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TAIT, William Archer Porter (1866–1929) civil engineer, was born on 25 March 1866 in Edinburgh, second son of Professor Peter Guthrie Tait FRSE and Margaret Archer. His father co-wrote with Lord Kelvin a classic work on physics: Treatise on natural philosophy (1867) and was a pioneer of topology as a mathematical discipline. His papers were collected in 3 volumes and he wrote a well-known textbook on thermodynamics. He met his wife through friendship with her two brothers, and named his second son after the elder brother.

Educated at Edinburgh Academy, William studied engineering at Edinburgh University (1881–1884) under Fleeming **Jenkin, graduating BSc. He then served time as an apprentice fitter with Brown Brothers, hydraulic engineers of Edinburgh until November 1885. In 1885–1887 he was a pupil of A. M. Anderson, MInstCE, and D. A. ***Matheson, working for the contractors on the Lanarkshire and Ayrshire railways.