William Douglass (engineer, born 1831)

William Douglass (1831 – 10 March 1923) was for twenty-six years an engineer for Trinity House and engineer-in-chief to the Commissioners of Irish Lights from 1878 to 1900.

[1]: ch1 William, born in London, was apprenticed to Robert Stevenson, Civil Engineer working for the Northern Lighthouse Board.

In 1847 Mr Nicholas Douglass was selected by his employers, Trinity House, to erect the first lighthouse on the Bishop Rock on the Isles of Scilly.

The first attempt, designed by the engineer-in-chief, James Walker, decided on a 120-foot-tall (37 m) tower comprising accommodation and a light on top of iron legs, but it was swept away in a storm in 1850.

James Douglass had been his father's assistant but desired to join a firm on the Tyne to gain additional experience, so in 1852 William was appointed in his stead, and the lighthouse was completed in 1858 without loss of life.

[1]: ch2 In October 1859 William was appointed as resident engineer on a new project, Les Hanois Lighthouse on rocks off the south-west coast of Guernsey.

I know of no site or position for a lighthouse which required more skill, or involved more difficulties and dangers, than was the case with the Wolf Rock structure.