John Roebuck

John Roebuck of Kinneil FRS FRSE (1718 – 17 July 1794) was an English industrialist, inventor, mechanical engineer, and physician who played an important role in the Industrial Revolution and who is known for developing the industrial-scale manufacture of sulfuric acid.

After attending Sheffield Grammar School and Dr. Philip Doddridge's academy at Northampton, Roebuck studied medicine at Edinburgh, where he developed a taste for chemistry from the lectures of William Cullen and Joseph Black.

"[5] Roebuck had also leased a colliery at Bo'ness to supply coal to the Carron Works, but in sinking for new seams he encountered such quantities of water that the Newcomen engine used was unable to keep the pit clear.

[7] Roebuck's troubles at the Carron Works and the colliery, aggravated by the failure of an attempt to manufacture alkali, brought him into financial difficulties and he was forced to sell his share in Watt's engine to Matthew Boulton in return for cancellation of a £1200 debt.

Subsequently, though Roebuck had to give up his interest in the Bo'ness works, he continued to manage them and to reside at the neighbouring Kinneil House, where he occupied himself with farming on a considerable scale.