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LAIRD, MACGREGOR (18o8—1861)

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 84 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LAIRD, See also:MACGREGOR (18o8—1861) , Scottish See also:merchant, See also:pioneer of See also:British See also:trade on the See also:Niger, was See also:born at See also:Greenock in 18o8, the younger son of See also:William Laird, founder of the See also:Birkenhead See also:firm of shipbuilders of that name. In 1831 Laird and certain See also:Liverpool merchants formed a See also:company for the commercial development of the Niger regions, the See also:lower course of the Niger having been made known that See also:year by See also:Richard and See also:John See also:Lander. In 1832 the company despatched two small See also:ships to the Niger,one, the " Alburkah," a See also:paddle-See also:wheel steamer of 55 tons designed by Laird, being the first See also:iron See also:vessel to make an ocean voyage. Macgregor Laird went with the expedition, which was led by Richard Lander and numbered See also:forty-eight Europeans, of whom all but nine died from See also:fever or, in the See also:case of Lander, from wounds. Laird went up the Niger to the confluence of the See also:Benue (then called the Shary or Tchadda), which he was the first See also:white See also:man to ascend. He did not go far up the See also:river but formed an accurate See also:idea as to its source and course. The expedition returned to Liverpool in 1834, Laird and Surgeon R. A. K. See also:Oldfield being the only surviving See also:officers besides See also:Captain (then Lieut.) William See also:Allen, R.N., who accompanied the expedition by See also:order of the See also:Admiralty to survey the river. Laird and Oldfield published in 1837 in two volumes the Narrative of an Expedition into the Interior of See also:Africa by the River Niger . .. in X832, X833, z834.

Commercially the expedition had been unsuccessful, but Laird had gained experience invaluable to his successors. He never returned to Africa but henceforth devoted himself largely to the development of trade with See also:

West Africa and especially to the opening up of the countries now forming the British protectorates of See also:Nigeria. One of his See also:principal reasons for so doing was his belief that this method was the best means of stopping the slave trade and raising the social See also:condition of the Africans. In 1854 he sent out at his own charges, but with the support of the British See also:government, a small steamer, the " See also:Pleiad," which under W. B. See also:Baikie made so successful a voyage that Laird induced the government to sign contracts for See also:annual trading trips by steamers specially built for See also:navigation of the Niger and Benue. Various stations were founded on the Niger, and though government support was withdrawn after the See also:death of Laird and Baikie, British traders continued to frequent the river, which Laird had opened up with little or no See also:personal See also:advantage. Laird's interests were not, however, wholly See also:African. In 1837 he was one of the promoters of a company formed to run steamships between See also:England and New See also:York, and in 1838 the " Sirius," sent out by this company, was the first See also:ship to See also:cross the See also:Atlantic from See also:Europe entirely under See also:steam. Laird died in See also:London on the 9th of See also:January 1861. His See also:elder See also:brother, JOHN LAIRD (1805-1874), was one of the first to use iron in the construction of ships; in 1829 he made an iron lighter of 6o tons which was used on canals and lakes in See also:Ireland; in 1834 he built the paddle steamer " John See also:Randolph" for See also:Savannah, U.S.A., stated to be the first iron ship seen in See also:America. For the See also:East See also:India Company he built in 1839 the first iron vessel carrying guns and he was also the designer of the famous " Birkenhead." A Conservative in politics, he represented Birkenhead in the See also:House of See also:Commons from 1861 to his death.

End of Article: LAIRD, MACGREGOR (18o8—1861)

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