he latterly paid much attention to the combustion of coal and other fuels, and to the analysis of these, and of the waste products of combustion, to the methods of dealing with different qualities of water, to smoke abatement, and also to the best means of firing and of burning fuel.
In connection with all these matters his work was carried out in the true spirit and with the genuine enthusiasm of a scientific investigator, and his knowledge was both wide and deep. He was moreover always ready, with great frankness although with equal modesty, to place his knowledge and experience at the service of any one who wished to profit by it. As an arbiter his services were much sought in cases of dispute. His enthusiasm for his work, his keen desire to be accurate in everything, his transparent honesty and genuineness of character and his warm-hearted nature made him many friends, who admired him the more for the courageous manner in which he continued his ordinary duties for many months after he had received warnings that the end might come at any time.
For some time past he had been in poor health, and at the end of 1894 he caught a chill, which was followed by an attack of influenza, and his death took place on 14th March 1895, at the age of thirty-nine.
He became a Graduate of this Institution in 1879, and a Member in 1893; and was an Associate Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, a Member of the Institution of Naval Architects, and a Member of Council of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland.
1895 Obituary [3]
1895 Obituary [4]