The Lunar Society and its canal connections An 18th century soap star
Robert Davies continues his look at a group of 18th century luminaries and their contribution to the Industrial Revolution.
JAMES Keir was born in Scotland in 1735. Like some of the other Lunar men he started out studying medicine, going to Edinburgh to be taught.
Unfortunately, the world of academia obviously didn’t provide the excitement that he craved in his youth, so he joined the army and went overseas.
Once he had purged wanderlust out of his system, he came back to England and settled in Stourbridge, and got himself into the glass trade – I know, it’s rather an unusual progression.
Here he started his experiments in chemistry as well as corresponding with his old friend James Watt. Other associates included Dr Black, Dr Small – who was responsible for introducing many of the Lunar men to each other – and Benjamin Franklin, who we know as the man who, by dangerous means, invented the lightning conductor.
Chemistry seemed to be the thing that got hold of Keir’s interest, and he abandoned glass making for the production of alkali at a new works in Tipton – right next to the Birmingham canal.
He went on to make much of his money from soap, no less. Keir was known to be well mannered and witty in society, just in his dealings with others, wise and practical in his advice. The Tipton factory was regarded by contemporaries as a technological marvel second only to that of Boulton’s in Soho, and was powered by water and steam.
To supply his works with coal, Keir and partners sank a mine in 1794 in Tividale, and today you will find Keir’s bridge over the Old Main Line as a reminder of the clever Mr Keir.