Bathgate

Town in West Lothian unitary authority, Scotland, 10 km/6 mi south of Linlithgow; population (2001) 15,100. Originally a coalmining centre, with the Easton colliery nearby, Bathgate's economy subsequently diversified, with the motor industry becoming a principal employer.

James Young Simpson, pioneer of the use of chloroform in surgery in 1847, was born in Bathgate in 1811. The experiments of his namesake James Young (1811–83) around 1850 led to the first commercial refinement of oil from coal set up locally at the village of Pumpherston. Carboniferous shale later replaced the coal, and paraffin, ammonia, and ammonium sulphate (a fertilizer) were also produced, although the refinery closed in 1962.