JOHN LOUDON

See also:

• JOHN LOUDON MCADAM (1756-1836)

MCADAM (1756-1836)  , Scottish inventor, who gave his name to the system of road-making known as " macadamizing," was born at Ayr, Scotland, on the 21st of September 1756, being descended on his father's side from the clan of the McGregors . While at school he constructed a model road-section . In 1770 he went to New York, entering the counting-house of a merchant uncle . He returned to Scotland with a considerable fortune in 1783, and purchased an estate at Sauhrie, Ayrshire . Among other public offices he held that of road trustee . The highways of Great Britain were at this time in a very bad condition, and McAdam at once began to consider how to effect reforms . At his own expense he began at Sauhrie, despite much opposition, a series of experiments in road-making . In 1798 he removed to Falmouth, where he had received a government appointment, and continued his experiments there . His general conclusion was that roads should be constructed of broken stone (see ROADS) . In 1815, having been appointed surveyor-general of the Bristol roads, he was able to put his theories into practice . In 1819 he published a Practical Essay on the Scientific Repair and Preservation of Roads, followed, in 182o, by the Present State of Road-making . As the result of a parliamentary inquiry in 1823 into the whole question of road-making, his views were adopted by the public authorities, and in 1827 he was appointed general surveyor of roads .

In pursuing his investigations he had travelled over

thirty thousand miles of road and expended over £5000 . Parliament recouped him for his expenses and gave him a handsome gratuity, but he declined a proffered knighthood . He died at Mofft, Dumfries-shire, on the 26th of November 1836 .