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Robert Stirling . b. Dundee 27 May 1812; employed under Robert M’Calmont London, experimenting on rapid production of steam; took out a patent for invention of wire rope which made submarine telegraphy po ible 1840, established with his partners, Liddell and Gordon, works for the manufacture at Gates head-on-Tyne 1840; made the telegraph cable laid between Dover and Calais 25 Sept. 1851, and many other cables; invented the brake-drum and cone for laying cables in deep seas 1853; made half of the first Atlantic cable 1858; gave his 25 inch refracting telescope to the university of Cambridge 2 March 1889; mayor of Gates head 1867–8; F.R.A.S. 1864; F.R.S. 3 June 1875; M.I.M.E. 1879; received Brazilian order of the Rose 1872; D.C.L. Durham 1887; author of Facts relating to the invention of the submarine cable, and to the first cable between Dover and Calais 1882. d. Ferndene, near Gates head 21 April 1889. Proc. of Royal Soc. xlvi , p. xxxiii (1890).