The History of Broughty Ferry

Thomas Dick, Christian Philosopher and Astronomer.

By Professor Hugh M. Begg

Introduction

In the graveyard at the former St Aidan’s Church in Broughty Ferry there is a red granite obelisk on which is inscribed “In memory of Thomas Dick, LLD Author of the Christian Philosopher, etc., Born 1774, Died 1857.” Although almost forgotten by the turn of the twentieth century Thomas Dick was renowned, particularly in the first half of the nineteenth, for his prolific writings on astronomy and practical philosophy. These publications combined advances in science with some of the prevailing Christian teachings and did much to defuse the tension between the two in Victorian times. Dick was also a staunch advocate for the abolition of slavery, and his home in Broughty Ferry was visited by some of the key figures in the abolitionist movement, including William Lloyd Garrison and Elihu Barritt as well as the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe. The missionary David Livingstone said Dick’s work The Philosophy of a Future State inspired him more than any other book except the Bible.
Thomas Dick was born in the Hiltown in Dundee on 24th November 1774.  Both his parents were members of the Presbyterian United Secession Church of Scotland and Dick remained a devout Christian throughout his life.  His father, Mungo Dick, wanted Thomas to take over his business as a small manufacturer of linen which was then a flourishing trade based in the Hilltown.  Had he done so, Thomas might well have had a successful career in that growing industry perhaps as a merchant of the “middling kind”.  However, Dick’s life was to take a very different route.  On 18th August 1783 at the age of nine, young Thomas saw a meteor shower which instilled in him a lifelong passion for astronomy.  He obtained from neighbours some old spectacle lenses, ground them to the proper shape for a primitive telescope, mounted them in pasteboard tubes, and began his observations of the heavens.  
A severe attack of smallpox followed by measles confirmed Thomas in the view that, for him, mental exertion was to be preferred to manual labour and at the age of 16 he became an assistant teacher at a school in Dundee.  In 1794 he went on to study theology and philosophy at the University of Edinburgh where he supported himself by offering private tuition.  In 1801, having completed the regular curriculum of a student of divinity for the Secession Church, he was licensed to preach.  He then spent almost 3 decades as a teacher in schools in Stirling, Methven, and Perth.  In Methven he devoted considerable time and energy to “popular improvement of the labouring classes, including a promotion of the study of science, the foundation of a people's library, and what was an early form of a mechanic's institute. 
In 1823, while a teacher in Perth, Dick published The Christian Philosopher, or the Connection of Science and Philosophy with Religion.  This book was intended to “illustrate the connection of science with religion and with the moral improvement of mankind.”  In that book he made a link between the advances in rational thinking of the Scottish Enlightenment of the mid and late eighteenth century and the strong moral and religious ethos of the early nineteenth. Study of his work allowed many of his readers to feel that they had "squared the circle" between prevailing fundamentalist religious teachings and the current advances in science and technology.  The eighth edition appeared in 1842 and it had a lasting influence, despite some bizarre statements including Dick’s calculation that the solar system, as understood by him, had nearly 22 trillion inhabitants!
In 1827 The Philosophy of the Future State was first published.  Significantly, Dick dedicated the book to Thomas Chalmers the advocate of social reform who was by then Professor of Moral Philosophy at St Andrews University. The book was widely read and there has even been speculation that its content influenced the thinking of Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of the Latter-Day Saints (the Mormons).  Smith certainly had a personal copy.
Something of Dick’s philosophy can be gleaned from the following quotations from this seminal work:  In the preface he set out his general approach “In elucidating the train of thought which is here prosecuted, (the author) has brought forward, without hesitation, the discoveries of modem science, particularly  those which relate to the scenery of the heavens; convinced, that all the manifestations of himself which the Creator has permitted us to contemplate, are intended to throw light on the plan of his moral government in relation both to our present and our future destiny.”
