Dr James Powrie of Reswallie FRSE FGS (1815–1895) was a 19th-century Scottish geologist, palaeontologist and astronomer. He amassed a major collection of fossils during his lifetime.[1]
Life
editHe was born at Reswallie House in Angus in 1814/15 the son of William Powrie (1770–1845), a Dundee merchant and manufacturer with premises at East Chapelshade (sic).[2] Powrie Lane in Dundee appears to be named after him.[3] His brother Thomas Powrie appears to have run the family business in the 1830s.[4]
James studied science at St Andrews University, graduating MA around 1835. In 1845 he inherited his father's business in Dundee and the Reswallie estate.
In 1865 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposer was David Page.[5]
In 1868/9 he was president of the Edinburgh Geological Society. He regularly corresponded with the botanist George Gordon, Charles William Peach, Sir Edwin Lankester and Henry Woodward.[6]
He died of a heart attack on 25 May 1895. He is buried in the family plot at Rescobie churchyard near Forfar.
A number of his fossils were donated to the Forfar Museum and the Royal Scottish Museum.
Publications
edit- The Fishes of the Old Red Sandstone (1868)
Family
editHe was married to Mary Dickson (died 1903).
They had a son Thomas Powrie (1843–1933) and daughter Isabella Powrie (died 1939).
References
edit- ^ Harper, Naomi; Lloyd, Catherine (2013). "James Powrie of Reswallie (1815-1895)" (PDF). Tayside Geodiversity biographies. Tayside Biodiversity.
- ^ Dundee Post Office Directory 1809
- ^ Dundee Post Office Directory 1850
- ^ Dundee Post Office Directory 1830
- ^ Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
- ^ Davidson, R. G.; Newman, M. J. (2003). "James Powrie, chronicler of the Scottish Lower Devonian". Proceedings of the Geologists' Association. 114 (3): 243–246. doi:10.1016/S0016-7878(03)80016-0.
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