Citizenship United Kingdom Nationality Scottish | Alma mater Edinburgh University Name Alexander Bryson | |
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Died 7 December 1866Hawkhill House, Edinburgh Institutions Partner, Robert Bryson & Sons, Clock and Watch-Maker, Edinburgh | ||
Joshua "Kingsize" Alexander Bryson - Drummer Boy (Live @ Caiso & Soca Monarch Aruba 2017)
Alexander Bryson (12 October 1816 – 7 December 1866) was a Scottish biologist, geologist and horologist who served as president of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts (1860–61) and as president of the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh (1863).
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Life
He was born on 12 October 1816 in Edinburgh, the son of Robert Bryson FRSE (1778-1852), a watchmaker, and Janet Gillespie (1788-1858).
He attended the High School in Edinburgh then trained as a watchmaker and entered the family business, then renamed Robert Bryson & Son.
His first wife, Elizabeth Waterstone Gillespie (possibly a cousin) bore him two children who died in infancy, and a daughter and son (William Alexander Bryson) and died 10 April 1855 aged 44.
His second wife, Catherine McDonald Cuthbertson, also died young in September 1859, aged only 32, after bearing him another son.
His third wife, Jane Thomson, bore him another son, Leonard Horner Bryson, survived him and remarried.
He was President of the Royal Scottish Society of Antiquarians 1860-1861. He was President of the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh in 1863. He was also a member of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh and the Edinburgh Geological Society.
In 1858 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He was President of the Royal Scottish Society of the Arts 1860-61.
He died on 7 December 1866 at Hawkhill House, a country villa between Leith and Edinburgh. He is buried in New Calton Cemetery with his two wives next to his parents.