William Smith, Mr. William Brown, and Mr. Thomas Douglas being the other three.
Lady Campbell is a daughter of the late Mr. Henry Bannerman of Manchester, founder of the well-known firm of Henry Bannerman & Sons. It is a coincidence worthy of notice that the progenitors of the Bannerman family, with whom throughout the greater part of his life Sir James has been so closely identified, were also Perthshire farmers, occupying a comparatively humble rank in life.
Of Sir James Campbell"s family, the eldest son, Mr. James A. Campbell, younger of Stracathro (who is married to a daughter of Sir Morton Peto, the eminent contractor), now administers his father"s interest in the business. His other and younger son, Mr. Henry Campbell, has, since 1868, represented the Stirling Burghs in Parliament, and now occupies a responsible post in the Government of his country as Financial Secretary in the War Office.
In his private capacity, Sir James is genial, accessible, and full of dry, pawky humour. He is in his proper element when entertaining a company of his friends, either at his town residence in Bath Street, or at his more delightful country mansion of Stracathro, near Brechin.
Although upwards of eighty years of age, he is in the full possession of all his faculties, his sight alone excepted, and even his sense of vision is sufficiently retained to enable him to find his way in the most crowded thoroughfares of the city.
MR. JAMES YOUNG OF KELLY.
The whole range of industrial biography does not present a more signally successful career than that of Mr. James Young; nor can we find, in all the annals of aspiring genius, a more wonderful example of the ultimate triumph of mind over matter.
The origin of the inventor of paraffin oil was comparatively obscure. He was born in the Drygate of Glasgow--a street on which the operations of the City Improvement Trust have effected a wonderful transformation--where his father was a working cabinetmaker. After receiving what little schooling his parents were able to afford, Mr.
Young commenced to a.s.sist his father--who had by this time established himself as his own master in the Calton--and while so employed he took to the study of Chemistry. For some time he attended the lectures of Professor Graham, the late Master of the Mint (to whom a monument has been erected by his ill.u.s.trious pupil in George Square) at the Andersonian University, and he showed such apt.i.tude for science, that in a remarkably short time he became Mr. Graham"s cla.s.s a.s.sistant. In this capacity Mr. Young continued for seven years, and, as his subsequent career amply showed, he did not fail to improve his opportunities. After leaving the Andersonian, he followed Mr. Graham to London, when the latter was appointed to the Professorship of Chemistry in London University, and he continued to be a.s.sociated with his old friend and master until he accepted the position of manager of Muspratt"s Chemical Works at Newton, near Liverpool. Here he continued for four-and-a-half years, improving, of course, his acquaintance with the practical bearings of his favourite science, especially in regard to the manufacture of alkali and bleaching powder, the staple products of Muspratt"s works. Mr. Young afterwards removed to Manchester, where he undertook a responsible position in Tennant"s Chemical Works--a branch of Tennant"s of Glasgow. This would be in the year 1843. While employed in Manchester he received from Dr. Lyon Playfair, whose acquaintance he had made while in the Andersonian University, a communication with reference to the existence of a petroleum spring in Derbyshire. This may almost be said to have been the turning point in Mr. Young"s career. Dr.
Playfair stated that in his brother-in-law"s coal mine in Derbyshire there was a large quant.i.ty of petroleum, and he proposed that Mr. Young should investigate the mine, and judge if anything could be made out of it. A commission so responsible, and involving the exercise of so much scientific skill, was just suited to Mr. Young"s fancy. He went and examined the springs, found petroleum dropping from the roof of the mine over the coal, and the result was that he took a lease of the spring, and worked the petroleum with the view to making it profitable. We may here explain that petroleum is of different kinds, although in all its diverse forms it retains the same qualities. It is an oleagenous substance, naturally evolved from the earth, and may be found in all degrees of thickness, from a very light substance found in some parts of Persia, to a thick viscid substance more indigenous to Britain. Before taking a lease of the petroleum spring, Mr. Young suggested the advisability of Tennant"s people taking it up, but they said it was too small a matter for them. Mr. Young, however, in 1848, commenced to work the spring for himself, producing two different oils--one a thick oil for lubricating, and the other a thin oil for lamp burning. In course of time it became evident that the petroleum was almost worked out, and Mr.
