David Smiles Jerdan

David Smiles Jerdan FRSE (1871–1951) was a Scottish businessman and horticulturist.

Life

The grave of David Smiles Jerdan, Dean Cemetery

He was born on 12 July 1871 in Dennyloanhead in Stirlingshire in Central Scotland. His father was Rev Charles Jerdan, minister of St Michael Street Church in Greenock.

He graduated MA from Glasgow University in 1892.[1] He then did further postgraduate studies at the University of Heidelberg where he gained a PhD and Queen's College in Manchester, where he gained a DSc.

He was Manager of J & G Cox Ltd, glue and gelatine manufacturers at Gorgie Mills in Edinburgh.[2] From here he moved to the linked trade of tanning, becoming Manager of the Tannerie Maroquinerie in Brussels. He later returned to Scotland as Director of A & G Paterson Ltd timber merchants at 60 to 68 Tennant Street in Glasgow.[3]

In 1900, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Sir John Murray, Alexander Crum Brown, Robert Irvine and John Gibson.[4]

He died on 5 December 1951. He is buried in the 20th century north extension to Dean Cemetery in western Edinburgh with his wife, KatherineMcLean Jerdan (1872–1936).

Publications

• The Direct Union of Carbon and Hydrogen (1897) co-written with William Arthur Bone.[5]

References

1. "University of Glasgow :: Story :: Biography of David Smiles Jerdan". universitystory.gla.ac.uk.
2. Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1910–11
3. Glasgow Post Office Directory 1910–11
4. Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
5. Bone, William Arthur; Jerdan, David Smiles (1 January 1897). "III.—The direct union of carbon and hydrogen". Journal of the Chemical Society, Transactions. 71: 41–61. doi:10.1039/CT8977100041 – via pubs.rsc.org.