scotianostra:James Key Caird, Scottish jute baron and mathematician was born January 7th
scotianostra: James Key Caird, Scottish jute baron and mathematician was born January 7th 1837 in Dundee.Caird became a jute manufacturer and made a substantial fortune by introducing new technology into his jute mills in Ashton and Craigie, near Dundee. Most notably, he gave both the Caird Hall, seen in pics three and four, and Caird Park to the people of Dundee. In total, between 1895 and 1914 James Caird gave £240,940 in donations to various good causes institutions and organisations in Dundee.In 1902 Caird offered £18,500 to the directors of the Dundee Royal Infirmary so they could erect a hospital for the treatment of cancer. He also provided £1,000 a year for five years to fund research. The resulting facility opened in 1906 and admitted its first patients in January 1907. Caird helped to fund Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic expedition of 1914 to 1916 on the Endurance. The largest of the ship’s boats, the James Caird, in which six of the Endurance’s crew made their epic small-boat voyage of 800 nautical miles from Elephant Island to South Georgia, was named in appreciation of Caird’s contribution. Caird became a recluse in his latter years, he died on 9 th March 1916 at his country seat, Belmont Castle near Meigle, and was buried next to his father in Dean Cemetery Edinburgh. He left money which was eventually used to purchase Camperdown Park for the city of Dundee. -- source link