Young directed his attention to finding an artificial subst.i.tute for the natural oil. He had previously held the idea that the petroleum might be produced by the action of heat on the coal and the vapour going up into the sandstone to be condensed. He made a great many experiments in retorts, with the view of testing the practicability of this idea, and the results obtained were very various. He had no fixed data to guide him, and he sometimes got one thing, sometimes another. At last, however, success rewarded his labours, and he was ent.i.tled to exclaim--"Eureka!" Out of a cannel that came to be mixed with soda ash he obtained a quant.i.ty of liquid that contained paraffin. In the beginning of 1850, Mr. Bartholomew, of the City and Suburban Gas Works, Glasgow, showed Mr. Young some specimens of the Boghead coal, with which he renewed his experiments, distilling the mineral at a low temperature, until he evolved a considerable quant.i.ty of crude paraffin. Ultimately, Mr. Young, Mr. Meldrum, and Mr. Binney, to whom the discovery was imparted at the Edinburgh meeting of the British a.s.sociation, in 1850, resolved on erecting works at Bathgate, in the centre of the Torbanehill coal district, for the manufacture of paraffin. Before setting out on this venture, however, Mr. Young took care to protect his invention by securing a patent. In 1851 the Bathgate works, which originally consisted of only two or three retorts, were set agoing, and from that time until the present hour their success has been uninterrupted. It is worth while mentioning that Mr. Young, during the whole course of his experiments, derived no advice or a.s.sistance whatever from the experience or conclusions of others who had preceded him in the same phase of chemical science, and that he had never either heard of or seen Reichenbach"s letter to Dumas, upon which the claims of the German chemist to have been the original discoverer of paraffin were based. It is now generally admitted that Reichenbach was the real discoverer of paraffin. He found it as an ingredient in the tar obtained by distilling beechwood, as far back as 1830. What Reichenbach only dreamed about and hoped for, however, Mr. Young practically realised; and to our townsman is due the credit of having been the first to prepare paraffin as a commercial article from mineral sources.
The exact nature and properties of shale was the subject of a remarkable trial in the Court of Session soon after Mr. Young began to work the raw material at Bathgate. The proprietor of the estate of Torbanehill, Mr.
Gillespie, disputed with the lessee, Mr. Russell, of Falkirk, affirming that the valuable mineral called shale was not _coal_, and that the working of it was therefore not included in Mr. Russell"s lease.
Subsequently, Mr. Young had several lawsuits against parties who had infringed his patent, one being an action against the Clydesdale Chemical Company, in which, the jury gave a unanimous verdict for Mr.
Young, the defendants paying large sums as costs and damages. Another was an action against Mr. E. W. Ferney, of Saltney, near Chester, who had established works on Mr. Young"s principle, and would not be bound by the decisions p.r.o.nounced in previous cases. In the spring of 1864, after a trial which lasted nearly forty days, judgment was again given in favour of Mr. Young, who claimed 15,000 of professional expenses alone, in addition to a royalty of 3d. per gallon of oil made in contravention of his patent rights.
The monopoly carried on by Mr. Young and his partners was broken down in October, 1864, by the expiry of the patent rights, and the dissolution of the partnership, and the Bathgate works subsequently pa.s.sed into the hands of a limited liability company, by whom they are still owned and controlled, Mr. Young continuing to hold a large share, and the position of general manager. The amount paid for the works and plant by the new company was 450,000, and we believe Mr. Young took shares to the extent of one-fourth of that amount; Mr. Pender, of Minard, the next largest shareholder, holding stock to the extent of 70,000 more. The idea of erecting new works on a larger scale, and with more improved and modern appliances, in the West Calder district, was meanwhile conceived by Mr.
Young. He selected a site on the estate of Addiewell, a mile west from the village of West Calder, extending to fully fifty acres of ground.
Here he erected works that are still unrivalled in point of extent, and of which it may be said that they form an apt commentary on their projector"s energy, intelligence, and enterprise. There being no accommodation in West Calder for a large body of workpeople, Mr. Young"s first care was to erect suitable dwelling-houses. Very soon a new village of respectable proportions sprang into being, and the chemical works were pushed forward with equal celerity. The arrangement of Addiewell Chemical Works is admirably calculated for their purpose. They cover nearly a half of the entire site, the buildings as well as the mechanical appliances being on a gigantic scale. The retort sheds are upwards of 200 yards in length taken together, and each shed contains a double row of retorts. Altogether, there are no less than 354 retorts, capable of distilling more than 3000 tons of shale per week, and producing 120,000 gallons of crude oil, which yields 50,000 to 60,000 gallons of burning oil, in addition to about 12 tons of refined paraffin oil and a large quant.i.ty of lubricating oil. Each of the condensers contains several miles of piping. The main pipe, which collects the vapours from the retorts, is nearly a yard in diameter. One and a quarter million cubic feet of gas are manufactured at the works every day. Upwards of 1000 hands are employed. In the shale-pits adjoining, four hundred miners are regularly at work. The pits are conveniently near to the Addiewell Works, none of them being more than two miles off.
A network of railway lines communicate with the various shale-pits, and five locomotives are regularly employed in the transit of minerals. A school, under Government inspection, is attached to the works, and the employes are exceptionably well off for house accommodation.
Within the limits of this article we cannot do full justice to the enormous industry of which Mr. Young is the founder. It is even claimed for Mr. Young"s little factory at Alfreton that it was the parent, not only of the Scotch mineral oil trade, but also of that of America; for oil had never been distilled to produce an article of commerce until he commenced to work his patent there. From such a small beginning has arisen, within the short s.p.a.ce of twenty-three years, one of the most important and extensive industries in the world. At the present time there are in Scotland altogether 65 oil-works, at 17 of which crude oil is manufactured and refined ready for the market. At 38 other works the crude oil alone is produced, and although most of the crude oil so made is refined at other works in Scotland, a not inconsiderable quant.i.ty is sent to the Welsh refiners, while some of it is sent to the Continent.
