Alexander Cowan

[2] The Cowan Family owned the huge Valleyfield paper-works in Penicuik in Midlothian and Sir Walter Scott refers to Alexander's brother Duncan as "Honest Duncan the Paper Manufacturer" in The Fortunes Of Nigel.

He studied physics and chemistry in Edinburgh, and decided to improve the process of paper-making, setting up what was then one of the world's largest mills, which operated for 150 years.

Their first child, Charles, was born in 1801 at their house at 12 Charlotte Street, the first of Cowan's eleven children, eight of whom survived to adulthood.

[3] Cowan moved his family to Edinburgh in 1811,[3] which some accounts connect to the illness of his wife Elizabeth.

[3] Cowan is buried in the Grange Cemetery in Edinburgh against the original west wall close to the monument to Andrew Usher.

His family continued in the paper industry, but his main company of Cowan & Co. was taken over by David Chalmers in the late 19th century.

[7] Among Cowan's philanthropic acts was funding the reglazing of every window on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh,[8] having been disturbed by the poverty he saw there.

As a result, in 1810 the government commandeered Cowan's mills at Valleyfield for use as a prison for captured sailors and "kidnapped foreign civilians".

The two Robert Reid buildings were expanded and converted to residential use for the large Cowan family.

[7] Another great grandson, Robert Craig Cowan (1865-1937) was also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.