Francis Baird (1802–1864) was an engineer of Scottish ancestry in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, 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 ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. 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 body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters are located in the UK, whi ...

, 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 el ...

, 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 (russian: Алекса́ндровская коло́нна, ''Aleksandrovskaya kolonna'') also known as Alexandrian Column (russian: Александри́йская коло́нна, ''Aleksandriyskaya kolonna''), is the f ...

and

Saint Isaac's Cathedral Saint Isaac's Cathedral or Isaakievskiy Sobor (russian: Исаа́киевский Собо́р) is a large architectural landmark cathedral that currently functions as a museum with occasional church services in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is ...

. 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 (American English) or rouble (Commonwealth English) (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is the currency unit of Belarus and Russia. Historically, it was the currency of the Russian Empire and of the Soviet Union. , currencies named ''rub ...

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)
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20110201102447/http://pubs-newcomen.com/cgi-bin/somsid.cgi?page=search ''Russian Iron Bridges to 1850'' (Newcomen Society 1982) {{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