Obituary 1911: James McCreath (1828-1910) of Levern House, Bothwell
Reported in Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History
JAMES MCCREATH died on November 3, 1910.
Mr. McCreath was the eldest son of the late Mr. William McCreath, mining engineer, and was born at Hurlet, near Paisley, in 1828, where his father was resident as manager of John Wilson & Sons’ coal, limestone, and alum-shale pits.
While still at school he attended classes in civil engineering and chemistry in Glasgow, and before the age of twenty had the superintendence of coal and ironstone pits near Airdrie, shortly afterwards being transferred to the management of Messrs. Wilson’s pits at Hurlet and their chemical works there and in Glasgow.
Between 1850 and 1860 he joined his father in business as a mining engineer, and applied himself to that profession with conspicuous success, building up the extensive business now known as Messrs. McCreath & Stevenson.
In co-operation with his father he organised the development of the extensive coalfields in Lanarkshire belonging to the Duke of Hamilton, the Earl of Home, and others. He had a wide and accurate knowledge of the coal, ironstone, and oil shale fields in other parts of the country, and his advice as a consulting engineer was much sought after.
He was president of the Mining Institute of Scotland for a term, taking a lively interest in its proceedings, and when examinations of managers under the Coal Mines Act were first inaugurated he was appointed one of the examiners, a position which he held for several years.
He was elected a member of the Iron and Steel Institute in 1878.
He retired from active business about three years ago.