Samuel Baldwin Rogers

Samuel Baldwyn Rogers (abt. 1778 – 6 September 1863) was a British metallurgical chemist, inventor, printer and radical pamphleteer. He is known for his influence in the iron making industry of south Wales, and for his varied writings, especially on engineering and transport infrastructure. He became known as "Iron-Bottom" Rogers of Nant-y-glo.

Biography Early life and career According to census records, Rogers was born in Ludlow, Shropshire, England, but little is known of his early life. By 1805, he was resident in Chepstow, Monmouthshire, where he had a bookshop and printing business. In 1806 he produced a pamphlet, A Description of the Town and Neighbourhood of Chepstow, based on the writings of Archdeacon Coxe, and in 1807 married Anne Whitford of nearby Mounton. Their first two children were baptised in Chepstow in 1809.

He left Chepstow following a financial dispute, and moved to Pontypool. There, he worked in a "Hydrogen Laboratory", helping to manufacture coal gas. Rogers was apparently self-taught, and began developing his ideas in metallurgical chemistry and technology, including techniques for improving the manufacture of coke and sulphuric acid, and in the engineering of coke ovens and blast furnaces. He also advertised a "Westphalian Essence", made from coal tar, vinegar, and port wine, for preserving and flavouring food.

Discouraged by the initial rejection of his ideas, Rogers moved to London for most of the 1820s, probably working in a printing works, but returned to Chepstow by 1830. By this time he was described as a mineral metallurgical chemist, and was hired to remodel the newly built town gasworks. This he did successfully, but was dismissed for demanding too much money. After leaving Chepstow in 1831, he was hired by Crawshay Bailey as a chemist and metallurgist, to work and advise at his iron works, mainly at Nantyglo. Rogers also proposed, in 1844, a railway line extending ten thousand miles between London and Canton (now Guangzhou) in China. He wrote on metallurgy, including The Use of a New Flux (1844) and A New System of Gas Making (1847), and on wider scientific and economic issues, including The Advent of the Millennium (1841), A New Theory of Nature (1844), Outline of a System of Commerce (1848), and The Voice of Science (1851). One later biographical summary of Rogers commented: "Much of the little written about [Rogers] implies that he was completely crazy. Though singularly odd, he was variously gifted and original, gentle-hearted, and fearless in the many causes he championed..."..

There is a road named in his honour, Samuel Rodgers Crescent, in recent housing development at Thornwell, Chepstow.