John Edward Aloysius Steggall (1855-1935) was born in London and attended the City of London School and Trinity College, Cambridge. He graduated Second Wrangler and was first Smith's Prizeman in 1878. He taught as Assistant Master at Clifton College for five terms before becoming Fielden Lecturer at Owens College, Manchester, from 1880-1882. In December 1882 he was appointed Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at University College, Dundee within the University of St Andrews. After university re-organisation in 1895 he continued as Professor of Pure and Applied Mathematics until his retirement in 1933.
Problem solving within and outside mathematics he dealt with in a devastating manner, deft and quick. His professional interest was in the theory of numbers and kinematical geometry but he was equally at home in physics as mathematics, was a connoisseur of music, art and architecture, a passable draughtsman and excellent photographer, woodworker and keen cyclist, a classical and linguistic scholar and he published a book on Perthshire scenery. In Dundee he was actively involved in university politics and administration, helping to set up the Students Union (1886) and serving as assessor to the University Court. He participated in city and church affairs, was co-founder of the Dundee Social Union in 1888 and a regular member of the Dundee School Board.
He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1885), J.P. (1910) and an Honorary Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (1925), Honorary LL.D St Andrews (1933). He married the sister of Sir James Frazer and had two daughters and a son who was killed at the Battle of Jutland, 1916. As an enthusiastic traveller and skilled amateur photographer, he travelled widely in Europe, visiting: Tyrol, Venice, Lausanne, Strasbourg and Brussels in 1895, Normandy and Brittany in 1899, Lucerne in 1901, Milan, Florence and Rome in 1908, Basle in 1922, Bologna in 1928 and Zurich in 1932. He also visited Australia in 1914 and South Africa in 1929.
From the guide to the J.E.A. Steggall photographic collection, 1887-1932, (University of St Andrews)
