Early years

Henry Dyer was born on 16 August 1848 in the village of Muirmadkin (now absorbed in to the town of Bellshill) in the Parish of Bothwell in what is now known as North Lanarkshire. Bellshill is some 12 kilometres east of Glasgow in theWest of Scotland and is situated on the bank of the River Clyde. Henry's father, John Dyer, was born in County Cork, Ireland about 1823 where his father, a soldier, was stationed at the time. His mother, Margaret Morton, was born locally about 1824. Bellshill was something of a 'boom' town at the time with the discovery of iron and coal in the area in the 1830's and, as a result, had experienced an influx of 'immigrant' workers from all over Britain and Ireland, as well as from Poland and Lithuania. At the time of the 1851 census Henry aged 2 years and his sister Janet aged six months lived with their parents (and a lodger) at 32 Edinburgh Road in Muirmadkin. John Dyer is described in the census as a foundry labourer. The number in Henry's family became five in total, with the birth of a second son Robert in 1853.

About 1857 the family moved to Shotts, after perhaps a brief stay in Holytown. Shotts is about 15 kilometres east of Bellshill midway between Glasgow and Edinburgh and was at that time the centre of the Iron industry in central Scotland. John Dyer worked in the Shotts Iron Works (then at its height) and Henry was educated at the local school (Wilson's Endowed School) where he was highly regarded by his school master. He later worked in the offices of the Iron Works for a short time.

Around 1865 the Dyer family moved to Glasgow where Henry was employed at James Aitken and Company's foundry in Cranstonhill. There he served his apprenticeship as a student engineer under Thomas Kennedy and A C Kirk, and was awarded a Whitworth Exhibition in the workman category, in 1868. At the same time he attended classes at Anderson's College (later to become the University of Strathclyde) in the company of Yozo Yamao. In 1868 Henry became a student at the University of Glasgow where he graduated in 1873.

While in Glasgow the Dyer family lived at 449 St Vincent Street (1871 census) and 128 Dumbarton Road (1881 census).