Of the remaining works, 16 refine the crude oil only. There are altogether 3804 retorts in operation, both vertical and horizontal. It is a moot point, which is now engaging the attention of those in the trade, whether vertical or horizontal retorts are the best suited for the purposes in view. At Mr. Young"s works, which are the largest and most important in Scotland, nothing but vertical retorts are used, it being considered that they possess an advantage over the horizontal kind in respect of their continuous feeding, but the latter are likewise very largely used. Of the 3404 retorts, however, there are seldom more than 3000 at work together. The remainder are usually standing idle, on account of repairs or some other cause. The average weekly production of crude oil at the Scotch works is nearly 120,000 gallons, and the number of men engaged in the trade in its various departments is estimated at little short of 6500. a.s.suming, as we may fairly do, that 3000 retorts are regularly at work, they will yield 21,800,000 gallons of crude oil, and distil 730,000 tons of shale annually; or, in other words, they will distil 13,000 to 14,000 tons of shale weekly. From the crude oil thus distilled there will be produced something like 10,000,000 gallons of refined burning oil annually, besides crude solid paraffin, and other products, such as naptha and lubricating oils. It is further calculated that the average wages paid in connection with this industry will reach between 400,000 and 500,000 per annum. The districts in which the manufacture is carried on are situated in Midlothian, Ayrshire, Lanarkshire, Fifeshire, and Linlithgowshire. The largest works are in the Midlothian and Linlithgowshire districts, the Fifeshire and Ayrshire works being comparatively limited in extent, and chiefly confined to the manufacture of crude oil. Some of the princ.i.p.al works have been considerably extended of late.
Mr. Young is distinguished for his public munificence and private philanthropy. Many a young man who has attained a respectable and influential position is indebted to Mr. Young for his first start in life. As a ready and effectual means towards promoting a thirst for knowledge, and an acquaintance with the practical bearings of the science to which he is himself so much indebted, he founded, about three years ago, a chair of technical chemistry in the Andersonian University.
Previously the students attending the chemistry cla.s.ses under the late Professor Penny had no opportunity of making themselves familiar with the application of the principles of the science to arts and manufactures; a knowledge of the principles themselves was all that they could attain. A man may be the greatest proficient in the knowledge of the principles of chemical science, and yet be utterly ignorant of how bleaching powder, chromate of potash, or soda are made. Thus it was with the Chemical Chair at the Andersonian until Mr. Young, by his munificent bequest of 10,000 for the foundation of a Chair of Technical Chemistry, established a connection between the scientific chemist and the workshop. The first occupant of the chair, Herr Bischof, commenced his duties during last summer, and the number of students attending his cla.s.s has already exceeded all expectations. The foundation of nine bursaries, each worth 50 per annum, is certainly an inducement to perseverance which is not every day placed within the reach of poor students; and considering the multiform phases of chemical science, and the comparatively limited extent to which they have hitherto been developed, there is no saying to what results Mr. Young"s bequest may serve to lead.
Although so far advanced in life, Mr. Young continues to labour with as much zest and enthusiasm as ever in the field of chemistry. It is to him a labour of love. His mind is of that vigorous and active disposition that cannot indulge in the repose to which the successful labours of an arduous life invariably lead. Within the last few months he has given to the world a new process for the manufacture of soda, which will probably introduce an important revolution in the manufacture of alkali, and enable carbonate of soda to be produced at something like one-fourth of its present cost.
It is a fitting recognition and reward of Mr. Young"s great discoveries and enterprise that he should have ama.s.sed one of the largest fortunes that was ever realized by individual effort within a similarly short period. Some years ago he acquired the beautiful estate of Kelly, at Wemyss Bay, which he has greatly improved and adorned. He owns also one of the most handsome yachts on the Clyde, which has been named the "Nyanza," in honour of Mr. Young"s most intimate friend--Dr.
Livingstone, the African traveller. Dr. Livingstone and Mr. Young were fellow-students at the Andersonian University, and their friendship has remained unbroken since that time. It is interesting to note that it was Dr. Livingstone who laid the foundation-stone of Mr. Young"s new works at West Calder, and it was a brother of Dr. Kirk of Zanzibar who superintended the Addiewell works for some time after they were built.
Mr. Young has never taken any active part in political or munic.i.p.al affairs, but he is identified with various scientific and literary societies; and for the last four years he has been President of the Andersonian University. In social life he is kindly, warm-hearted, and genial; and these qualities shine most conspicuously in his own family circle, or while he is entertaining a company of his numerous friends.
MR. GEORGE BURNS.
