William Baird & Co Ltd (coal and iron masters: 1938-: Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland)

In around 1816, Alexander Baird began working coal leases in Lanarkshire, Scotland, and, by 1826, he and his sons owned numerous coal and mineral leases there. In 1828, two of these sons, William and James, began to erect the Gartsherrie Ironworks at Gartsherrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, and within 15 years the works had grown to be the largest in the country with 16 furnaces. In 1830 , William and James took over all the coal leases and formed the partnership William Baird & Co . In around 1843, William and James Baird were involved in the establishment of the Eglinton Iron Company that managed the Gartsherrie Ironworks, building furnaces at Kilwinning, North Ayrshire, Scotland, and purchasing those at Blair and Dalry, North Ayrshire, in 1852; Lugar, East Ayrshire, in 1856; and Portland in 1864. Bairds, therefore, became responsible for 25 per cent of Scotland's output making them the largest producers of pig iron in the world.

In 1852, The company was the first to introduce the cylindrical furnace in Scotland and experimented with blast heaters, raising the heat to 800 degrees Fahrenheit. Gartsherrie Ironworks gained a reputation for technical sophistication and attracted visitors from England, Europe and America. The Bairds provided schools, churches and recreational institutes for their work force but opposed trade unionism. The Baird brothers also had considerable interests in banking and held 29 railway company directorships and 5 chairmanships.

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