Background
He was born in Paisley, Scotland
He married Elizabeth Baird, daughter of James Baird, farmer from Sorn in Ayrshire on 14 November 1871.
He was born in Paisley, Scotland
He married Elizabeth Baird, daughter of James Baird, farmer from Sorn in Ayrshire on 14 November 1871.
Galloway was the younger brother of Sir William Galloway, mining engineer and professor of mining at the University College of Wales in Cardiff. They had two sons, William Galloway born 1872 in Newcastle and James Baird Galloway born in 1874 at Gateshead. Robert Galloway died in Scotland on 24 February 1908 at Bridge of Allan, in Stirlingshire.
When Galloway was 27 he was a mining engineer and coal master employing five men in 1871 at Sorn in Ayrshire.
While he was a mining engineer and colliery manager in the Newcastle area and in Scotland, he became known as a historian specialising in writing about the mining industry and the steam engine. On 30 April 1879 Galloway presented "Earliest records connected with the working of coal on the banks of the River Tyne" to a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne.
In 1880 his book "The Steam Engine and its Inventors" was published. Two years later his "A History of Coal Mining in Great Britain" was printed.
Galloway helped organize a mining exhibition between 1–24 September 1885 at Burnbank Drill Halls, Glasgow and he wrote a "Review of the Progressive Improvements of Mining in Scotland" as an introduction to the exhibition catalogue.
In 1906 papers relating to the history of the coal trade and the invention of the steam engine were published.
John"s son James William Galloway, coalmaster in Ayrshire, and Sir William"s son Christian Francis John Galloway, a mining engineer and author in Cardiff were the only members of the next generation to continue in the industry.