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Alexander Nimmo
Alexander Nimmo FRSE MRIA MICE HFGS (1783 – 20 January 1832) was a Scottish civil engineer and geologist active in early 19th-century Ireland.
Nimmo was born in Cupar, Fife in 1783, the son of a watchmaker, and grew up in Kirkcaldy. He may have been educated at Kirkcaldy Burgh School, then studied at the University of St Andrews and University of Edinburgh. His first role was as Rector of Inverness Royal Academy in 1802, aged only 19. Around 1805, he became a Commissioner for the Scottish Boundaries Commission. In 1811 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh for his contributions to marine geology. His proposers were George Steuart Mackenzie, Alexander Christison, and Thomas Allan.
From 1811, he worked in Ireland as an engineer, with his first major task being for the Commission for the Reclamation of Irish Bogs. This was apparently on the recommendation of Thomas Telford.
In 1814, when Dunmore East was still a small County Waterford fishing hamlet, it was chosen by the British Post Office to be the Irish terminal for a new Mail Packet route from Milford Haven in Wales. The Post Office procured Nimmo's services to design and build a harbour and lighthouse to accommodate the new Mail Packet Service. In building the harbour, Nimmo made use of local red sandstone, and his lighthouse took the form of a "fluted Doric column, with the lantern on top of the capital". The passenger and mail service operated between Milford and Dunmore for only ten years, before Waterford Port became the Irish terminal; obviating the 10-mile road journey from Dunmore East.
In 1815, he improved the navigation on the river at Cork and improved the adjacent harbour at Cobh. Beginning in 1820, he was employed by the Irish Fisheries Board to make extensive surveys and recommendations for Irelands fishing harbours.
Originally, Nimmo rented an office at 56 Marlborough Street, Dublin specifically for the purposes of carrying out his work for the Western District, but this building was found to be inadequate and the lease was terminated in June 1823.
Nimmo never married, but had close ties with his brothers, John and George. At some point they arrived in Ireland to assist Alexander with his work, bringing their wives and children along with them, and would remain in Ireland for the rest of their lives. In September 1823, George Nimmo, living in Dublin, took out a 900-year lease on a property on the west side of Marlborough Street from the Reverend Mathias Kelly at the yearly rent of £91. The house number of the property was not specified in the deed, but we know it to have been number 78. A month later, he assigned the lease of this house on to his brother Alexander. This building would serve as the headquarters of the Western District works until 1832. Nimmo also personally lived at the address, and declared before a House of Lords enquiry in 1824 that he had but one property, "a house in Dublin, leasehold of nine hundred years".
Nimmo kept a permanent staff in Dublin, and also the west of Ireland. Amongst the staff employed in Dublin were an accountant and other administrative staff, along with a number of student surveyors and engineers who were regularly sent to the west for the purposes of mapping sites of potential works or road routes.
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Alexander Nimmo
Alexander Nimmo FRSE MRIA MICE HFGS (1783 – 20 January 1832) was a Scottish civil engineer and geologist active in early 19th-century Ireland.
Nimmo was born in Cupar, Fife in 1783, the son of a watchmaker, and grew up in Kirkcaldy. He may have been educated at Kirkcaldy Burgh School, then studied at the University of St Andrews and University of Edinburgh. His first role was as Rector of Inverness Royal Academy in 1802, aged only 19. Around 1805, he became a Commissioner for the Scottish Boundaries Commission. In 1811 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh for his contributions to marine geology. His proposers were George Steuart Mackenzie, Alexander Christison, and Thomas Allan.
From 1811, he worked in Ireland as an engineer, with his first major task being for the Commission for the Reclamation of Irish Bogs. This was apparently on the recommendation of Thomas Telford.
In 1814, when Dunmore East was still a small County Waterford fishing hamlet, it was chosen by the British Post Office to be the Irish terminal for a new Mail Packet route from Milford Haven in Wales. The Post Office procured Nimmo's services to design and build a harbour and lighthouse to accommodate the new Mail Packet Service. In building the harbour, Nimmo made use of local red sandstone, and his lighthouse took the form of a "fluted Doric column, with the lantern on top of the capital". The passenger and mail service operated between Milford and Dunmore for only ten years, before Waterford Port became the Irish terminal; obviating the 10-mile road journey from Dunmore East.
In 1815, he improved the navigation on the river at Cork and improved the adjacent harbour at Cobh. Beginning in 1820, he was employed by the Irish Fisheries Board to make extensive surveys and recommendations for Irelands fishing harbours.
Originally, Nimmo rented an office at 56 Marlborough Street, Dublin specifically for the purposes of carrying out his work for the Western District, but this building was found to be inadequate and the lease was terminated in June 1823.
Nimmo never married, but had close ties with his brothers, John and George. At some point they arrived in Ireland to assist Alexander with his work, bringing their wives and children along with them, and would remain in Ireland for the rest of their lives. In September 1823, George Nimmo, living in Dublin, took out a 900-year lease on a property on the west side of Marlborough Street from the Reverend Mathias Kelly at the yearly rent of £91. The house number of the property was not specified in the deed, but we know it to have been number 78. A month later, he assigned the lease of this house on to his brother Alexander. This building would serve as the headquarters of the Western District works until 1832. Nimmo also personally lived at the address, and declared before a House of Lords enquiry in 1824 that he had but one property, "a house in Dublin, leasehold of nine hundred years".
Nimmo kept a permanent staff in Dublin, and also the west of Ireland. Amongst the staff employed in Dublin were an accountant and other administrative staff, along with a number of student surveyors and engineers who were regularly sent to the west for the purposes of mapping sites of potential works or road routes.