Robert Wilson Dron

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

MA MICE PIME (1869–1932) was a Scottish geologist and mining engineer, writing many authoritative books on coal-mining. He was Professor of Mining Technology at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

. He was founder of the mining company R W Dron & Sons. He served as President of the Mining Institute of Scotland from 1923 to 1925.

Life

He was born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

in 1869, the son of Alexander Dron a manufacturing engineer. In 1893 he appears as Manager of the Coal and Fire Clay Mine in Provanhall near Glasgow, owned by R & J Mather. In 1901 he founded R W Dron & Sons, having offices at 55 West Regent Street in

. At this time he lived in a large mansion: Utica on Thorn Drive/Westbourne Drive in

Bearsden Bearsden ( ) is a town in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the northwestern fringe of Greater Glasgow, approximately from the Glasgow city centre, city centre. The Roman Empire, Roman Antonine Wall runs through the town, and the remains of ...

. He was a member of the Glasgow Geological Society. He advised on mining in various foreign locations from the Caucasus Mountains to

Spitzbergen Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it lies about midway between the northern coast o ...

, and from

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1917. His proposers were John Horne, Ben Peach, Sir John Smith Flett and Thomas James Jehu. In 1922 he was appointed Professor of Mining at Glasgow University and continued this role until death. The university awarded him an honorary degree (MA) in recognition of his work. He died at home in Bearsden on 16 April 1932.

Publications

*''A Textbook of Mining Formulae'' (1892) *''The Coal-Fields of Scotland'' (1902) (revised 1921) *''The Occurrence of Coking Coal in Scotland'' (1918) *''Analyses of British Coke and Coal'' (1924) joint author *''Lighting of Mines'' (1924) *''The Economics of Coal-Mining'' (1928)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dron, Robert Wilson 1869 births 1932 deaths Scottish mining engineers Engineers from Glasgow Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Scottish geologists Scottish non-fiction writers Scottish businesspeople Academics of the University of Glasgow