Francis Baird (1802–1864) was an engineer of

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ancestry in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, who took over his father's business manufacturing machinery, ships, and metalwork for some of the city's major structures.

Life

He was born on 28 February 1802, one of Charles Baird's three sons, and the only one to live beyond his thirties. He joined his father's company in St. Petersburg at the age of 17 and also went to the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

. In 1823 he was elected to the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a Charitable organization, charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters ar ...

, one of its earliest members. He married Dorothea Halliday in 1828 and they had ten children. Some of the time he worked with his cousin

William Handyside William Handyside (1793–1850) was a Scottish engineer who was involved in several important construction projects in St. Petersburg. Biography Born in Edinburgh on 25 July 1793, to merchant Hugh Handyside and his wife Margaret, he was the eld ...

, who had a leading role in several engineering projects, and it is not entirely clear how much he helped Handyside with the specialist castings for the

Alexander Column The Alexander Column (, ''Aleksandrovskaya kolonna''), also known as Alexandrian Column (, ''Aleksandriyskaya kolonna''), is the focal point of Palace Square in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The monument was raised after the Russian victory in the w ...

and

Saint Isaac's Cathedral Saint Isaac's Cathedral () is a large architectural landmark cathedral that currently functions as a museum with occasional church services in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is dedicated to Saint Isaac of Dalmatia, a patron saint of Peter the Gre ...

. He is credited with casting the great cannons in the Kremlin and the angel on the Alexander monument. As well as the iron foundry, he also managed a sugar refinery, sawmills and 10 steam vessels providing a ferry service between St. Petersburg and Cronstadt.Kohl, J.G. 1842. Russia and the Russians in 1842. London, UK: Henry Colburn. 2 volumes. See. pp.18-20 https://archive.org/details/russiaandrussia00kohlgoog The cathedral work continued under Francis Baird's supervision when Handyside left Russia after Charles Baird died in 1843. At this time, Francis took over the Baird Works and the rest of his father's business. The decorative railings on the Nicholas Bridge (opened 1850) were produced by Baird's while he was in charge. In 1860 the Baird Works were flourishing with between 1200 and 1500 employees, and were producing half a million

roubles The ruble or rouble (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is a currency unit. Currently, currencies named ''ruble'' in circulation include the Russian ruble (RUB, ₽) in Russia and the Belarusian ruble (BYN, Rbl) in Belarus. These currencies are su ...

worth of goods per year. Francis Baird died on 25 March 1864, having received many Imperial honours. A memoir of his life and his father's was published after his death.

Reading

*A. Kempton, Robert William Rennison, T. Cox, ''Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland, Vol 1'' (London 2002)
James Nasmyth, ''Autobiography'' (1885)
*

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baird, Francis 1802 births 1864 deaths Engineers from Saint Petersburg Alumni of the University of Edinburgh People from the Russian Empire of Scottish descent 19th-century engineers from the Russian Empire