science

James Macqueen

James Macqueen is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand James Macqueen rather than just read about it. In short: James Macqueen (1778-1870) — sometimes MacQueen — was a Scottish geographer, statistician, political campaigner, pro-slavery activist, banker and businessman, noted for founding the Colonial Bank and the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. An expert on African geography, he advocated the colonisation of that continent many decades before the so-called "Scramble for Africa" (1881-1914).

Key takeaways

James Macqueen belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect James Macqueen to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of James Macqueen from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

James Macqueen (1778-1870) — sometimes MacQueen — was a Scottish geographer, statistician, political campaigner, pro-slavery activist, banker and businessman, noted for founding the Colonial Bank and the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. An expert on African geography, he advocated the colonisation of that continent many decades before the so-called "Scramble for Africa" (1881-1914). He was co-owner and editor of the Glasgow Courier; wrote in London on politics, geography, economics, and general literature; and founded a bank in Mauritius. Although Macqueen had no academic education, professional training or qualifications, his amateur energy and enthusiasm, in several fields, made him a prominent, and controversial figure. He quickly lost interest in many of the projects he started. He had extensive correspondence with the Royal Geographical Society, and many of his memoirs were published in its Journal and Proceedings.

Biography Macqueen was born in Crawford, Lanarkshire, Scotland, in 1778 and had become manager of a sugar estate on Grenada by 1797. The Admiralty postal sailing brigs were considered to be slow and unreliable by the colonial community, so on his return to Glasgow in 1830 he started a campaign for a steamship mail service to the West Indies. The government eventually decided to fund the project, and in 1839 the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company was granted a royal charter. In 1840 the Admiralty awarded it a contract to deliver mail to the West Indian colonies, with the first departure from Falmouth, Cornwall, on 3 January 1842. The mail network expanded and the company operated services within the West Indies and to New York and Halifax. Macqueen died on 14 May 1870 at 10 Norton Street, Kensington (some sources say at Bury Street, St James). He died, aged 92, in poverty, and his 59 year old widow Jean was forced to survive on charitable handouts from fellows of the Royal Geographical Society.

See also Mungo Park Mary Prince Thomas Pringle

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Goodwin, Gordon (1893). "Macqueen, James". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 35. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 273–274.

External links Works by James Macqueen at Project Gutenberg

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with James Macqueen

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what James Macqueen claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to James Macqueen before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about James Macqueen ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of James Macqueen

In research: James Macqueen appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses James Macqueen in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: James Macqueen is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1778 births, 1870 deaths, 19th-century Scottish businesspeople, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for James Macqueen outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study James Macqueen in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what James Macqueen means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain James Macqueen out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is James Macqueen in simple terms?

Why does James Macqueen matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study James Macqueen?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on James Macqueen.