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Proceedings of the Royal Society 
in 1807, and was the eldest son of Mr Robert Stevenson, engineer 
to the Scottish Lighthouse Board. He was educated at the High 
School and University of Edinburgh, where he obtained the 
Felloes’ Prize as an advanced student of Natural Philosophy. 
In 1826 he took the degree of M.A., and in 1840 the University of 
Glasgow conferred on him the degree of LL.B. 
Although he had himself desired to study for the Church, yet he 
was afterwards led to adopt the profession of a civil engineer, for 
which he was so highly qualified by his previous education. For 
many years he was Clerk of Works to the Scottish Lighthouse 
Board, and on the death of his father in 1842 he succeeded him as 
their engineer in chief. 
During the comparatively short time that his health enabled him 
to discharge its duties, he erected several Lighthouses on the 
Scottish coast, the most important of which is that at Skerryvore, a 
magnificent work, which is not surpassed by any similar structure 
in the world. It was began in 1838, and completed in 1844. 
The Eddystone Lighthouse, by the celebrated Smeaton, and that 
on the Bell Rock, by Mr Robert Stevenson, lose their grandeur when 
placed in comparison with the gigantic tower at Skerryvore. An 
interesting account of this great work was published by Mr Steven- 
son in 1848, under the title of “ Account of the Skefryvore Light- 
house, with notes on the Illumination of Lighthouses.” 
In 1850 he published a very valuable work, entitled “ A Rudi- 
mentary Treatise on the History, Construction, and Illumination of 
Lighthouses.” 
To his great accomplishments as a civil engineer, Mr Stevenson 
added classical acquirements of no ordinary kind. He had mastered 
the languages of Greece and Rome, and acquired a critical knowledge 
of Italian and Spanish. 
In 1852, when a severe nervous affection had unfitted him for the 
duties of his office, he beguiled his hours of suffering by translating 
into English verse the ten hymns of Synesius, Bishop of Cyrene. 
These translations, with some pieces of his own, were printed in the 
present year for private circulation, and have been much admired. 
Mr Stevenson was elected a Fellow of this Society in 1838. 
He was a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and he 
had the honour of receiving complimentary medals from the 