The commercial annals of the West of Scotland are full of interest. They ill.u.s.trate a prosperity that is almost without parallel. Macaulay"s New Zealander is not likely to plant his foot on Glasgow Bridge for many generations to come, or if he does he will witness a scene totally unlike that for which the historian had prepared him. In all our staple industries we are advancing with gigantic strides. Shipping and shipbuilding are especially conspicuous for their steady and rapid development. As a shipping port Glasgow stands second to none in the United Kingdom, Liverpool alone excepted. It was not always so. So late as the beginning of the eighteenth century there were only about a dozen vessels belonging to the port, their aggregate tonnage amounting to no more than 1000 tons. More than any other river in the world, the Clyde has triumphed over natural obstacles and drawbacks. Originally the estuary of the Clyde was so shallow that no vessel of any size could come further up than Port-Glasgow. It was considered a great achievement when, in 1801, craft of 40 tons burden were enabled to touch at the Broomielaw. A story is told of a daring navigator who, towards the close of last century, built a vessel of 30 tons burden for the purpose of exploring "the wee bit burn ca"d the Clyde." As a reward for his enterprise and daring, he was presented with the freedom of the city on reaching the harbour of Glasgow. Thanks to the fostering care and ceaseless exertions of the Clyde Navigation Trustees, vessels of the largest tonnage can now come up to the Broomielaw; and the port of Glasgow can lay claim to some of the largest and most magnificent merchant vessels afloat. A rare conjunction of private and public enterprise brought about these results. From the time that Henry Bell"s _Comet_ appeared on the scene in 1812, until the present, the Clyde has occupied a pre-eminent position in the records of the progress of steam navigation. In 1841 the number of vessels belonging to the port of Glasgow was 431, with an aggregate of 95,619 tons. At the present time there are 895 vessels belonging to the port, their total tonnage being 433,016 tons! These figures speak for themselves. They do not indicate a merely natural evolution. Hard work, skilful and energetic application of available resources, and well concerted plans, were necessary to bring about such an era of prosperity; and these conditions of success were supplied by such men as Mr. George Burns, who has been identified most closely for more than half-a-century with this branch of commerce.
Belonging to a family which has long occupied an honourable position in the West of Scotland, Mr. George Burns has reason to be proud of his ancestors. His grandfather, whose name was originally Burn, inherited a small property near Stirling, which he sold and came to reside in Glasgow. Here he distinguished himself as a scholar, and published an English dictionary and grammar which was long used in all the schools and academies throughout the country. He died at the age of eighty-four, and his time carries us back to the beginning of last century. He used to tell of seeing combatants in the battle of "Shirra Muir" pa.s.s his father"s place in 1715. His son, Dr. Burns, who was an only child, remembered being carried in his nurse"s arms to the King"s Park at Stirling, where he saw encamped the Hessians who had been employed in the unsuccessful rising in favour of Prince Charles in 1745, and who remained in this country for some time subsequently. Dr. Burns, born in 1714, was minister of the Barony parish, in Glasgow, for the long period of seventy-two years, dying in 1839, in his ninety-sixth year. He preached in the crypt of the Cathedral, which Sir Walter Scott has made famous in the pages of "Rob Roy," and at a time when such qualities were rare in the Church of Scotland, he was distinguished for the evangelical faithfulness of his preaching, and for his conscientious and laborious performance of pastoral work. In the prosecution of his duties he established and conducted Sabbath schools in Calton, which was included in his parish. These, as far as is known, were the first Sunday schools inst.i.tuted in Scotland, and it is believed were before the time of Mr.
Raikes, who began the system in England. At the time above mentioned the population of the Barony parish did not exceed 8000, but long before the death of Dr. Burns it had increased more than tenfold. One of the most unselfish and simple-hearted of men, he brought up a large family upon a small stipend, refusing for a long time to ask an augmentation from the Tiend Court, until his scruples were overborne by the pressing entreaties of his heritors. This venerable patriarch lived to see the blessing of his Covenant-G.o.d, and the reward of his own training, in the highly honourable and successful career of his family. He had nine children, of whom four died in early life. The remaining five were--John, born in 1775; Allan, born in 1781; Elizabeth, born in 1786; James, born in 1788; and the youngest, the only one of the family now living, George, born in 1795. The eldest son--Dr. John Burns, F.R.S.--was the first Professor of Surgery in the University of Glasgow.
He was a man of extensive erudition and devoted piety. He wrote several standard medical works, which secured for him the high honour of being elected a member of the Inst.i.tute of France, and also several most excellent religious works, one of which, ent.i.tled "Christian Philosophy," is still popular. His sad death, by drowning, in the wreck of the steamer Orion, in 1850, will be well remembered. The second son--Allan--was the intimate friend of Sir Astley Cooper, Bart., the celebrated surgeon. He went to St. Petersburg, where he became physician to the Empress of Russia, from whom he received valuable presents and honourable distinctions. Returning to Glasgow, he lectured on anatomy, and prosecuted his profession with great success. He died at the early age of thirty-two, in consequence of a wound received while dissecting.
But short as was his career, he succeeded in acquiring a European reputation by his scientific writings. James and George, both of whom possessed much of the native talent of the family, found ample scope for their abilities in mercantile pursuits, and about the year 1818 they entered into partnership and commenced business in Glasgow. In 1824 they became owners, along with the late Hugh Matthie of Liverpool, of six sailing vessels trading between that port and Glasgow, and in the same year they engaged in steam navigation between Glasgow and Belfast.
Shortly thereafter they subst.i.tuted steam for sailing vessels in the Glasgow and Liverpool trade, and in 1830 they amalgamated this concern with that of the Messrs. MacIver of Liverpool. The various trades thus organised comprised branches between Glasgow and Liverpool, Belfast, Londonderry, and the West Highlands, but the last named business was disposed of in 1852 to Mr. David Hutcheson, who long held a responsible position in Messrs. Burns" office, and who was joined by his brother, Mr.
