The Earl of Dundonald
"Probably the first serious attempt to manufacture coal tar was made by Archibald Cochrane, the ninth Earl of Dundonald. The Earl was a self-taught inventor, who sadly never made the fortune he deserved from the process of manufacturing tar from coal at his estate at Culross Abbey, near Edinburgh. Throughout the 18th century, the Baltic Powers had virtually a monopoly on the supply of wood tar and pitch, and they were thus in a position to exert diplomatic pressure on a nation that was increasingly dependent for its prosperity on shipping. This was clearly an undesirable situation. Furthermore, during the Napoleonic wars, the increased demand for wood tar for the large numbers of ships being built could not be satisfied, and the situation was further exacerbated by the American War of Independence which adversely affected supplies of wood tar from that country. The need for a substitute was the principal reason for Dundonald’s research. He used all his financial resources to construct a plant for decomposing coal by heating it in the absence of air in a closed vessel known as a retort (the process was later called carbonisation). Coke, a valuable fuel, remained in the retort. British Patent 1291 was granted him in 1781 for ‘… a method of extracting or making tar, pitch and essential oils … from pit coal.’ "

Dundonald had another tar works at Muirkirk, which was managed by his cousin John Macadam, the inventor of macadamised roads. There were five more works in the Midlands, including one at Dudley Wood and one at Calcutts in Shropshire. Then Dundonald began to suffer financial problems and, by 1785, his tar was being widely marketed by the British Tar Company. He suffered a further commercial setback when the Admiralty lost interest in tar, favouring the use of copper to protect ships hulls. The builders of new ships were not particularly interested either, declaring that, "The worm is our best friend", meaning that they made more money from repairing ships than they did from building them. Most of Dundonald’s tar was sold to industry. In the 1790s, Dundonald set up a works at Bow Common in East London. Interestingly, one of Dundonald’s descendants, Thomas Barnes Cochrane, Earl of Dundonald, was granted a patent in 1863 referring to improvements in the production of hydrocarbons from gas tar.

Dundonald’s experiments in the manufacture of tar from coal became interesting when he fitted a gun barrel to the delivery pipe leading from his condenser. On applying a source of ignition to the end of the gun barrel, a brilliant light blazed out. He had discovered that, in addition to tar and other chemicals, his process produced a gas that burned with a luminous flame. But because the objective of his research was to increase the revenue from coal by manufacturing tar and pitch from it, he failed to recognise the commercial potential of the gas as an illuminant; it was left to others to develop his discovery and grow rich from it. He did, however, light one room of his house with it – as a novelty "to amaze" his guests.

In 1782 Dundonald described his process to the well-known partnership of Matthew Boulton and James Watt, hoping that he might persuade them to invest in it. Boulton did in fact visit Dundonald in Scotland in the following year to discuss the matter, but for some reason the partners showed little interest in his discovery.

But Dundonald’s process soon attracted wider interest. For example, in 1791 the Society of Arts awarded a prize to a William Pitt for an account of a tar making plant at Dudley Wood Ironworks. There was a small number of tar distillers in business throughout the country some years before towns gas was manufactured on a commercial scale, but the coal tar industry really began to develop when large quantities of crude tar became available from the purification of gas. At first, most of the crude tar produced by the new gas companies was sold to independent tar distillers, but some of them carried out tar distillation on a modest scale at their own works; a practice which was to continue for many years. "

" In December 1799, Alexander Brodie took over the kilns at The Calcutts from Dundonald and was marketing tar at nine pence per barrel. Consequently an income of nearly £700 from oils, resins and varnish paints was reached. At this time, Lady Isabel Dundonald (nee Raymond) began to be swindled by George Glenny. Dundonald distaste for Glenny can be seen in his letters where he describes him as "a scoundrel" and wanted a proper legal enquiry to be made as to his conduct. Meanwhile the partners in the British Tar Company including Dundonald's brothers John and Basil had been declared bankrupt "

" Dundonald found himself in a strange predicament at this time when John and Basil Cochrane, his brothers tried to saddle him with all their debts. By 1799, they gained possession of £23,000 acquired from the fortune of Archibald's marriage. "

" Archibald Cochrane, 9th Earl of Dundonald was born on 1 January 1748.2 He was the son of Thomas Cochrane, 8th Earl of Dundonald and Jane Stuart.3 He married, firstly, Anne Gilchrist, daughter of Captain James Gilchrist, on 17 October 1774.2 He married, secondly, Isabella Raymond, daughter of Samuel Raymond, on 12 April 1788.3 He married, thirdly, Anna Maria Plowden, daughter of Francis Plowden, in April 1819.3 He died on 1 July 1831 at age 83 at Paris, FranceG.3

" He gained the rank of Cornet in 1764 in the 3rd Dragoons.2 He gained the rank of officer in the Royal Navy.2 He was an inventor.2 He succeeded as the 9th Earl of Dundonald [S., 1669] on 27 June 1778.2 He succeeded as the 9th Lord Cochrane of Paseley and Ochiltrie [S., 1669] on 27 June 1778.2 He succeeded as the 9th Lord Cochrane of Dundonald [S., 1647] on 27 June 1778.2 He has an extensive biographical entry in the Dictionary of National Biography.4