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Sir John Aird

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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"SIR JOHN AIRD, 1ST. Bart (1833-1911), British engineer, was born in London Dec. 3 1833, the only child of John Aird, contractor for gas and water plant. He joined his father's business at 18, and was entrusted with the removal of the Crystal Palace buildings from Hyde Park and their reerection at Sydenham. He took part in many enterprises at home and abroad, such as the Hampton and Staines reservoirs, the waterworks of Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Moscow, Bahia, Para., Calcutta, Simla and Berlin, and later (in the joint firm of Lucas & Aird, afterwards John Aird & Co.) the St. John's Wood railway, the Hull & Barnsley railway and docks, the W. Highland railway and the great Assuan dam across the Nile. He represented N. Paddington in Parliament as a Unionist from 1887 to 1005, and was its first mayor in 1900. In 1901 he was created a baronet. He made a fine collection of pictures by British painters, the illustrated catalogue to which was printed in 1884. He died at Beaconsfield, Bucks., Jan. 6 1911.