Records relating to James Carmichael, 1776-1853, Engineer, Dundee and family

Material compiled and held by James Walter Stewart [Hamish] Carmichael relating to James Carmichael and his family.

James Walter Stewart Carmichael [known as Hamish], is the great-great-grandson of James Carmichael and the great-great-great-grandson of Charles Carmichael and has done extensive research into them and their family.
James Carmichael and his brother Charles (1782-1843) are widely regarded as pioneers of the engineering profession in Dundee. They were the sons of George Carmichael, a partner in the Glasgow Arms Bank, and who may have been a Glasite.
On their father's death they moved with their mother from Glasgow to Midlothian where James became apprenticed as a millwright to his maternal uncle. James then moved to work in a spinning works in Glasgow, while Charles, after an apprenticeship as an engineer, came to work in Dundee in 1805 entering into partnership with a Mr Taylor.
When Charles' partnership expired in 1810, James was persuaded to join him and together they established the engineering business, J & C Carmichael, in Dundee. The company would last for over a century and among many achievements produced early railway locomotives, the first steam engines for the Tay Ferry and developed and manufactured mill machinery.
James Carmichael was widely recognised as one of Scotland's leading engineers of the period and is commemorated by a statue in Dundee's Albert Square.
The Carmichaels were related to some other prominent figures in Dundee industry: James Carmichael's daughter Clementina married James Cox, Provost of Dundee, and head of Cox Brothers, while his daughter Margaret married Peter Carmichael of Arthurstone, a noted engineer and the managing director of Baxter Brothers. It is also possible that the James Carmichael was a direct descendent of John Carmichael, 1st Earl of Hyndford and potentially had a claim to succeed to the earldom on the death of the 6th Earl in 1817 which he chose not pursue.

Usually chronological within series.

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Gifted by James Walter Stewart Carmichael to Archive Services in 2016

James Walter Stewart Carmichael [known as Hamish], is the great-great-grandson of James Carmichael and the great-great-great-grandson of Charles Carmichael and has done extensive research into them and their family.
James Carmichael and his brother Charles (1782-1843) are widely regarded as pioneers of the engineering profession in Dundee. They were the sons of George Carmichael, a partner in the Glasgow Arms Bank, and who may have been a Glasite.
On their father's death they moved with their mother from Glasgow to Midlothian where James became apprenticed as a millwright to his maternal uncle. James then moved to work in a spinning works in Glasgow, while Charles, after an apprenticeship as an engineer, came to work in Dundee in 1805 entering into partnership with a Mr Taylor.
When Charles' partnership expired in 1810, James was persuaded to join him and together they established the engineering business, J & C Carmichael, in Dundee. The company would last for over a century and among many achievements produced early railway locomotives, the first steam engines for the Tay Ferry and developed and manufactured mill machinery.
James Carmichael was widely recognised as one of Scotland's leading engineers of the period and is commemorated by a statue in Dundee's Albert Square.
The Carmichaels were related to some other prominent figures in Dundee industry: James Carmichael's daughter Clementina married James Cox, Provost of Dundee, and head of Cox Brothers, while his daughter Margaret married Peter Carmichael of Arthurstone, a noted engineer and the managing director of Baxter Brothers. It is also possible that the James Carmichael was a direct descendent of John Carmichael, 1st Earl of Hyndford and potentially had a claim to succeed to the earldom on the death of the 6th Earl in 1817 which he chose not pursue.

Description compiled by Kenneth Baxter, Archives Assistant, December 2016

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The records were held by James Walter Stewart Carmichael, great-great-grandson of James Carmichael

Possible

* MS 6 Cox Brothers Ltd, Jute Spinners and Manufacturers, and Cox Family Papers MS 66/2 Cox Brothers, Jute Spinners and Manufactures, Dundee MS 102 Peter Carmichael of Arthurstone (1809-1891)
* MS 102; MS 6
* MS 66/2

Published

Catalogued

MS 390