F.C.S. Richard Anderson

Richard Anderson, identified in his book as F.C.S. (a designation associated with the Chemical Society), is known for Lightning Conductors: Their History, Nature, and Mode of Application. In the book's preface, he explains that he wanted to provide an English guide to lightning conductors that was useful to both professional and non-professional readers.

His work reflects the interests of late 19th-century popular science: it brings together the history of lightning protection, the science behind electrical discharge, and practical advice about how conductors should be designed and applied. That mix of scientific background and plain explanation is likely the reason the book has continued to be reprinted and preserved in public-domain collections.

Reliable biographical details about his life are scarce in the sources I could confirm, so little more can be said with confidence beyond his authorship of this technically minded work and the scientific credentials signaled by the initials after his name.