Robert Stevenson

Born in Glasgow in 1772, he became one of Scotland’s leading civil engineers at a time when sea travel was vital and often deadly. After working with his stepfather, lighthouse engineer Thomas Smith, he devoted much of his career to improving navigation around the Scottish coast.

He is most closely linked with the Bell Rock Lighthouse, a remarkable offshore project built on a reef in the North Sea and widely seen as one of the great engineering achievements of its age. Beyond that landmark, he worked on many other lighthouses as well as harbors, bridges, canals, and roads, building a reputation for practical skill and careful design.

He died in 1850. He was also the grandfather of the novelist Robert Louis Stevenson, and the Stevenson family became closely associated with lighthouse engineering in Scotland.