James Keir
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James Keir (20 September 1735 – 1820), chemist, geologist, industrialist and inventor, was born in Stirlingshire, Scotland. He was a member of the Lunar Society.
He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh where he met Erasmus Darwin.
He joined the army and was commissioned into the 61st Regiment (now the Gloucestershire Regiment) at the age of 22, serving in the West Indies and rising to the rank of Captain before resigning his commission in 1768.
He settled at Hill Top, West Bromwich where he made amateur chemical experiments and studied rocks.
In 1772 (with others) he leased a long-established glassworks at Amblecote near Stourbridge to glass, which he managed. This was in partnership with Samuel Skey, who manufactured vitriol neat Bewdley, and his John Taylor, a leading Birmingham manufacturer. While there, Keir continued his chemical experiment, particularly into the properties of alkalis. In 1778 he gave up managing the glassworks, but retained as share in the business until at least 1789, in partnership with William Scott, a Stourbridge clothier and Skey's brother in law. Instead he was recruited to manage Matthew Boulton's Soho Manufactory near Handsworth.<ref>J. Ellis, Glassmakers of Stourbridge and Dudley 1612-2002 (2002), 78-82 90-1 94. </ref>
In 1779 he patented a metal alloy made of copper, zinc and iron which could be forged hot or cold. Window frames made from this metal may still be found at Boulton's home, Soho House (now a museum).
In 1780, he and Alexander Blair (an old friend from his army days), set up a chemical works at Tipton to make alkali and soap.
He and Blair opened a colliery, at Tividale, Dudley in 1794.
He and Joseph Priestley worked closely to investigate the properties of gases.
Keir supported the French Revolution, which drew considerable criticism, but later served as a colonel in the Staffordshire militia.
Keir died at West Bromwich in 1820. Almost all of his papers were lost in a house fire in 1845.
He is remembered by the Moonstones, in Birmingham.
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[edit] Further reading
- Jenny Uglow, The Lunar Men: the friends who made the future (Faber & Faber, London, 2002)
