Alexander Adie

File:10 Regent Terrace, Edinburgh 2015.JPG

File:The grave of Alexander James Adie, Greyfriars Kirkyard.jpg

He was born the son of optician John Adie FRSE (died 1857).

He was apprenticed in 1789 to his maternal uncle John Miller a mathematical instrument maker on Parliament Close, off the Royal Mile close to St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.Williamson's Edinburgh Directory 1790 In 1800 Adie was working for Miller at 38 South Bridge and the business was described as an optician.Edinburgh Post Office directory 1800 Around 1805 went into business together as "Miller and Adie, Opticians" (also serving as mathematical instrument makers, but this was in much less demand) and had a shop at 15 Nicholson Street in the South SideEdinburgh Post Office Directory 1805 which continued until 1822.

After Miller died Adie opened his own shop at 58 Princes Street close to the Royal Scottish Academy.{{Cite web| url = http://digital.nls.uk/directories/browse/pageturner.cfm?id=83399607&mode=transcription| title= Post-Office Annual directory for Edinburgh and its environs 1832–33|page= 37 |accessdate=2 July 2015}}

Adie supplied lenses to Joseph Hooker, Charles DarwinDarwin Correspondence Vol 3, p. 358, Letter 1012 and Sir David Brewster and was optician to William IV and to Queen Victoria. Adie invented the sympiesometer or marine barometer and had a small observatory erected long before there was a public observatory in Edinburgh. He was elected as Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh on 25 January 1819, upon the proposal of Lord Francis Gray, Sir David Brewster and James Russell.

Adie lived at 10 Regent Terrace, Edinburgh, from 1832 to 1838.Mitchell, Anne (1993), The People of Calton Hill, Mercat Press, James Thin, Edinburgh, {{ISBN|1-873644-18-3}}. His son John Adie FRSE joined his firm around 1840 to create Adie & Son based at 50 Princes Street.{{cite web|url=https://www.rse.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf|format=PDF|title=Former Fellows of The Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783 – 2002|website=Rse.org|access-date=28 October 2021}}

He died at Caanan Lodge, in the Morningside district of Edinburgh (now demolished) in December 1858, and was interred in Greyfriars Kirkyard. The grave lies to the south-west of the church, just to the north-east of the Adam mausoleum.

His daughter married the astronomer Thomas Henderson (1798–1844) who would certainly have met through the instrument making. Henderson is buried with Adie but is not listed on the memorial. His son, Patrick Adie, left for London in 1844, setting up in business as an instrument maker there. Patrick married Clementina Hellaby, with whom they had a son Walter Sibbald Adie{{cite web |last1=Beros |first1=Matt |title=Instrument Makers as Corporate Identities |url=https://toolsofknowledge.org/2021/11/02/1032/ |website=Tools of Knowledge |access-date=2 March 2025 |language=en |date=2 November 2021}} who became a teacher of Indian Languages at Cambridge University after a career in the Indian Civil Service.{{cite journal |last1=Dalby |first1=Andrew |title=A Dictionary of Oriental Collections in Cambridge University Library |journal=Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society |date=1988 |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=248-280 |url=https://www.academia.edu/22377191/A_Dictionary_of_Oriental_Collections_in_Cambridge_University_Library |access-date=2 March 2025}}{{cite book |last1=Ahmed |first1=Haroon |title=Cambridge Computing: The First 75 Years |date=2013 |location=Cambridge |isbn=978 1 906507 83 1 |url=https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/downloads/books/CambridgeComputing_Ahmed.pdf}}

File:The grave of Alexander James Adie, St Michaels Churchyard, Linlithgow.jpg]]

Adie's son was born at 11 Lothian StreetEdinburgh Post Office Directory 1808 in Edinburgh's South Side on 16 December 1808 and also named Alexander James Adie after his father.

He studied at the High School in Edinburgh and then Edinburgh University before training as a civil engineer under James Jardine.

In 1836 he became Resident Engineer on the Bolton, Chorley and Preston Railway. In 1847-63 he became civil engineer & Manager of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway.

In February 1846 he followed in his father's footsteps and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh his proposer being James David Forbes. At this time he was living at 50 Princes Street above his father's shop.Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1846

In later life he lived at 7 St Andrews Square in Edinburgh (now demolished).Edinburgh Post Office directory 1868

He died at his home, Rockville near Linlithgow, where he had retired to, on 3 April 1879. He is buried on the south side of St Michael's Church in Linlithgow.

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• {{Cite web |url =http://www.bhandl.co.uk/knowledge/article/alexander-adie-1774-1858.aspx|title = Alexander Adie (1774–1858) |website = Bearnes, Hampton and Littlewood, auctioneers and valuers |accessdate=2 July 2015}}
• {{Cite web |last1= Fontijn |first1= Marco |url= http://www.artwis.com/articles/the-sympiesometer-designed-by-alexander-adie-an-unusually-short-barometer-without-mercury/ |title= The sympiesometer designed by Alexander Adie: an unusually short 'barometer' without mercury |date= 6 December 2010 |website= artwis.com |accessdate= 2 July 2015 |url-status= usurped |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20150702220040/http://www.artwis.com/articles/the-sympiesometer-designed-by-alexander-adie-an-unusually-short-barometer-without-mercury/ |archivedate= 2 July 2015 }}

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Category:1775 births

Category:1858 deaths

Category:19th-century Scottish scientists

Category:19th-century Scottish inventors

Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh

Category:Scientists from Edinburgh

Category:British opticians

Category:Scottish meteorologists

Category:Scottish company founders

Category:18th-century Scottish businesspeople

Category:19th-century Scottish businesspeople

Category:Burials at Greyfriars Kirkyard

Category:Businesspeople from Edinburgh