Colin Alexander McVean

He was born the first son of The Reverend Donald McVean, minister of the Free Church of Iona and Mull.

After a five-year apprenticeship at Edinburgh, he joined the Hydrographic Office, Admiralty, and was engaged in a survey of the Hebrides under the direction of Captain Henry Charles Otter during 1861-64.

Meanwhile, the Meiji government decided to establish the Ministry of Public Works (Japan) on 12 December 1870 by the advice of Edmund Morel, Chief Engineer of Railway Construction in order to achieve rapid social and industrial development.

After long discussions among the Cabinet members, on 28 September 1871 the government finally established the Public Works Ministry, consisting of 11 departments: railroads, shipyards, lighthouses, mines, an iron and steel industry, telecommunication, civil works, manufacturing, industrial promotion, an Engineering education institution and survey.

While McVean concentrated to design and construct the college buildings together with Henry Batson Joyner, he endeavoured to reunite Yamao with Hugh Matheson via Colin Brown.

[8] Charles Alfred Chastel de Boinville, Anglo-French architect aged 23 arrived at Tokyo in the end of 1872.

In September 1873, McVean and Schaubau visited the Royal Observatory at Charlton to learn how to observe Venus Transit from James Simms.

The minister Ōkubo Toshimichi had a negative idea about the appointment of foreign officers and dismissed high ranking foreign officers including McVean, Richard Henry Brunton (Lighthouse) and Murray Day (Hokaido Development Agency) in 1876.

McVean introduced Bird to his wide circle of acquaintances in Japan so that she could make safe journey.

[21] For the 1888 Glasgow International Exhibition, McVean lent his collection of Japanese arts more than 1,000 items to the Kelvingrove Museum.