Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Neilson, Peter
NEILSON, PETER (1795–1861), poet and mechanical inventor, youngest son of George Neilson, calenderer, was born in Glasgow on 24 Sept. 1795. Educated at Glasgow High School and University, he received a business training in various city offices, and then joined his father in exporting cambric and cotton goods to America. In 1820, on returning from a visit to the United States, he married his cousin, Elizabeth Robertson. From 1822 to 1828 he was in America on business, and amassed a store of information, which he published on his return in ‘Six Years' Residence in America,’ 1828. The loss of his wife about this time turned his thoughts strongly towards religion, and poems on scriptural themes—‘The Millennium’ and ‘Scripture Gems’—which he published in 1834, interested Dr. Chalmers and Professor Wilson.
In 1841 Neilson settled in Kirkintilloch, Dumbartonshire, where a maiden sister managed for him and his family of three daughters and one son. In 1846 he proposed improvements on the life-buoy, which the lords of the admiralty deemed worthy of being patented (Whitelaw, Memoir), but he shrank from the expense. Continuing his literary efforts, he wrote a remarkable little work on slavery, published in 1846, and entitled ‘The Life and Adventures of Zamba, an African King; and his Experiences of Slavery in South Carolina.’ Ostensibly only edited by Neilson, this work in some respects anticipated ‘Uncle Tom's Cabin.’ He also contributed to the ‘Glasgow Herald’ a series of practical articles on ‘Cotton Supply for Britain.’ On 8 Jan. 1848 he wrote a patriotic letter to Lord John Russell, suggesting iron-plated ships, and enclosing a plan of an invention by him. In 1855 he further corresponded on the subject with Lord Panmure and Admiral Earl Hardwicke, and apparently his proposals were adopted, though not formally acknowledged (ib.) After the building of the Warrior and the Black Prince according to his plan, Neilson suggested inside as well as outside plates, and summed up his views in ‘Remarks on Iron-built Ships of War and Iron-plated Ships of War,’ 1861. Shortly afterwards he published another pamphlet, on the defence of unfortified cities such as London. In his latter years he suffered from heart disease, and he died at Kirkintilloch on 3 May 1861, and was interred in the burying-ground of Glasgow Cathedral.
Neilson's ‘Poems,’ edited with memoir by Dr. Whitelaw, appeared in 1870. The pieces in this posthumous volume are vigorously conceived and marked by strong commonsense, but they are not specially poetical. The most ambitious effort in the book, ‘David: a Drama,’ is a somewhat slim expansion of the Bible story.
[Dr. Whitelaw's memoir as in text.]