Collection MS 191 - Report to the Commissioners for Supplying The City of Perth with Water

Adam Anderson (1780-1846) was Rector of Perth Academy for 28 years from 1809, and then Professor of Natural History at St Andrews University, 1837-1846. Anderson concerned himself with numerous engineering projects: gas and water supply as well as matters to do with navigation of the Tay. He helped pioneer the use of gas lighting in Perth and the supply of water from the Tay by steam engine. In doing so he brought together skills that he possessed in chemistry, physics, geology, mathematics, architecture, and politics. Adam Anderson published widely on scientific and related matters and became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1820. In 1827 the University of St. Andrews awarded him an honorary LLB. As an educationalist Anderson worked for the extension of education to working class children and adults – a Mechanics Institute was set up as a result. A Liberal he took part in agitation around the 1832 Reform Act. In 1837 he was awarded the Chair of Natural Philosophy at University of St Andrews, although he maintained close links with Perth, returning regularly. When he died on 5th December 1846 his coffin was escorted from St Andrews to Perth by a cortege for a civic funeral in the town. Source: https://madeinperth.org/adam-anderson/