John Baildon was a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 pioneer in metallurgy

Metallurgy

Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are called alloys. It is also the technology of metals: the way in which science is applied to their practical use...

 in continental Europe.

Baildon was born in Larbert

Larbert

Larbert is a small town in the Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town lies in the Forth Valley above the River Carron which flows from the west. Larbert is 3 miles from the shoreline of the Firth of Forth and 2.5 miles northwest of Falkirk, the main town in the area...

, Stirlingshire

Stirlingshire

Stirlingshire or the County of Stirling is a registration county of Scotland, based around Stirling, the former county town. It borders Perthshire to the north, Clackmannanshire and West Lothian to the east, Lanarkshire to the south, and Dunbartonshire to the south-west.Until 1975 it was a county...

. In 1793, he came to Prussian

Kingdom of Prussia

The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...

 Silesia

Province of Silesia

The Province of Silesia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1815 to 1919.-Geography:The territory comprised the bulk of the former Bohemian crown land of Silesia and the County of Kladsko, which King Frederick the Great had conquered from the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy in the 18th...

 (in modern day Poland) on the invitation of Friedrich von Reden

Friedrich Wilhelm von Reden

Friedrich Wilhelm von Reden was a German pioneer in mining and metallurgy. He was born in Hamelin in the Electorate of Hanover and died in Michelsdorf in Prussian Silesia.- Life :...

. During the remainder of his life in Silesia, Baildon was involved in numerous pioneering industrial undertakings, including construction of the first blast furnace

Blast furnace

A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally iron.In a blast furnace, fuel and ore and flux are continuously supplied through the top of the furnace, while air is blown into the bottom of the chamber, so that the chemical reactions...

s fired by coke

Coke (fuel)

Coke is the solid carbonaceous material derived from destructive distillation of low-ash, low-sulfur bituminous coal. Cokes from coal are grey, hard, and porous. While coke can be formed naturally, the commonly used form is man-made.- History :...

 in continental Europe (in Gleiwitz (Gliwice)

Gliwice

Gliwice is a city in Upper Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. Gliwice is the west district of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union – a metropolis with a population of 2 million...

 and Königshütte (Chorzów)

Chorzów

Chorzów is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. Chorzów is one of the central districts of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union - a metropolis with a population of 2 million...

, the first pig iron

Pig iron

Pig iron is the intermediate product of smelting iron ore with a high-carbon fuel such as coke, usually with limestone as a flux. Charcoal and anthracite have also been used as fuel...

 produced on 21 September 1796), the Klodnitz (Kłodnica) Canal, and the first iron bridge in continental Europe (over the Strzegomka river in Laasan, Lower Silesia, erected in Spring 1796).

John married in 1804 and had 7 children (5 sons, 2 daughters). He died in Gleiwitz and is buried there (at the "Hutniczy" cemetery).

A major steel works (:pl:Huta Baildon, Katowice

Katowice

Katowice is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, on the Kłodnica and Rawa rivers . Katowice is located in the Silesian Highlands, about north of the Silesian Beskids and about southeast of the Sudetes Mountains.It is the central district of the Upper Silesian Metropolis, with a population of 2...

, established in 1823, liquidated in 2001) was named after him.

External links

• Szymonowicz, Jarosław "A Scotsman in Silesia" Warsaw Voice, 28 March 2007, retrieved on October 18, 2007.
• About Family Baildon-Briestwell on the website Silesian gentry and aristocracy, (English).