Proposition of a Light-house Board.
Representations had often been made by shipmasters to their owners, of the difficulties and dangers encountered in sailing along the coast of Scotland. The establishment of a Light-house Board, and the erection of Light-houses on our Northern Shores, became the topic of conversation among mercantile men; and the subject was at length brought forward at the meeting of the Convention of the Royal Boroughs of Scotland, in the year 1784, by the late Mr Dempster of Dunnichen, then Provost of Forfar, and Member of Parliament, as worthy of the notice of the Legislature.
Passing of the Original Act, 1786.
A bill was accordingly framed by the late Mr John Gray, writer to the Signet, agent for the Royal Boroughs, which was brought into Parliament by Mr Dempster, in the session of 1786. By this act, the 26th Geo. III. chap. 101., a Board was appointed, for the erection of Light-houses on the coast of Scotland; the preamble stating that “it would conduce greatly to the security of navigation and the fisheries, if four lighthouses were erected in the northern parts of Great Britain,” viz. one on Kinnaird Head, in Aberdeenshire; one on the Orkney Islands; one on the Harris Isles, and one at the Mull of Kintyre, in Argyleshire; for which a duty of one penny per register ton, for British, and twopence per ton upon foreign ships, should be paid by every ship or decked vessel which should pass one or all of these lights.
Commissioners ex Officio.
The Commissioners appointed for putting this act in execution, are, “His Majesty’s Advocate and Solicitor-General for Scotland; the Lord Provost and First Bailie of Edinburgh; the Lord Provost and First Bailie of Glasgow; the Provosts of Aberdeen, Inverness and Campbeltown; the Sheriffs of the Counties of Edinburgh, Lanark, Renfrew, Bute, Argyle, Inverness, Ross, Orkney, Caithness, and Aberdeen;” and to these have since been added, the Sheriffs of the Counties of Ayr, Fife, Forfar, and Wigton, agreeably to a clause which authorises the Commissioners to add to their number.
First Meeting of the Board.
The first meeting of the Commissioners was held at Edinburgh on the 1st day of August 1786; and consisted of the following members:
His Majesty’s Solicitor-General, Robert Dundas of Arniston.
The Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Sir James Hunter-Blair, Bart.
The First Bailie of Edinburgh, James Dickson, Esq.
The Sheriff of the County of Bute, Bannatyne Macleod, Esq.
The Sheriff of the County of Aberdeen, Alexander Elphinston, Esq.
The Sheriff of the County of Lanark, Sir William Honyman, Bart.