The Stevensons Family

The Sensational Stevensons - (Stevensons lighthouse Engineers)

For over one hundred and fifty years Robert Stevenson and his descendants designed most of Scotland's Lighthouses. Battling against the odds and the elements - the Stevensons constructed wonders of engineering that have withstood the test of time, an amazing historical achievement.

Robert Stevenson's talented family also included the famous writer Robert Louis Stevenson (his grandson). Visits with his family to remote lighthouses are thought to have inspired his books Kidnapped and Treasure Island.

"There is scarce a deep sea light from the Isle of Man to North Berwick,
but one of my blood designed it.
The Bell Rock stands monument for my grandfather;
the Skerry Vhor for my uncle Alan;
and when the lights come out along the shores of Scotland,
I am proud to think that they burn more brightly for the genius of my father."

Robert Louis Stevenson

Genealogie of the Stevensons Family

Other Lighthouse Engineers of the NLB

With the death of David Alan Stevenson in 1971 the period of a family devoted to building lighthouses came to an end.

Between 1799 and 1938 the Stevenson family has built 97 Lighthouses in Scotland and on the Isle of Man. As a resume, and a reminder that the Northern Lighthouse Board continued to build lighthouses, here the list of their 'Senior Engineers' who built the lighthouses of Scotland.

The title Senior Engineer was changed to Engineer-in-Chief after 1972 and then changed to Director of Engineering in 1995.

List of Engineers of the Northern Lighthouse Board (1787 - 2022)

Thomas Smith	22 January	1787	- 11 July	1808
	(salaried from 26 December 1793)

Robert Stevenson	12 July	1808	- 14 December	1842
In July 1797, at Smith's request, The Board agreed to Stevenson acting in his place for the annual visit to the lighthouses

Alan Stevenson	14 January	1843	- ?? February	1853

David Lillie Stevenson	16 March	1853	- ?? March	1855

David Lillie Stevenson / Thomas Stevenson	01 January	1855	- 25 June	1884

Thomas Stevenson	25 June	1884	- 07 March	1885

Thomas Stevenson / David Alan Stevenson	07 March	1885	- 08 May	1887

David Alan Stevenson	02 November	1887	- 31 March	1938

John Oswald	11 May	1938	- 01 July	1946

John D. Gardner	31 July	1946	- 02 July	1955

Peter H. Hyslop	01 Augustus	1955	- 30 June	1978

John J.K. Williamson	01 July	1978	- 30 March	1987

William Paterson	01 April	1987	- 20 July	2000

Moray Waddell	03 July	2000	- 31 Augustus	2016

Captain Phillip Day	01 September	2016	- Still in post	xxxx

References:
The genealogy of the Stevensons	- Wikitree