Dr. James Dinwiddie (1746-1815) was a Scottish scientist, astronomer, itinerant lecturer, and natural philosopher during the latter half of the Scottish Enlightenment. Born at Kirkland, parish of Tinwald, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, he attended the Dumfries Academy before entering the University of Edinburgh, where he received an M.A. in 1778. After graduating, Dinwiddie first taught mathematics in Dumfries but soon after began his career as an itinerant lecturer, science popularizer, and experimental demonstrator travelling throughout Ireland, England, and Scotland.

In 1792, Dinwiddie received an honorary Doctor of Law degree from the University of Edinburgh and was invited to be a member of a British delegation to Beijing under the leadership of Lord George Macartney (1737-1806). The 100-member delegation was Britain’s first diplomatic mission to China and included politicians, physicians, artists, scholars, a group of scientists led by Dinwiddie, botanical gardeners, Chinese Catholic priests (as interpreters), as well as secretaries, attachés, valets, and a military escort.

The Macartney Embassy’s main objective was to open trade with China. To encourage the Chinese to buy British goods, the delegation sought to demonstrate the efficacy and prowess of British science and technology and brought with them a number of gifts, including clocks, telescopes, weapons, and a planetarium, which took 18 days for Dinwiddie to assemble. Dinwiddie was also tasked with performing scientific demonstrations, including with a diving bell and hot air balloon.

After the embassy in China failed, Dinwiddie found employment with the East India Company in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), India in 1794. He performed public experimental shows, acted as an advisor on potential manufactures, worked as a private tutor, and lectured on natural and experimental philosophy at Fort William. He was a pioneer in galvanism, and his time in colonial India signalled the emergence of public science in the region.

Dinwiddie left India in 1806 and returned to England. He was elected to the Royal Institution in 1810 and was a member of the Committee of Mathematics, Mechanics, and Mechanical Inventions. He died in North London in 1815.

The Dinwiddie fonds at the University of Guelph contains 110 pieces of correspondence of Dr. James Dinwiddie from 1778 until his death in 1815. The letters illustrate the more practical aspects of Dr. Dinwiddie’s professional and personal life, his travels, and business affairs. The payment of lectures, inquires about books, the lending of money, and discussion of experiments highlights the commonplace elements in his life.

The Dinwiddie letters were acquired through a donation by Philip Melanson of Sackville, Nova Scotia in May 1989 and by his wife, Yvonne Melanson, in May 1997.

Dalhousie University Archives has a much more extensive collection of Dinwiddie papers, including correspondence, journals, lecture notes, scientific journals, notebooks, early experiments, manuscripts, printed material, and also the Journal of W.J. Proudfoot, Dinwiddie's grandson.

The digitization of the Dinwiddie fonds made possible with the support of Professor Kevin James and the Scottish Studies Department.

Digitization: Josh Lehman
Project Leads: Graham Burt, Ashley Shifflett McBrayne