Robert Bald

Robert Bald FRSE FSA MWS (4 December 1776–28 December 1861) was a Scottish surveyor, civil and mining engineer, and antiquarian. Robert Bald was one of the earliest and most eminent mining engineers and land surveyors in Scotland, and by the late nineteenth century he was referred to as "the acknowledged father of mining engineering in Scotland".

He was born in Culross, Scotland, the son of Alexander Bald (1753–1823), a colliery agent of Alloa. His brother was Alexander Bald, poet and friend of James Hogg.

Robert Bald apprenticed to his father Alexander, the superintendent and manager of the Mar collieries. The pair can be seen as forming 'something of a "school" of viewers', and a Scottish equivalent of the Buddle family of viewers of northern England. He combined two qualities vital for colliery direction: a deep practical knowledge with a respect for scientific enquiry (he contributed to the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal among other learned publications). Bald seems to have begun his consultative work around the turn of the century, by 1805 his advice was in great demand throughout Scottish coalfields, and he was called upon by both parties of dispute in court and by judges. In 1808 Bald travelled with Thomas Telford (1757–1834) to survey the Göta Canal from Lake Mälaren (Stockholm) to the lakes of Vänern and Vättern in central Sweden. He returned to the country in 1826 when he was invited by the Swedish councillor of state, Baltzar von Platen, to survey the Skanian coal fields, which he did in the company of Sven Nilsson.

Between 1808 and 1825, Bald published reports (NAS ref. CB27) on the mineral deposits, workings, buildings and drainage at collieries across Scotland. One of Bald's earliest publications was A General View of the Coal Trade in Scotland (1808), which is considered "an excellent technical account of coal mining during the Industrial Revolution", the book was reprinted in 1812 with the addition of "An Inquiry into the Conditions of Women who carry Coals under Ground in Scotland, known by the name of Bearers", in which he denounced this labour as a form of slavery. In 1812 David Brewster commissioned Bald to write the 'mine' entry for the 'Edinburg Encyclopaedia', a task that involved visiting the colliery at Killingworth where George Stephenson had introduced a steam-powered machine for raising coal from the pit face. In 1825 he and Stevenson drew up plans for the improvement of Alloa dock, which included the creation of a wet dock and swivel bridge. Apart from the construction of a stone pier, these plans were never executed.

Alongside Stephenson, he was friends with the botanists Patrick Neill and George Walker-Arnott. Bald was elected a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1817 and started working in general practise as a mining engineer in Edinburgh around 1820 with John Geddes. Bald and John Buddle share the credit for being the first to direct attention to the dangerous, highly flammable nature of coal dust. Bald pointed out the danger of the ignition of coal dust in a paper in Jameson's Journal, 1828. Bald was a cousin of William Bald (1789–1857) the civil engineer and cartographer, and acted as sponsor for William's membership of the Royal Society in 1829.

Bald had enormously broad range of interests, visible in the large number of learned societies he was a member of and in the subjects on which he wrote. These range from articles and letters on mining engineering, palaeontology and archaeology, marine steam propulsion and metallurgy.

For much of his life, Bald was employed by the Earls of Mar to manage collieries in Alloa, he used his position to try to improve the harsh working and living conditions of the miners and their families. First, working with John Francis Erskine, 23rd Earl of Mar, he condemned the practice of employing women and girls underground in the coal mines. 'In 1822 I tried to stop the employment of women and children as coal bearers, but the women had no other work so there was a great deal of hardship.'^{[citation needed]} Together they started Friendly Societies to offer miners the opportunity to save money, they gave a small pension to retired miners, and set up a court system where miners could deal with their problems and settle differences between themselves.

After the death of the colliery manager Alexander Bald, in 1823, the Earl handed over the running of collieries to trustees on the behalf of his family. This left Robert Bald and Robert Jameson, the estate factor, directing the pits by the time of the Earl's death in 1825. Bald's instincts to reform were allowed fuller rein once he gained control of the collieries. Bald's first efforts involved increasing housing accommodation, removing ash pits and sweeping of streets at the trustees expense. He then gave lectures on 'Order and Cleanliness', this was followed by a set of rules printed and circulated to miner's households including exhortations to wash their houses weekly, whitewash them yearly, keep streets clean and included proscriptions against keeping animals inside. A scheme to inspect miner's cottages was prevented by vocal outrage of miner's families. Bald's efforts reached a climax in the summer of 1832 during a cholera outbreak in Alloa, Collyland and New Sauchie. He issued a pamphlet ascribing the disease to God's wrathful judgement on the drunkenness of the miners, especially at the wakes (or dregies) taking place after the funerals for victims of the disease. Additionally, Bald supplied wine as an alternative to the whisky he thought was so damaging, had watchmen patrol the streets looking out for drunkenness, and introduced prayer meetings Alloa, New Sauchie and Collyland collieries.