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Drummond, Thomas

Name: Thomas Drummond

Achievements: Limelight

Born: October 10, 1797; Edinburgh, Scotland

Died: April 15, 1840; Dublin, Ireland (Aged 42)

Field & Discipline: Politics; Engineering; Invention; Engineer; Administrator

Language: English

Father: James Drummond

Mother: Elizabeth Somers (m. 1792)

Siblings: Two elder siblings

Spouse: Mary Kinnaird (m. 1835)

Children: Mary Elizabeth; Emily; Frances

Education: University of Edinburgh (1810-13); Woolwich Cadet School (1813-15)

Life & Times:

After three years at university, Drummond moved to London in order to attend the army cadet school at Woolwich Arsenal, and in 1815 became  an officer in the Royal Engineers.

In 1819, in Edinburgh, Drummond met Colonel Thomas Frederick Colby, and the following year began working with Colby on the Ordnance Survey,  the systematic topographic mapping of Great Britain that had begun in the 18th century under the leadership of such military surveyors as [followed on] Roy*,  while also continuing his studies in mathematics and chemistry under [taught by] Faraday* at the Royal Institution.

Drummond enjoyed working on the national survey, and became interested in the problem of observation during murky weather or at night. In 1820, the Cornish inventor and engineer

Goldsworthy Gurney, had heated  lime (calcium oxide) and magnesia with his oxy-hydrogen blowpipe in an attempt to decompose the substances.  But instead of decomposition, a brilliant white light was produced, which he called ‘limelight.’  Drummond had heard of this discovery, and in early 1825 developed a limelight known as the 'Drummond Light' used during a triangulation survey of Ireland in 1825-32.  

In the autumn of 1825,  at the triangulation points,  Drummond installed lime lights which could be easily seen at night from up to 102 miles, and which, when combined with his second invention (his improved heliostat (or solar reflector), an instrument consisting of a mirror connected to two telescopes, used for directing accurately the rays of light) greatly facilitated the surveying work by day and night.

The Drummond Light, or incandescent calcium light, consisted of a block of calcium oxide (lime) heated to incandescence in a jet of burning oxygen and hydrogen.  This produced a soft, very brilliant light that could be directed and focused. The light was first publicly exhibited at the Tower of London and immediately made a sensation in the scientific world, [his light described by] JFW Herschel*giving a vivid account of the demonstrations.

In 1829 Drummond became involved in tests of  the Drummond Light for use in lighthouses.  Although extremely effective, it was too expensive to operate on such a large scale, and the project was dropped. Limelight proved  ideal for theatres when it was first introduced in 1837, and was in wide use by the 1860s.

For the theatre, a special burner unit was developed, in which a cylindrical block of lime was placed on a spike, raised on a screw thread and slowly turned to present a fresh face to the gas (oxyhydrogen) flame as the lime was used up. Since the brilliant area was very small, the addition of a mirrored reflector give directional control,  directing the light onto the stage from the auditorium, as spotlighting or,  with the use of coloured filters, for the realistic simulation of effects such as sunlight and moonlight, and moving effects such as clouds, water, and fire. 

Lime lights placed at the front of the balcony could also be used for general stage illumination, providing a more natural light than footlights. (The expression "in the limelight" originally referred to the most desirable acting area on the stage, the front and centre, which was brilliantly illuminated by lime lights).

The gas used for the lights was at first kept in flexible bags, but after an accident at Drury Lane Theatre, when a gas bag burst, the gases were stored in iron cylinders. About 1850, a French inventor [inspired] Nollet* of Brussels used a magneto-electric generator to electrolyze water and used the by-products of hydrogen and oxygen in limelights.   Te great disadvantage of limelight was that each light required the almost constant attention of an individual operator, who had to keep adjusting the block of calcium as it burned,  and to tend to the two cylinders of gas fuel.

In 1831 Thomas Drummond had abandoned limelight and had turned to politics and administration. Through political acquaintances,  that year he was appointed as head of the Boundary Commission under the Reform Bill. Two years later, in 1833, he was appointed private secretary to Lord Althorp, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and in December 1835 he was made Under-secretary for Ireland, with a lodge in Phoenix Park, Dublin.

Drummond effectively governed Ireland for the next five years, during a highly volatile and critical period in the country's history. Subsequent to the Catholic Emancipation Act (1829), Irish Catholics (headed by Daniel O'Connell) were attempting to assert their rights in the face of institutionalized prejudice, while Irish Protestants (specifically, the Orangemen) were fighting to prevent them at all costs.

Drummond, who was famous for his impartiality and keen sense of justice, made many important innovations in the government of the country - including the creation of a new police force, the removal of corrupt magistrates and the introduction of a new legal system - while continuously seeking to protect Irish citizens from the violence which had become endemic in encounters between  factional groups and between Irish peasants and the police.

Drummond's aims and conciliatory methods won him much affection from the Irish public, and proved highly successful, with crime levels showing substantial reductions by the late 1830s. In turn he increasingly devoted himself to serving his adopted country - despite having recently married and started a family - and eventually overwork brought his early death.

Extra Connections:  His light was used by [his limelight used by] Uchatius*

He was a colleague of [a colleague of]Robert Stevenson*

Assessment: He changed life in the theatre and at sea with his llimelight.

Oneliner: Thomas Drummond, inventor of limelight

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