John Clerk
John Clerk (1728-1812), sometimes known as 'Clerk of Eldin', was a prominent figure in the Scottish Enlighytenment. <ref.John Clerk Significant Scots</ref>He was the sixth son of Sir John Clerk of Penicuik (1676 - 1755) a politician and advocate who had been created a hereditary baronet in 1679, and who became a prominent patron of the arts, including to the artist Allan Ramsay]] (1713-84) and the architect William Adam (1689 - 1748).[1]. His mother was Janet Inglis, daughter of Sir John Inglis of Cramond.
John Clerk enrolled at the University of Edinburgh to study medicine, but abandoned his studies and entered into business. He made his fortune as a merchant and manager of a coal mine, and bought the property of Eldin near Edinburgh. There, he devoted himself to science and art, and became a close friend of James Hutton, David Hume and other leading members of the Scottish Enlightenment, and also became an expert on naval tactics. In his Essay on Naval Tactics (1779, published 1790), Clerk proposed the tactic of "cutting the line" (sailing into the enemy's line of ships and attacking the rear with the whole force of the attacking fleet). Admiral Horatio Nelson used Clerk's work in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, to win the most significant naval battle of the Napoleonic wars.