Alexander Hutcheson, and by Mr. David MacBrayne, a nephew of the Messrs Burns. Under the firm of David Hutcheson & Co. the West Highland trade has continued to be conducted with every satisfaction to the public. The other branches are still carried on by Messrs. Burns & MacIver. While James applied himself to the mercantile branch of the business, the direction of the shipping department devolved upon George, whose energy and sagacity rendered him well qualified for the onerous duties, and under whose able management the business gradually developed into a steam shipping concern second to none in the world.
In 1830 the establishment of mail steam communication between Britain and North America was projected by Mr. Samuel Cunard, of Halifax, N.S., who, in prosecution of his undertaking, was introduced to Mr. Robert Napier by Mr. Melvill, secretary in London to the East India Company, and through whom he entered into conferences on the subject in Glasgow with Mr. George Burns and Mr. David MacIver. The consultation resulted in the undertaking since popularly known as the Cunard line, and Mr.
George Burns persuaded his brother to join in this, as he had in like manner previously induced him to join in the establishment of steamers between Glasgow and Liverpool. The contract for the conveyance of the North American mails was entered into between the Admiralty on the one part, and Samuel Cunard, George Burns, and David MacIver on the other part; and the first steamer of the line, the _Britannia_, sailed from Liverpool on 4th July, 1840, for Halifax and Boston. The means of travelling between the mother country and America were previously very inadequate. Although steam had come into pretty general use for coasting purposes, it had been little applied to ocean voyages. The Cunard line commenced with four paddle-wheel steamers, of an aggregate tonnage of 4602 tons. Now the company possess between 40 and 50 vessels afloat, or in course of construction. Many of these are the most magnificent merchant ships afloat. Some of them are over 4000 tons burden, and the aggregate tonnage of the whole is close upon 90,000 tons.
It is not too much to affirm of the Cunard line, that it is the most popular and successful Transatlantic service afloat. For upwards of thirty years a Cunard Transatlantic steamer has sailed--at first once a week, subsequently twice a week, and latterly three times a week--from Liverpool, and another from New York or Boston. During that long period many hundred thousand pa.s.sengers have been carried by that n.o.ble fleet.
Yet, despite the dangers of the Atlantic, and the liability to accident in a thousand ways of such a voyage, the Cunard line can thankfully say that they have never lost a life--nay more, although they have had a contract with the British Government since they started for the conveyance of the North American mails, the company have never even lost a letter! Such a claim cannot be made on behalf of any other line afloat. But it would be quite a mistake to infer that this wonderful exemption from misadventure is due to luck or chance. On the contrary, the skilful management of the line has been the chief, if not the sole cause of its matchless reputation. Every consideration of profit has from the very outset been subordinated to a painstaking and anxious regard for the efficiency of the fleet, and for the safety and comfort of the pa.s.sengers. Without a single exception, all the Cunard Liners are noted for their seaworthy qualities, which have been admirably preserved by the existence of the company"s engineering works at Liverpool; and the instructions for the navigation of the fleet are most complete and peremptory. Thus, it will be seen that a combination of rare administrative qualities, together with the intrinsic superiority of their ships, have been the means of realising for the Cunard Company a character which is altogether without a precedent, while the same causes have imparted to the most timid pa.s.sengers a confidence in the Cunard line which they would not be justified in placing even in a railway company. In short, the Cunard Company have brought about a condition of things which our grandfathers could not have believed possible. They have set at naught the dangers of the mighty deep, and rendered ocean travelling more safe and interesting than travelling on the dry land.
Truly, those who have had the management of this gigantic business are ent.i.tled to be regarded as the pioneers of a high standard of progress, the highest standard, indeed, that has yet been attained, or is possible of attainment, in the direction of one of the greatest ends of civilisation--that of making the navigation of the ocean compatible with perfect safety to human life. In ill.u.s.tration of the style of management, it may be added that it has been the policy of those conducting the business to keep abreast with the advancement of the age, by constantly selling and replacing vessels as required. From first to last they have sold considerably above 100 steamers.
The business of the Cunard Company, in its various branches, has from its origin been carried on in Glasgow by Messrs. G. & J. Burns; in Liverpool, by the energetic firm of Messrs. D. & C. MacIver; in Halifax, N.S., by Messrs. S. Cunard & Co.; and in New York, by Sir Edward Cunard, Bart. Mr. David MacIver died a few years after the formation of the Cunard line, Sir Samuel Cunard, Bart., and his son Sir Edward, died more recently; and James Burns and George Burns having retired several years before the death of the former, which took place in September last, the business devolved upon the two sons of George Burns--John Burns and James Cleland Burns, of Glasgow; Charles MacIver, of Liverpool; and William Cunard, formerly of Halifax, N.S., now of London, who remain the sole partners of this gigantic concern, which is still further extending its ramifications by the addition of a line of steamers between the Clyde and the West Indies.
The subject of our memoir married, in 1822, the eldest daughter of the late Dr. Cleland of Glasgow, a man who may be said to have been the father of social and vital statistics in this country; for at the time he published his works, "Annals of Glasgow," and "Statistical Tables,"
we believe that Sweden was the only country that laid claim to the possession of regular statistics. Dr. Cleland was a member of the Inst.i.tute of France, and other scientific bodies. By his wife, who is still alive, Mr. Burns has had seven children, of whom there only survive the two sons who are now at the head of the business in Glasgow.
