ANDREW KIRKWOOD McCOSH

    THE managing director of Messrs.William Baird & Co., Ltd., of Gartsherrie and Eglinton Ironworks, etc., is a native of Ayrshire, the son of a well-known lawyer in Dalry. He studied at Edinburgh and Glasgow Universities, and served his articles as a civil and mining engineer. Then at Coatbridge in the sixties he entered the employment of the Messrs. Baird, in whose firm he has gradually risen to a chief place. Among the other improvements which he has effected, he was the first to utilise the waste gases of the furnace for the production of sulphate of ammonia, pitch, and oils. Again, in the interests of employers and workmen alike, he has been a chief promoter of the conciliation boards which nowadays do so much to lessen the evils of strikes, and has himself acted as an efficient chairman.

    Outside his immediate business Mr. McCosh has taken a strong interest in the affairs of the community with whose prosperity he has so much to do. In particular, he has done useful work in the cause of general and technical education in Coatbridge. The esteem in which he is held in the "Iron Burgh" was made evident in 1900. He was then invited to accept a seat in the Town Council, and on agreeing to do so, was at once elected Provost. He is a prominent member of Gartsherrie Parish Church, and in politics is a strong Conservative.

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