I AM GRATEFUL TO MARK THOMPSON FOR USE OF HIS PHOTOGRAPHS
The Lord Kelvin was one of Ulster's most distinguished sons. I have written about him here.
His new wealth afforded him the opportunity to purchase land in Ayrshire, in 1874, on which he planned to create a fine mansion house.
Soon after his second marriage, Sir William Thomson ~ later elevated to the peerage as Baron Kelvin ~ built his new home, Netherhall House, at Largs, Ayrshire.
The mansion house was largely designed by Thomson himself at a cost of £12,000, and was in the Scottish-baronial style.
£12,000 in 1874 was equivalent to about £1.1 million in 2023.
It has now been converted into apartments.
True to Thomson's love of progress, Netherhall was one of the first houses in the area to be fitted with electric light.
His association with Largs extended over fifty years as a holiday resort and he was well known throughout the district.
The relationship between Lord Kelvin and the local community often proved a close one. It was here, in his beloved Largs, that he would eventually pass away at the age of 83 on December 17, 1907.
It was decided that he should rest "with so many of the other illustrious sons of Britain" in Westminster Abbey.
Lord Kelvin was buried in Westminster Abbey, with national honours, on the 23rd December, 1907, next to Sir Isaac Newton's tomb.
It has now been converted into apartments.
FORMER COACH HOUSE
True to Thomson's love of progress, Netherhall was one of the first houses in the area to be fitted with electric light.
His association with Largs extended over fifty years as a holiday resort and he was well known throughout the district.
The relationship between Lord Kelvin and the local community often proved a close one. It was here, in his beloved Largs, that he would eventually pass away at the age of 83 on December 17, 1907.
It was decided that he should rest "with so many of the other illustrious sons of Britain" in Westminster Abbey.
Lord Kelvin was buried in Westminster Abbey, with national honours, on the 23rd December, 1907, next to Sir Isaac Newton's tomb.
First published in December 2012.
4 comments :
Timothyyou may not realise, but one of the six Houses of the Royal Belfast Academical Institution is named after lord Kelvin. The others, being Pirrie, Larmour, Dill, Stevenson and Jones: we have kept that tradition alive; unlike that College you attended, which seems to change the names of its houses at the drop of a hat!
I wasn't aware of that. I applaud it.
My House was Chase's, incidentally! No idea whether it still exists, or not; must make inquiries.
Interesting about the naming of school houses. I went to Methody and was in Castlereagh House. In all my seven years in MCB it was never mentioned or revealed why it was called Castlereagh. I knew nothing about that particular Lord until many years later. You and I met several years ago. Since then I’ve worked on and now have almost completed, a book about another great product of INST, Sir Samuel Cleland Davidson, and his fabulously successful Sirocco Engineering Works. Another genius that very few in Ireland know anything about, though hopefully my book and the many talk I’ve now given on the subject, will redress that to some extent.
Dear Eric, thank you for reminding me about this. It's more than ten years since I posted it. Tim.
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