John Key
John Key (c1820-1876) of John Key and Sons
Died 1876, Mentioned in The Engineer.[1]
1876 Obituary [2]
After a severe and lingering illness, Mr. John Key, engineer and shipbuilder, Kirkcaldy, breathed his last at the fifty-sixth year of his age.
Mr. Key was a self-made man. His knowledge of the steam engine and of the principles of mechanical construction generally had gained for him a wide reputation. In addition to his larger engineering works at Kirkcaldy, thirteen or fourteen years ago Mr. Key commenced iron shipbuilding at Abden, and a new era of prosperity dawned for Kinghorn, which had for some time previous been in a drooping and languid state. Ever since, Mr. Key carried on shipbuilding with considerable enterprise, and a goodly number of heavy vessels now afloat have been built at his yard.
For many years past Mr. Key had manifested much anxiety with regard to the improvement of Kirkcaldy harbour ; and for the last two years he was returned as one of the representatives for the county at the Harbour Commission, and on his recommendation as a member of the Commission, Mr. Robertson, C.E., Edinburgh, reported some months ago upon the present harbour works and the best means of utilising them.
Whether in the carrying on of his own business or in public matters, Mr. Key was a man of firm resolution, and at the Harbour Board especially he promised to be a very useful member. His death is lamented by all classes of the community as a very heavy loss.