Hugh Baird

Who was Hugh Baird?

Hugh Baird was a Scottish civil engineer, who designed and built the Union Canal. Born at Westertown, Bothkennar, Stirlingshire, he was the son of Nicol Hugh Baird, surveyor to the Forth and Clyde Canal, and was the younger brother of engineer Charles Baird.

Nicol Baird died in 1807, and Hugh Baird succeeded him as surveyor to the canal. In 1810 he put forward designs for extending Grangemouth docks, although nothing was built. Baird was appointed resident engineer to the Forth and Clyde Canal in 1812, on a salary of £250 a year.

In 1813, Baird was commissioned to prepare a scheme for linking Edinburgh to the Forth and Clyde Canal, via an "arm", or branch canal, between Falkirk and Fountainbridge, Edinburgh. Alternative designs included schemes by John Rennie and Robert Stevenson, as well as earlier proposals by Ainslie and Whitworth. Thomas Telford supported Baird's proposal in 1815, and an act of Parliament was passed two years later. Baird was appointed chief engineer to the new canal, which became the Union Canal, on a salary of £500 a year. The canal was begun in March 1818 and was opened in May 1822. Although the canal had only one flight of locks, at Falkirk, it was necessary to construct three substantial aqueducts; the Avon Aqueduct, the Almond Aqueduct and the Slateford Aqueduct. These were designed by Baird with Telford's advice, and are modelled on Telford's Chirk Aqueduct on the Ellesmere Canal. The canal also includes Scotland's only canal tunnel, at Falkirk, 630 metres long.