William Archibald Cadell

William Archibald Cadell FRS FRSE FGS MWS (1775–1855) was a Scottish industrialist and mathematician, also known as a travel writer.

Life The eldest son of William Cadell the younger, son of William Cadell, the original managing partner and one of the founders of the Carron Iron Works, by his wife Katherine, daughter of Archibald Inglis of Auchendinny in Midlothian, he was born at his father's residence, Carron Park, near Falkirk, on 27 June 1775.

From 1787 he owned shares in an iron syndicate, transferred from his ironmaster uncle Thomas Edington, but at this point he was a nominee for his father. After studying at Edinburgh University, he became, about 1798, a member of the Scottish bar. He did not practise the law, however, having private means and the estate of Banton in Stirlingshire.

He trained as an advocate at Edinburgh University, qualifying in 1798, but never practiced, relying instead on his inheritances.

Cadell spent his time in scientific and antiquarian research at home and abroad. in the Annals of Philosophy he wrote an "Account of an Arithmetical Machine lately discovered in the College Library of Edinburgh". He wrote up some travels in A Journey in Carniola, Italy, and France in the years 1817, 1818, 2 vols. Edinburgh, 1820.

Family

He never married and had no children.

He was the great-uncle of the geologist Henry Cadell.