James Beaumont Neilson ( 1792 - 1865 )

Birth: Shettleston, Lanarkshire, England (22 June 1792) Death: Queenshill, Kirkcudbrightshire (18 January 1865) Profession: Civil engineer, inventor of the 'Hot Blast' for which he took out a patent in 1828 Education: Left school at 14 and was apprenticed to an engineer to learn the trade, spent his spare time leraning English grammar, draeing and mathematics.