Charles macintosh education

Charles Macintosh lived from 29 December 1766 to 25 July 1843. He was a chemist and the inventor of waterproof fabric. The wider picture in Scotland at the time is set out in our Historical Timeline.

Charles Macintosh was born in Glasgow, where his father, George Macintosh, had a factory making dye from lichen. He studied chemistry under Joseph Black at the University of Edinburgh and by 1797, at the age of 23, he had established Scotland's first alum works at Hurlet, Renfrewshire using as a raw material waste shale from oil shale mines. He also went into partnership with Charles Tennant, producing bleaching powder at a chemical works at St Rollox, near Glasgow.

Macintosh went on to invest in the development of a number of other chemical processes, many using as raw materials the ammonia and tar produced as by-products in the gasworks establi Charles rennie mackintosh!