Home > James Keir

He studied medicine at Edinburgh University where he met Erasmus Darwin.

He joined the army and served as a Captain in the West Indies, resigning his commission in 1768.

He settled at Hill Top, West Bromwich where he made amateur chemical experiments and studied rocks.

In 1775 he set up a factory at Stourbridge to manufacture glass, but in 1778 became manager at BoultonMatthew Boulton ( September 3, 1728 18 August 1809), English manufacturer and engineer, was born at Birmingham, where his father, Matthew Boulton the elder, was a manufacturer of metal articles of various kinds. To this business he succeeded on his father and WattThis article is about the Scottish engineer and inventor. For Ronald Reagan's Secretary of the Interior, see James G. James Watt ( January 19, 1736 August 19, 1819) was a Scottish mathematician and engineer whose improvements to the steam engine were a ke's Soho Engineering Works.

In 1779Events The Iron Bridge is completed across the Severn river in Shropshire; the first all cast-iron bridge ever constructed. Boulton and Watt's Smethwick Engine, now the oldest working engine in the world, is brought into service. The city of Tampere is fo he patented a metal alloy made of copperCopper is a chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. Notable characteristics Copper is a reddish-coloured metal, with a high electrical and thermal conductivity (among pure metals at room temperature, only silver, zincZinc is a chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Notable characteristics Zinc is a moderately reactive metal that will combine with oxygen and other non-metals, and will react with dilute acids to release hydro and ironThis article is about metallic iron. For the ironing device, see ironing manganese iron cobalt Fe Ru Full table General Name, Symbol, Number iron, Fe, 26 Chemical series transition metal Group, Period, Block 8 (VIIIB), 4 , d Density, Hardness 7874 kg/m3, which could be forged hot or cold. Window frames made from this metal may still be found at Boulton's home, Soho HouseSoho House Matthew Boulton's home in Handsworth, Birmingham, England, is now a museum, managed by Birmingham City Council, celebrating his life, his partnership with James Watt and his membership of the Lunar Society. It also hosts exhibitions of local an (now a museum).

In 1780Events January 16 American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cape St. Vincent February, Armed Neutrality of the North alliance formed between Denmark, Sweden, and Russia. March 26 The British Gazette and Sunday Monitor the first Sunday newspaper in Britain May, he and Alexander Blair (an old friend from his army days), set up a chemical works at Tipton to make alkali and soap.

He and Blair set up a colliery, at Tividale, Dudley in 1794.

He and Joseph Priestley worked closely to investigate the properties of gases.

Keir supported the French Revolution, which drew considerable criticism.

Keir died at West Bromwich in 1820. Almost all of his papers were lost in a house fire in 1845.

He is remembered by the Moonstones, in Birmingham.