On the vexed question of the immortality of man he wrote “If he is destined to an eternal existence, an immense importance must attach to all his present affections, actions, and pursuits; and it must be a matter of infinite moment that they be directed in such a channel as will tend to carry him forward in safety to the felicities of a future world.” On the role of conscience in guiding moral judgments his view was that “We are… irresistibly led to the conclusion that the voice of conscience….is the voice of God, declaring his abhorrence of wicked deeds and the punishment which they deserve, and that his providence presides over the actions of moral agents, and gives intimations of the future destiny of those haughty spirits who obstinately persist in their trespasses.”      
In 1827, at the age of 53, Dick gave up school teaching to concentrate on his writing.  He built a one storey cottage, fitted out with an observatory and library, on Hill Street overlooking Broughty Ferry on land which was, as yet, beyond the established built up area.  He named it Fort Hill and he subsequently had its walls extended and erected a two-storey wing. A later writer noted that “The little plot of ground around his lofty dwelling was a barren irregular spot, where nothing would grow until eight thousand wheelbarrow loads of soil had been laid upon its surface by the indefatigable savant himself”. The building of the house in what was then a rather isolated spot was a source of wonder to others, but it was agreed amongst them that he wanted to be “near the stars”.
In the following years Dick wrote an astonishing array of papers and books exploring scientific, philosophical, and religious topics and these which were widely read in the United Kingdom and the United States.  Each of these noted in its introduction that the author was resident in “Broughty Ferry near Dundee”.  (This was, of course, correct since Broughty Ferry was not yet incorporated into Dundee).  In these books Dick continued in his attempts to reconcile science and religion, and promoted his belief that the greatness of God could best be appreciated by the study of astronomy.  
In addition to his labours at home Dick made study visits to London, Cambridge and Paris visiting observatories and colleges of learning.  In 1832 inrecognition of his influence on thinking in the United States the honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him, in absentia, by the Senatus Academicus of Union College, Schenectady.  Dick was elected a member of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1852. 
Dick must have been keenly aware of the consequences of rapid industrialisation and the issues arising there and elsewhere.  As a reformer he was an early advocate of town planning. He was reported as recommending the abolition of densely populated localities, and the laying out of towns on a more liberal scale.  Streets should be tree lined and none should be less than eighty feet in width.  Larger and more sanitary dwellings for working people were to be the norm along with more in the way of open spaces and public gardens.  In addition, he advocated the establishment of free libraries, hygienic dress reforms and reforms in diet.  Not surprisingly, he favoured the erection of observatories in all towns and populous villages. 
Despite the success of his books Thomas was a poor businessman.  For instance, he received a single payment £150 pounds (less than £10,000 at today’s prices) for The Christian Philosopher while the profits to the publisher from its eight editions were estimated to be over £20,000 (well over £1 million in today’s prices).  In the end, Dick and his family were reduced to relative poverty and forced into the garret of Fort Hill after renting out the lower portion of the house.This state of affairs was only briefly alleviated by the amount collected by a private subscription amounting to almost £223 which “was disbursed in such a manner as to add to the comfort of the Christian Philosopher in his declining years.”  In 1855, Dick was awarded a small pension by Queen Victoria, who was “graciously pleased to grant and allow unto Thomas Dick, Esquire, Doctor of Civil Law, of Broughty Ferry, near Dundee, a yearly Pension of Fifty Pounds in consideration of the eminent services which he has rendered to literature and science.” (This would amount to a spending power of well under £2 per day at today’s prices)
After living for over thirty years in Broughty Ferry, where he had “quietly prosecuted his astronomical studies, engaging in the labours of an unostentatious benevolence, and enjoying the respect of all around him” DrDick died on Wednesday 29th July 1857 at the age of 83.
