On this day in 1772

Robert Stevenson was born in Glasgow and grew up in relative poverty following the death of his father – until, in his mid-teens, his mother remarried. Stevenson’s new stepfather, Thomas Smith, was an engineer with the Northern Lighthouse Board, which is responsible for lighthouses in Scotland and the Isle of Man. Thus, the course of Stevenson’s life was set.

Within four years he was building his own lighthouse on the River Clyde. Almost twenty others would follow over the course of his life – as would the idea of making the lights blink in unique sequences to assist in mariners’ navigation.

Bell Rock Lighthouse

His most ambitious project was Bell Rock Lighthouse, on a rock of that name, off the Angus coast, that is entirely covered except at low tide. The rock was an acknowledged danger that caused the sinking of dozens of ships every year, but the complexity and cost of erecting a lighthouse on it meant that not everyone was in favour of tackling the problem.

In the House of Commons in 1806, The Lord Advocate of Scotland, reminded the House that “seldom a vessel came near [Bell Rock] without being almost instantly dashed to pieces; and that from the circumstance of its being covered at half tide, there was hardly an instance where such an occurrence took place, but every soul perished.”

Charge levied

Part of the objection focused on the fact that the money to fund the lighthouse would, technically, be going to Scotland, upon which it was promptly pointed out that any lighthouse on Bell Rock would be of equal value to ships sailing from Scarborough and Hull. Very soon after this, the committee debating the merits of its construction voted in favour, and decreed that “there be paid for every British vessel passing in the line pointed out, being between Peterhead and Berwick-upon-Tweed, a duty of one and a half pence per ton, and for every foreign vessel so passing three pence per ton” to recoup the costs of construction.

 

...and on this day in 1949

George Orwell wrote his groundbreaking novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, on Jura. It was published on this day in 1949 by Secker & Warburg. It was the last book Orwell would complete in his lifetime.

While moving to Jura’s Barnhill farmhouse would have removed many of the distractions of his former life as a journalist, allowing him to make progress on the book, Orwell’s decision was more likely influenced by a need to escape city living, and the plentiful fresh air on the island. He was, at the time, suffering a serious lung disease, which developed into tuberculosis.

He travelled between Jura and London several times over the course of three years, bringing the incomplete manuscript with him on each occasion. He finished his second draft at the end of 1948 and sent it to his publisher, then left Jura the following month, never to return.

Nineteen Eighty-Four’s success

The book was published in 1949 and became perhaps his most influential work, introducing the concepts of Newspeak, thoughtcrime, and idea of a Big Brother figure that watches over and monitors everything the population says, does, and to an extent even thinks.

Although sales were far better than Orwell expected, right from the very start, he didn’t live long enough to fully appreciate the power of his work. He died in 1950 when a blood vessel burst in his lung. He was 46. The farmhouse where he wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four is now rented out as visitor accommodation.