Mr. George Burns, soon after his retirement from business, purchased the estate of Wemyss Bay, where he now spends the greater part of his time.
Mr. John Burns is possessor of the property of Castle Wemyss, where he resides; and Mr. James Cleland Burns lives at his property of Glenlee, near Hamilton.
Neither Mr. Burns, nor any of his family, have ever taken a prominent part in politics, although their immense business experience and conspicuous apt.i.tude for controlling and directing their own unrivalled private concern, would in all probability have qualified them for taking a high place in the councils of the nation had they chosen to enter the domain of politics. In their private capacities each and all of the family have been distinguished for their ready and liberal support of measures calculated to improve the moral, social, and religious condition of their fellow-townsmen, and an appeal for support to a deserving object has never been made to them in vain. Mr. George Burns has always been ready to afford personal service and pecuniary a.s.sistance to schemes of a benevolent or philanthropic character. The name of Mr. John Burns is a "tower of strength" where there is a good cause to be promoted. He rendered valuable service in a.s.sisting to establish the c.u.mberland training ship--an inst.i.tution which, in its proved results, has done more than all the rest of our industrial inst.i.tutions put together to reform our street Arabs, and to inspire them with higher aims and better motives in life. During the three years that have elapsed since the c.u.mberland was brought to the Gareloch, Mr.
Burns has acted as its president, and in the midst of his own mult.i.tudinous and incessant business duties he has not failed to bestow upon its affairs great attention. As an honorary president of the Foundry Boys" Religious Society, which embraces within its pale upwards of 14,000 boys and girls in the humblest ranks of life, he has likewise a.s.sisted very materially to promote the welfare of the city. For their own servants the Messrs. Burns have displayed an exemplary solicitude.
They have provided a chapel in Glasgow for the sailors employed in their coasting trade; and they defray the expenses connected with the support of a chaplain, who visits the men on board ship, sailing with each vessel in turn, and preaching in the chapel on Sundays. Through the chaplain, who visits the wives and families of the sailors when they are away on duty, the Messrs. Burns are made aware of the circ.u.mstances and condition of the sailors in their employment, and they spare no trouble to maintain an efficient and sober body of men in a happy and comfortable position.
MR. JAMES BAIRD OF CAMBUSDOON.
"I cannot," wrote Bacon, "call riches better than the baggage of virtue." Practically the dictum of the philosopher has been endorsed by Mr. James Baird of Cambusdoon, who, along with his brothers who have predeceased him, has set a n.o.ble example in regard to both the acquisition and the distribution of wealth. Few men have been so fortunate in laying up treasure on earth; few have been so zealous of those good works which realise treasure on the other side of Time. For nearly half a century the name of Baird has been a household word in the West of Scotland. Ranking as they have done for many years as the largest employers of labour in Scotland, they must ever continue to occupy a foremost place in our commercial annals. But while they have thus been "diligent in business," they have also been "fervent in spirit." Possessing the power that belongs to wealth, they have not been unmindful of its accompanying responsibilities and duties. In the promotion of education, in the support of Church and missionary objects, in aiding the amelioration of their less fortunate fellow-creatures, and in the dispensation of that charity which covers a mult.i.tude of sins they have made their vast wealth subordinate to the service of their day and generation--the humble but yet potent means to the most beneficent ends. By every consideration, therefore, the honoured name of Baird is ent.i.tled to a place in these sketches.
Mr. James Baird of Cambusdoon is the only survivor of a family of eight sons, whose ancestors for several generations followed the primitive occupation of farming in the parish of Old Monkland. The father of the proprietors of Gartsherrie Ironworks was tenant of Kirkwood, Newmains, and High Cross farms. Of his numerous family, William, who died recently, after having attained the rare distinction of a millionaire, was the eldest, having been born in the year 1796; James, who was six years his junior, was born in 1802. The older members of the family received their education at the parish school of Old Monkland, under the late Mr. Cowan--one of a cla.s.s of teachers who were qualified to impart something more than the mere rudiments of a solid cla.s.sical education, and who have a.s.sisted so materially to place the parochial school system of Scotland on the high vantage ground from which, unless present appearances are deceptive, it is in danger of being hurled by the operation of the Education Act now under the consideration of Parliament. For the younger members of his family, Mr. Baird was enabled to provide the benefits of a University curriculum. It will not be necessary to refer to the head of the family further than to say that he lived to a.s.sist, by his judicious counsel and shrewd penetration, in founding the works at Gartsherrie, from which his family have since derived such a wide-spread fame.
