Ninian Imrie

Lt Colonel Ninian Imrie of Denmuir FRSE (d.1820) was a Scottish army officer and geologist. He gave the first wholly geological description of the Rock of Gibraltar.[1] He stirred the Plutonist versus Neptunist debate during the Scottish Enlightenment.[2]

Life

His family owned an estate known as Denmuir, near Abdie in Fife. He is thought to be born around 1750.

He was commissioned as an Ensign in 1768, the commission being purchased by a Stephen Gually.[3] He became Lieutenant in 1772 and Captain in 1777.[4] Imrie served in the Second Regiment of Foot (later renamed the Royal Scots) in Gibraltar from 1784 to 1793. Here he rose to be Aide-de-Camp for Lt General John Gordon Cuming Skene. During this period he is known to have corresponded with James Hutton in Edinburgh.[5] He was promoted to Lt Colonel in 1798. In the same year he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were John Walker, Alexander Keith and John Playfair. [6]

He retired on half pay in 1799. He was living permanently in Edinburgh from around 1805 at 63 Queen Street.[7] He died at 63 Queen Street in Edinburgh’s First New Town on 13 November 1820.

Publications

References

  1. ↑ http://earthscienceshistory.org/doi/abs/10.17704/eshi.32.2.y46w1v7758755766
  2. ↑ Geology and Warfare: Rose & Nathanail
  3. ↑ Gentlemans Magazine vol.38
  4. ↑ Royal Military Calendar
  5. ↑ Some Geological Correspondence of James Hutton, Eyles & Eyles
  6. ↑ 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.
  7. ↑ Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1805-06
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/23/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.