John Howard Kyan

John Howard Kyan (27 November 1774 – 5 January 1850) was the inventor of the 'kyanising' process for preserving wood. He was the son of John Howard Kyan of Mount Howard and Ballymurtagh, County Wexford, and was born in Dublin on 27 November 1774. His father owned valuable copper mines in Wicklow (now worked by the Wicklow Copper Mines Company) and, for some time worked them himself. The son was educated to take part in the management of the mines, but soon after he entered the company its fortunes declined, and in 1804 his father died almost penniless.