Half a century ago, the inducements to enter upon an industrial career were much more limited than they are at the present day. The industries of the West of Scotland were then few and comparatively uninviting. The iron trade was in its infancy, and those engaged in it lacked the resources for the acquisition of wealth that were evolved from the discovery of blackband mineral deposits by Mushet, the application of the hot blast by Neilson, and the introduction of other more economical modes of working. Mr. James Baird did more than any other ironmaster in Scotland to carry out to its full and perfect development the principle of hot blast, and he greatly aided the success of Mr. Neilson"s invention by designing appliances which enabled the air to be heated to a high temperature without destroying the apparatus. Many other important improvements, which rendered iron-making much more easy and simple, were soon afterwards carried out under Mr. Baird"s auspices, including the adoption of the modern shape of the blast furnace, which is very much less in bulk and first cost than the furnaces used in the early history of the trade. We believe that Mr. Baird was the very first to introduce the modern shape of the blast furnace. It was a distinguishing feature in Mr. Baird"s character that he excelled in suggesting and applying different modes of saving labour in every department, and so thoroughly skilled was he in all the various processes of manufacture, that every workman with whom he came in contact regarded him as a master of his handicraft. More than any other member of his family, Mr. Baird exercised practical authority over all structural and mechanical arrangements as well as over the mineral workings leased by or belonging to the firm. So late as the year 1830, the total number of blast furnaces in Scotland was only seven, and their capacity of production did not exceed 10,000 tons per annum. Last year, the total production of the 154 furnaces in Scotland was 1,164,000 tons, representing an aggregate value of not less than 3,000,000! A single glance at these figures will convey an adequate idea of the progress made in the interval; they require neither note nor comment. The Messrs Baird had little prospect before them other than that afforded by the pursuit of agriculture, in which their forefathers had engaged. But William, with characteristic enterprise, resolved that he would not be tied to the soil. Commencing on a very humble scale, with only a day level and a gin pit, at Rochsolloch, he was favoured by fortune in his development of the little colliery. His brothers joined the venture, and in a short time they were able to extend their operations to Maryston and Gartsherrie. On the 4th May, 1830, they put in blast the first furnace in the latter place, thus laying, perhaps with fear and trembling, the foundations of an establishment which is now one of the largest of its kind in the world. This was the tide in their affairs which, taken at its flood, led on to fortune. Although they have experienced, in common with all others similarly situated, the occasional vicissitudes of bad times, they were not only able from henceforth to keep their heads above water, but they continued to go forth "prospering and to prosper." In 1846 they started the Eglinton Ironworks, at which there are now eight blast furnaces. Six years later they acquired the Blair Ironworks, with five blast furnaces. In 1856, the Lugar and the Muirkirk Ironworks came into the market, and the Messrs. Baird became the purchasers. The latter works embrace a small manufactory of malleable iron, and the two together have seven blast furnaces. In 1864, the firm still further extended their now enormous business by the acquisition of the Portland Ironworks, with five blast furnaces, to which one has since been added. At the present time they own, inclusive of Gartsherrie, at which there are 16 blast furnaces, a grand total of 42 blast furnaces, 30 of which are now (March, 1872) in operation. The total produce of iron from the whole of these works will average 750 tons per day.
Of the Gartsherrie Ironworks--the largest establishment of its kind in Scotland--it may be interesting to state that it gives employment to 3200 men and boys, and turns out 100,000 tons of pig iron per annum. The consumpt of coal at Gartsherrie is upwards of 1000 tons per day. Ever since 1826 Messrs. Baird have been working coal in Gartsherrie estate, so that a considerable part of the coal consumed has been found adjoining the works. Pits are still being worked to some extent there, but it is now found necessary to look elsewhere for coal. We understand the future supply is to be derived mainly from the district of Bothwell, where there is a very large virgin field of coal--indeed, evidently the most important in Scotland--from which the public must ere long begin to draw their princ.i.p.al supplies. The ironstone for the Gartsherrie works is now brought from a considerable distance; formerly it was found within from one to five miles from the furnaces. It is a distinctive peculiarity of the huge establishment that it is divided by the Monkland Ca.n.a.l, the blast furnaces standing in two parallel rows on each side of that highway. Taking the whole of their works together, the Messrs. Baird employ fully 9000 men and boys, and if we multiply this number by three, which is a moderate figure, we get 27,000 souls as the number dependent on the works of the firm. It is quite within the record to declare that the Messrs. Baird, who turn out annually one-fourth of the entire production of Scotland, are the largest pig iron makers in the world.
As landed proprietors, the Messrs. Baird have attained a pre-eminent position in the West of Scotland. Besides his estate of Cambusdoon in Ayrshire, which he purchased in 1853 for the sum of 22,000, Mr. James Baird owns the estate of Knoydart, in Inverness-shire, for which in 1857 he paid 90,000. In 1863 he purchased the estate of Muirkirk, at the price of 135,000, and he owns other properties in Ayrshire of considerable value. On the death of his brother Robert, who died in 1856, he acquired the estate of Auchmedden, Aberdeenshire, which three years previously had been purchased for the sum of 60,000. The other members of the family have found an equally conspicuous place in "Burke"s Landed Gentry." William, who died in March, 1864, was proprietor of the estates of Rosemount, in Ayrshire, and Elie, in Fifeshire, the former purchased in 1853 for 47,000, and the latter in the same year for 155,000. John was proprietor of the estates of Lochwood, in Lanarkshire, and Ury, in Kincardineshire, the latter being a gift from his brothers, by arrangement with William, who inherited it from his father, by whom it was purchased in 1826; while Ury was bequeathed by his brother Alexander, who purchased it in 1854 for the sum of 120,000. Douglas, the sixth son, acquired the estate of Closeburn, in Dumfriesshire, for the sum of 225,000. George, a still younger member of the family, was proprietor of the estate of Strichen, in Aberdeenshire, and Stich.e.l.l, in Roxburghshire--the former purchased in 1865 for the sum of 145,000, and the latter inherited from his brother David, who purchased it in 1853 for the sum of 150,000. The family thus own estates representing in round numbers nearly two millions of capital, in addition to what they hold as a company in the shape of mineral fields.
