William Bald

Infobox Engineer


image_size =
caption =
name = William Bald
nationality = Scottish
birth_date = 1789
birth_place = Burntisland, Scotland, United Kingdom
death_date = 1857
death_place = London, England, United Kingdom
education =
spouse =
parents =
children =
discipline = Civil
Mining
institutions = Royal Society of Edinburgh
Royal Irish Academy
Geological Society of London
Institution of Civil Engineers
Societe de Geographie
practice_name =
significant_projects = Map of Maritime County of Mayo
Antrim Coast Road
Clyde River improvements
significant_design =
significant_awards =

William Bald, (1789-1857) was a surveyor, cartographer and civil engineer.

Bald was the cousin of Robert Bald, surveyor and mining engineer.

His life

Born in Burntisland, Fife in 1789 he was educated locally and in Edinburgh. In 1803 he was apprenticed to John Ainslie, a civil engineer. Bald's first jobs involved surveying private land in Scotland.

In 1809, at the age of 20, Bald became director of the Trigonometrical Society of County Mayo in Ireland. The survey and map he produced for Society are regarded as outstanding. In the 1820s he undertook surveying work in France, Italy and Holland.

Bald returned to Ireland in the 1830s and became increasing involved civil engineering, working on the construction of several roads, harbour and river improvements as well as early railway construction. His work on the Antrim Coast Road (A2) dates to this time, and is commemorated by a plaque near Larne.

In 1839 Bald was appointed as engineer to the Clyde River Trust in Scotland, where he was involved in the deepening and improving of the river, as well as redesigning Troon harbour. After being dismissed after differences of opinion after six years, he returned to work in France while acting as at consultant engineer to the Admiralty.

During his career he championed the importance civil engineering, and is reckoned to be competent and original in his chosen fields. William Bald is buried in Highgate Cemetery, London.

Bald was a Members of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In 1816, Bald was elected as a Fellow of the Geological Society of London, and he became a Member of the Royal Irish Academy in 1822. After a stay in Paris he was elected as a Member of the Societe de Geographie, in Paris in 1828.

David Orr, the president of the Institution of Civil Engineers praised Bald as an "unsung hero" in his Presidential Address of November 2007. Talking of the Antrim Coast Road, Mr Orr said that Bald had left "an immeasurable legacy to the people of the Glens of Antrim, and created one of the finest tourist routes in the world".

Bibliography

* A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland. A. W. Skempton
* William Bald, F. R. S. E., c. 1789-1857; Surveyor, Cartographer and Civil Engineer. Margaret C. Storrie. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, No. 47 (Sep., 1969), pp. 205-231

External links

* [http://www.mayolibrary.ie/en/LocalStudies/MayoMapsOnline/bald/index.htm Bald's Map of the Maritime County of Mayo]
* [http://www.burntisland.net/bald.htm Burntisland.net webpage on the biography and achievements of William Bald]
* [http://www.ice.org.uk/downloads//Printedversion.pdf PDF of David Orr's ICE presidential address]

Persondata
NAME= Bald, William
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=
DATE OF BIRTH= 1789
PLACE OF BIRTH= Burntisland, Scotland, United Kingdom
DATE OF DEATH= 1857
PLACE OF DEATH= London, England, United Kingdom