Very soon after, during a visit to Dundee on 24th September 1857, David Livingstone, then aged 44, was granted the Freedom of Dundee by the Town Council.  Quoting from his speech responding to the honour, the Perth and Cupar Advertiser noted “In passing along the road to Dundee, I was reminded by the name Broughty Ferry as one of the leadings of Providence by which I am now before you this day.  For Thomas Dick, who lived in Broughty Ferry, wrote several works.  One of them was on the philosophy of the future state and that work was the means of enlightening my mind on an all important subject - that subject which concerns us all - the reality of a future state and the necessity of devoting ourselves to Him that gave up his life for us.”  He ended his speech by saying of his “friend and benefactor” Dr Dick “I feel under great obligation to that philosopher and nothing would have given me greater pleasure than to seen him at this time, but he is gone from among us.”
Thomas Dick was married three times.  He left a widow, a son and two daughters but sadly was predeceased by two grandchildren.  His only son, Thomas, was a talented student at St Andrews University and, following in his father’s footsteps, he became a teacher.  He was employed as the English master in the Tay Square Seminaries, now the High School of Dundee, for 28 years before retiring in 1859. Again following his father’s example in Methven, Thomas took a keen interest in the Watt Institute, the precursor of Dundee University, which had been established in 1824 as a Mechanics Institution “to afford the working classes an opportunity of acquiring information at their leisure hours”. Thomas’ sister Margaret married Thomas McNab who was also a teacher at the Tay Square Seminaries.  A memorial to her and to their children is to be found a few metres to the east of the memorial for Thomas Dick in St Aidan’s churchyard which at that time, was still referred to as the Chapel of Ease at Broughty Ferry.
That monument for Thomas Dick, of polished Peterhead granite, is an obelisk 14 feet high mounted on a pedestal.  It was designed by William Scott, the town architect of Dundee, as a private commission and executed by a Mr Wright, a monumental mason in Aberdeen.  Funding for this handsome memorial was found from the residue of the private subscription raised in 1850.  In 1873 W. Norrie could write in his Dundee Celebrities of the Nineteenth Century that “The ground is tastefully laid out with plants, and enclosed with chains, hung upon small obelisk pillars, in harmony with the monument.”  A photograph taken in 1911 shows these still in place but a century later there is no trace of these embellishments.
On the death of Thomas Dick’s widow, Fort Hill was sold in 1874 to the architect and surveyor, Alexander Hutcheson, who lived there with his mother.  The property was renamed Herschel House after the pioneering astronomer who, along with his sister Caroline, built numerous powerful telescopes and made an array of astronomical discoveries. The house remained a place of pilgrimage for those who revered Dick and his contributions to theology and astronomy; and an American visitor in 1911 received “a most hospitable reception”.   The house is now 8-10 Hill Street and maintains its Regency south facing façade and the cast iron balustrade to the entrance steps.
Although Thomas Dick had refused to go into his father’s business, a lasting memorial to him in the form of the Mills observatory was financed by John Mills, a manufacturer of linen and twine in Dundee.  Born in 1806, as a young man Mills had been greatly influenced by Dick’s writings; and, later, he built a private observatory on the slopes of Dundee Law, near to what is now Adelaide Place.  On his death in 1889 he left a substantial bequest to be used for the construction of a public observatory.  After considerable delays, Balgay Hill was chosen as the most suitable site and the present building was opened on 28th October 1935.  There are two monuments to Thomas Dick, the famous writer on philosophy, science and religion: one on Balgay Hill at the west end of Dundee and the other at the east end of the city, in Broughty Ferry.

Selected Sources and Some Further Reading

Boase C W (1834), Letter supporting the building of a hall at the Watt Institute 3 April 1834 www.ninetradesofdundee.co.uk
Brashear J A (1913), A Visit to the Home of Dr Thomas Dick, Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, pages 19-30.
Littles Living Age (1859), Volumes 60-63, Cornell University Archive
Miskell L and C A Whatley (1999), Juteopolis in the Making: Linen and the Industrial Transformation of Dundee, Textile History, Vol 30(2) pp176-197
Nisbet J W (1962), Thomas Chalmers and the Economic Order, Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Volume 9, Issue 2, pages 151–157
Norrie W (1873), Dundee Celebrities of the Nineteenth Century being a series of biographies of distinguished or noted persons etc. Norrie, Dundee.
Perth and Cupar Advertiser 24 September 1857
Smith J V (1983), Reason, Revelation and Reform: Thomas Dick of Methven and the Improvement of Society by the Diffusion of Knowledge, Journal of the History of Education Society, Volume 12, Issue 4, pages 255-270
White G (1973), David Livingstone in Search of Beauty, Scottish Geographical Magazine, Volume 89, Issue 3, pages 158-161