LAIRD, MACGREGOR (1808-1861), Scottish merchant, pioneer of British trade on the Niger, was born at Greenock in 1808, the younger son of William Laird, founder of the Birken head firm of shipbuilders of that name. In 1831 Laird and certain Liverpool merchants formed a company for the commercial de velopment of the Niger regions, the lower course of the Niger having been made known that year by Richard and John Lander. In 1832 the company despatched two small ships to the Niger, one, the "Alburkah," a paddle-wheel steamer of 55 tons designed by Laird, being the first iron vessel to make an ocean voyage. Macgregor Laird went with the expedition, which was led by Richard Lander and numbered 48 Europeans, of whom all but nine died from fever or, in the case of Lander, from wounds. Laird went up the Niger to the confluence of the Benue (then called the Shary or Tchadda), which he was the first white man to ascend. He did not go far up the river but formed an accurate idea as to its source and course. The expedition returned to Liverpool in 1834, Laird and Surgeon R. A. K. Oldfield being the only surviving officers besides Captain (then Lieut.) William Allen, R.N., who accompanied the expedition by order of the Admiralty to survey the river. Laird and Oldfield published in 1837 in two volumes the Narrative of an Expedition into the Interior of Africa by the River Niger . . . in 1832, 1833, 1834.
After his return Laird devoted himself to the development of trade with west Africa and especially to the opening up of the countries now forming the British protectorates of Nigeria. He
believed that this method was the best means of stopping the slave trade and raising the social condition of the Africans. In 1854 he sent out at his own charges, but with the support of the British government, a small steamer, the "Pleiad," which under W. B. Baikie made so successful a voyage that Laird induced the government to sign contracts for annual trading trips by steamers specially built for navigation of the Niger and Benue. Various stations were founded on the Niger, and though government support was withdrawn after the death of Laird and Baikie, British traders continued to frequent the river which Laird had opened up. Laird was one of the promoters of a company formed in 1837 to run steamships between England and New York, and the "Sirius," sent out by this company in 1838 was the first ship to cross the Atlantic from Europe entirely under steam. Laird died in London on Jan. 9, 1861.