Old photograph of Castlecliffe House in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. This house was built in 1869 for prominent chemist Professor Thomas Purdie, who was a Scottish chemist. He was born in Biggar, South Lanarkshire on 27 January 1843, the eldest son of Thomas Purdie, born 1817, died 1886, and his wife Margaret Smith, born 1831, died 1916. The family spent seven years in South America during his youth. His father purchased Castlecliffe in St Andrews around 1870 and, following a conversation with Thomas Henry Huxley, Thomas decided to train as an industrial chemist. Around 1871 he joined the Royal School of Mines under Prof Frankland in London, England, then went to Würzburg University in Germany where he received a doctorate in Chemistry. He spent some time teaching Chemistry in South Kensington and then in Newcastle-under-Lyme. In 1884 he became Professor of Chemistry at St Andrews University. His students included Alexander McKenzie. In 2014 during a clear out at St Andrews an early periodic table wall chart was found, established to have been purchased by Purdie in 1885. He retired in 1909 and died in St Andrews on 14 December 1916. He is buried with his parents in the eastern cemetery extension to St Andrews Cathedral churchyard. The grave lies against the main step in ground level, just below the upper terrace.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
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