William Douglass

William Douglass (1831 – 10 March 1923) was for twenty-six years an engineer for Trinity House and engineer-in-chief to the Commissioners of Irish Lights from 1878 to 1900. He built a number of offshore lighthouses and was responsible for the design of the second Fastnet Rock lighthouse.

Early life His father was Nicholas Douglass, who in 1839 was engaged by Trinity House in London as a constructive engineer, rising in the course of time to be its superintending engineer. His two sons, James and William, would accompany their father to his place of work from an early age. A grand stone-laying ceremony took place on 14 August 1860 before a large crowd on local boats. the light was first lit in January 1870.

George Robert Stephenson (a future President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and a member of the firm of Robert Stephenson & Co.) commented: "I have passed the Wolf Rock many times under great trepidation. I know of no site or position for a lighthouse which required more skill, or involved more difficulties and dangers, than was the case with the Wolf Rock structure."

The next project was the Great Basses Reef Lighthouse, designed by brother James, William was appointed executive engineer and set sail to Ceylon to work on the lighthouse, arriving in December 1869. Two steam ships, each capable of carrying 120 tonnes of stone and equipped with lifting gear for the 2–3 ton stones arrived and the first stone, which had been quarried in Scotland, was laid in December 1870. By late 1872 the masonry was complete and the light installed in March 1873. The cost amounted to £63,000 of which £40,000 had been expended to no result before Trinity House was involved. William was praised for his courage and ability. He spent time on the rock supervising the first stones, but his health deteriorated and in 1900 he resigned with the tower still incomplete.