209
See Also: Sir David Brewster; William Henry Fox
Talbot; John Adamson; Robert Adamson; Thomas
Davidson; and Henry Collen.
Further Reading
Gordon, [Margaret Maria], The Home Life of Sir David Brewster,
2nd ed., Edinburgh: Edmonston & Douglas, 1870.
Morrison-Low, A. D., “Sir David Brewster and Photography” in
Review of Scottish Culture, 4 (1988), 63–73.
Morrison-Low, A. D., “Brewster, Talbot and the Adamsons: The
Arrival of Photography in St Andrews” in History of Photog-
raphy, 25/2 (Summer 2001), 130–141.
Smith, Graham, Sun Pictures in Scotland, Ann Arbor: University
of Michigan Museum of Art, 1989 (exhibition catalogue).
Smith, Graham, “Captain Brewster, Calotypist” in Photography:
Discovery and Invention 1839–1989, Malibu: The J. Paul
Getty Museum, 1990.
Smith, Graham, Disciples of Light: Photographs in the Brewster
Album, Malibu: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 1990.
BREWSTER, SIR DAVID (1781–1868)
Recognised as a pre-eminent natural philosopher far
beyond the borders of his native Scotland, Sir David
Brewster’s reputation suffered in the course of his life-
time, until eventually he became a relatively forgotten
fi gure in the history of science and photography.
David was the third of six children and the second of
four brothers. His father, James Brewster (c.1735–1815)
was a tutor at Dundee Grammar School and later be-
came Rector of Jedburgh Grammar School. His mother,
Margaret Brewster (1753–1790), died soon after the
birth and death of her sixth child. David was only nine
years old at the time. David and his three remaining
brothers were then brought up by their sister, Grisel.
All of David’s brothers, James, George, and Patrick,
were educated for, and eventually took, careers in the
Church of Scotland.
The Brewster family considered education to be
important, and from an early age David’s appetite for
learning was encouraged by adult scholars close to the
Brewster family. As a boy, David read his father’s old
university lecture notes on physical science, and at the
age of ten he built his fi rst telescope with the help of as-
tronomer, James Veitch (1771–1838), who lived nearby.
As a youth David also became an aide to Dr Thomas
Somerville, a local minister, scholar and author. All of
this helped David acquire skills that would be of use in
his future career as a writer and editor.
At the remarkably tender age of twelve, David began
to attend the University of Edinburgh. Up until then
it would have been fair to assume that David, like his
brothers, was destined for a career in the Church. How-
ever, David was no public speaker. It is said that on one
occasion he fainted, having being asked to say grace at
a dinner party. This impediment may have helped lead
towards a career in academia. In 1799 he began contribut-
ing to the Edinburgh Magazine, and in 1800 he graduated
from university. In 1802 Brewster progressed to become
editor of the Edinburgh Magazine, and remained so until
around 1807. About this time he began experimenting
in optics, and made unsuccessful applications for posts
in mathematics at the universities of both Edinburgh in
1805, and at St Andrews in 1807. In 1808, poised on the
brink of a successful scientifi c career, Brewster became
the editor of the newly published Edinburgh Encyclo-
paedia. This was a useful post for Brewster. Not only did
it put him in touch with other scientists who contributed
to the encyclopaedia, it also helped him keep him up to
date with new developments in the fi eld.
Brewster contributed to the fourth, fi fth, sixth, sev-
enth and eighth editions of the Encyclopaedia Britan-
nica, which was published in Edinburgh at that time.
Brewster’s writing was not always intended for a
specialist audience. His ‘Treatise on Optics,’ published
in Dr Lardner’s Cabinet Cyclopaedia (1831) was writ-
ten for a general audience. As was his Life of Sir Isaac
Newton (1831). This was followed by the larger, more
scholarly Memoirs of the Life, Writings and Discoveries
of Sir Isaac Newton (1855), which remained the best
biography of Newton until recent years (1980).
On the 31 July 1810, Brewster married Juliet
Macpherson (c.1776–1850), the youngest daughter of
the alleged translator of Ossian’s ancient poetry, James
Macpherson (1736–1796). The couple had four sons
and a daughter together. It was their daughter, Margaret
Brewster (later Margaret Gordon, 1823–1907), who
published a candid biography that is the main source of
information on what Brewster was like as a person. Ca-
pable of charm, but also diffi cult at times, she describes
Brewster as having a strong personality. Incidentally, he
was knighted in 1832.
The beauty of the daguerreotype did not beguile the
pragmatic Brewster. He considered Talbot’s calotype
to be superior because copies could be generated easily
using cheap and simple materials.
Brewster was involved in photography from its very
beginnings: he was in correspondence with W.H.F.
Talbot from a number of years prior to when Talbot
published his fi ndings in 1839, and Talbot sent Brewster
examples of his early photographic work from an early
stage in its development. This association meant that
the fi rst place outside England to practise the calotype
was St Andrews in Scotland. Also, Talbot did not pat-
ent his invention outside England on Brewster’s advice.
Although Brewster collected photographic prints and
wrote fairly extensively on the subject he does not ap-
pear to have practised photography himself.
Throughout his life, Brewster was involved in setting
up numerous societies, including the Society of Arts
in Edinburgh, which later became the Royal Scottish