James Taylor (1753-1825)

James Taylor, naval engineer and potter

1753 born on 3 May at Leadhills, Lanarkshire, the son of John Taylor, the overseer of the earl of Hopetoun's mines there.

Educated at Wallacehall School, Closeburn, Dumfriesshire, and then at Edinburgh University (1775 to 1781), studying medicine, mathematics, and natural philosophy.

After leaving Edinburgh it is thought he set up a foundry and engineering works in Ayr in partnership with his brother John.

1785 Appointed tutor to the children of Patrick Miller, who had recently acquired the Dalswinton estate. Miller was experimenting with the mechanical propulsion of ships on the Forth and almost certainly recruited Taylor to assist him. Taylor suggested replacing hand-turned windlasses with a James Watt steam engine modified to drive paddle wheels. Through his father he introduced Miller to the engineer William Symington, which led to the famous trials of a steamboat at Dalswinton in 1788 and on the Forth in 1789.