Although it is probably in the annals of commerce that the Messrs. Baird will find their most lasting monument, they have not been unknown in the arena of politics. William sat in Parliament for the Falkirk District of Burghs from 1841 till 1846, when he accepted the Chiltern Hundreds, and Lord Lincoln reigned in his stead. In 1851, however, the seat again became vacant, consequent upon Lincoln succeeding to the t.i.tle and estates of the Duke of Newcastle. James Baird then took the field in opposition to Mr. Loch, factor to the Duke of Sutherland, and was returned by a majority of 55 votes. In the course of the following year a general election took place, and James again came forward as a candidate. This time he was opposed by Mr. Anderson, of London. The result of the election was a majority of 50 in favour of Mr. Baird. At the general election of 1857, he retired from the representation of Falkirk, and was succeeded by Mr. Hamilton, of Dalzeill, and afterwards by Mr. Merry, who has since continued to retain the seat. The politics of the family have always tended towards Conservatism, and for the support of the "good old cause" Mr. James Baird has exercised all his influence, both moral and material.
The educational interests of the West of Scotland owe a deep debt of grat.i.tude to the Baird family, who have made provision in various ways for the instruction of upwards of 4000 children. In addition to having established schools in almost every locality where their workmen are employed, they have built and supported schools other than those connected with their works. One of the latter is now in progress of erection at Townhead, Glasgow, a poor and populous locality, with but a limited access to the means of education. Another school is just in course of being erected at the east end of Coatbridge, the expenses of which will be entirely defrayed by Mr. James Baird, who has all along taken on active interest in the progress of education. On the 20th December, 1871, he presided at the meeting held in the City Hall, Glasgow, with the view of recommending the continuance of religious instruction in day schools. On that occasion he pleaded eloquently and ably for a programme which contained three leading propositions--(1) the maintenance of the religious instruction that had hitherto been the use and wont of the country; (2) the management of the parochial and other schools of Scotland by the people themselves, instead of by a Board in London, which could know but little respecting the educational wants of the country; and (3) that a proper training in secular and religious knowledge be provided for the teachers, along with a due remuneration for their labours. Mr. Baird then proceeded to show that there was a danger of allowing the education of the country to become secularised, and that the word religion, which only appeared twice in the Education Bill, was inserted in the sense of forbidding it to be taught at all. With reference to the support of education, Mr. Baird expressed a clearly defined opinion, of which we quote the _ipsissima verba_. "I have," he said, "a strong and conscientious objection that any of my money, whether exacted from me by rates and taxes, should be expended in teaching secular knowledge unless it is permeated by religion, and I believe I shall be joined by an overwhelming majority of the people of Scotland in that objection." ... "Religious and Scriptural education is what we are contending for, and religious education we must have, even should the State withdraw its support, which is a thing not likely to be done." These are the words of one who has evidently "read, marked, learned, and inwardly digested" the whole subject of education, and is prepared, at whatever sacrifice or cost, to stand up for a system of instruction that shall embrace preparation not only for the duties and exigencies of this life but also for that which is to come. And the views of such a man have all the more weight that they accompany and flow from a sincere desire and a tangible readiness to afford practical support to the cause of education.
But if education owes much to the generosity and practical sympathy of the Messrs. Baird, the Church has still more reason to register their names in its roll of attached friends. With reference to Mr. James Baird, it may be fitly said that he is "a pillar in Israel." He is conservative to the extent of maintaining unimpaired all the inst.i.tutions of the Church; but patronage, and other plague-spots in her bright and n.o.ble const.i.tution, he would utterly abolish. Progress has long been his watchword, but it is in the direction of building up and not of pulling down. He is not an iconoclast for the mere sake of change. But he would remove out of the pathway of the Church all that would hinder from the efficient discharge of her mission. Above all, he is averse to a policy of _laissez faire_. Believing that the Church has failed to meet the increasing wants of the people, he is an eager advocate and a liberal and intelligent supporter of missionary schemes.
At an ordination dinner held in Glasgow in 1868, Mr. Baird delivered an address, in the course of which he pointed out that the missions of the Church were in a languid state, and dragged along a dreary and miserable existence. Although there were from 12,000 to 15,000 young men and women arriving in Glasgow every year at an age when they should become members of some church, the Establishment was getting barely sufficient from that mult.i.tude to maintain its old numbers. He was afraid, he added, that a great many had not the chance of joining any church, as none of the churches were increasing in proportion to the population of the city; and that, therefore, they would go on to swell the ranks of heathenism and materialism. The results of the investigations recently carried out in this city, amply vindicate Mr. Baird"s almost prophetic remarks. Mr. Johnston"s pamphlets on the religious wants of Glasgow; pamphlets issued on the same subject by Mr. Alexander Whitelaw, Mr.