James Carmichael


1776 - 1853

Engineer and industrialist. Born in Glasgow, the family moved to Loanhead (Midlothian) on the death of his father c. 1786. Carmichael began as an apprentice mill wright with his before obtaining a job at the Adelphi Spinning Works in Glasgow. Around 1810, he followed his younger brother Charles to Dundee, where the pair began manufacturing steam-driven equipment for flax-spinning. They went on to build marine steam-engines at their Ward Foundry and established a reputation through their machinery and innovations. In 1832-33, they designed and built locomotives for the Dundee and Newtyle Railway, the first railway engines to be constructed in Scotland.

Carmichael died at his home, Fleuchar Craig in Dundee, but is remembered by a statue in Albert Square, next to the Albert Institute which he had contributed to the cost of building.


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