Published: Wednesday, 13th January, 2010 2:00pm

Clydebank's historical hero

by Julie Gilbert

Print | Email

CAPTAIN OF INDUSTRY: Edward Stanford

AN unsung hero of Clydebank's industrial beginnings is to be given his rightful place in the history books.

Edward Stanford built a factory to extract iodine from seaweed - an innovative process at the time - in what was then the rural area of Whitecrook in 1864.

He saw the transport opportunities of the Forth and Clyde canal which would allow him to ship iodine across the country.

Once John Brown's shipyard arrived a few years later and Clydebank began to develop, Edward, who was born in England in 1837 and moved to Scotland in 1863, was also instrumental in getting the Burgh recognised, building the Town Hall and was a member of the first Burgh council.

Stanford Street in Whitecrook was also named after the great scientist.

Sam Gibson, of the Clydebank Historical Society (CHS), wants to see Edward's contributions properly recognised and asked historian and author David Harvie to research him.

Following his investigations, David is now ready to give his talk at a meeting of the CHS on Wednesday January 20.

David said: "Edward's certainly important and that was obvious right from him being a schoolboy when he excelled in chemistry.

"He started producing kemp in Tiree which was used in ceramics and various other industries.

"The kemp - which is burned seawead - was then shipped to Clydebank to be further processed."

Edward died in 1899 and was buried at Kilbowie Cemetery. The talk on his life is taking place in the Clydebank Lesser Town Hall at 7.30pm.