Bella Bathurst - The Lighthouse Stevensons

William Collins

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

WilliamCollinsBook.com

This eBook first published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2020

Copyright © Bella Bathurst 1999; 2020

Cover photograph © Northern Lighthouse Board

Bella Bathust asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Information on previously published material appears here

ll rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins

Source ISBN: 9780007204434

Ebook Edition © November 2009 ISBN: 9780007358977

Version: 2020-07-29

To my mother, and to Lucy and Flora.

There are spaces still to be filled before the map is completed – though these days it’s only in the explored territories that men write, sadly, Here live monsters.

NORMAN MCCAIG, Old Maps and New

Cover Page

Title Page The Lighthouse Stevensons The extraordinary story ofthe building of the Scottish lighthousesby the ancestors ofRobert Louis Stevenson Bella Bathurst

Copyright Copyright Copyright Dedication Epigraph Map Preface Foreword Introduction One Yarmouth Two Northern Lights Three Eddystone Four The Bell Rock Five Edinburgh Six Skerryvore Seven Muckle Flugga Eight Dhu Heartach Nine The Keepers Ten Epilogue Bibliography Index Acknowledgements About the Author Praise Previously Published List About the Publisher William Collins An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF WilliamCollinsBook.com This eBook first published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2020 Copyright © Bella Bathurst 1999; 2020 Cover photograph © Northern Lighthouse Board Bella Bathust asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Information on previously published material appears here ll rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins Source ISBN: 9780007204434 Ebook Edition © November 2009 ISBN: 9780007358977 Version: 2020-07-29

Dedication To my mother, and to Lucy and Flora.

Epigraph There are spaces still to be filled before the map is completed – though these days it’s only in the explored territories that men write, sadly, Here live monsters. NORMAN MCCAIG, Old Maps and New

Map

Preface PREFACE This is not – nor was it ever intended to be – a definitive biography of the Lighthouse Stevensons. When I began research in January 1996, I realised that any attempt to write a comprehensive biography of all four generations of the Stevensons would be both futile and, given the range and technicality of their work, probably quite wearing as well. And yet to write the history of just one of their lives would be to leave an incomplete picture. The Stevensons were, in the best and worst of senses, a family business and are perhaps most easily understood in that context. The solution I came to was to concentrate on the time between 1786 and 1890 when the first four Lighthouse Stevensons were working around the Scottish coastline, and to focus in detail on those four lights that were most closely associated with their respective engineers. The result of this selection is not quite biography and not quite history. If my selections at times seem arbitrary or incomplete, I can only apologise. The life and works of Robert Louis Stevenson have been the subject of innumerable biographies, studies, critiques and analyses, not to mention his own autobiographical writings. The story of his ancestors, by comparison, remains a relatively unworn path. I would hope therefore that this book would be seen as a kind of taster for the subject, and that anyone wanting to search further would be able to do so. There is more, much more, in the lives and works of the Lighthouse Stevensons than any one book could ever hope to encompass.

Foreword

Introduction

One Yarmouth

Two Northern Lights

Three Eddystone

Four The Bell Rock

Five Edinburgh

Six Skerryvore

Seven Muckle Flugga

Eight Dhu Heartach

Nine The Keepers

Ten Epilogue

Bibliography

Index

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Praise

Previously Published List

About the Publisher

This is not – nor was it ever intended to be – a definitive biography of the Lighthouse Stevensons. When I began research in January 1996, I realised that any attempt to write a comprehensive biography of all four generations of the Stevensons would be both futile and, given the range and technicality of their work, probably quite wearing as well. And yet to write the history of just one of their lives would be to leave an incomplete picture. The Stevensons were, in the best and worst of senses, a family business and are perhaps most easily understood in that context. The solution I came to was to concentrate on the time between 1786 and 1890 when the first four Lighthouse Stevensons were working around the Scottish coastline, and to focus in detail on those four lights that were most closely associated with their respective engineers. The result of this selection is not quite biography and not quite history. If my selections at times seem arbitrary or incomplete, I can only apologise. The life and works of Robert Louis Stevenson have been the subject of innumerable biographies, studies, critiques and analyses, not to mention his own autobiographical writings. The story of his ancestors, by comparison, remains a relatively unworn path. I would hope therefore that this book would be seen as a kind of taster for the subject, and that anyone wanting to search further would be able to do so. There is more, much more, in the lives and works of the Lighthouse Stevensons than any one book could ever hope to encompass.