William Bald

William Bald FRSE MRIA FGS MWS (c. 1789 – March 1857) was a Scottish surveyor, cartographer and civil engineer.

[1] Around this time, there was a strong demand for map-making services from Scottish landowners, who were keen to develop their estates and thereby increase their profitability.

The maps which he produced were a major factor in transforming the way in which the Western Isles were depicted in the new atlases of the day.

But this would have meant steep gradients as the road traversed the valleys of the Glens as they ran down from the Antrim Plateau to the sea.

The Cavehill Railway and Quarries company was formed and Bald constructed a double track tram road of 4' 9" gauge, operated by horse and gravity.

After being dismissed after differences of opinion after six years, he returned to work in France, while acting as at consultant engineer to the Admiralty.

In 1816, Bald was elected as a Fellow of the Geological Society of London, and he became a Member of the Royal Irish Academy in 1822.

David Orr, the President of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 2007–08, praised Bald as an "unsung hero" in his Presidential Address[5] of November 2007.