James Kenneth Weir

James Kenneth Weir, 2nd Viscount Weir CBE FRSE LLD (1905–1975) was a 20th-century Scottish peer and businessman, most famously chairing the Weir Group.

Life

He was born on 10 September 1905 the son of William Weir, and his wife, Alice Blanche MacConnachie.[1] The family lived at Holmwood in Pollokshields.[2]

James was educated at Oundle School in Northamptonshire then studied at Cambridge University graduating BA in 1926. He then joined the family company of G & J Weir before going to work with the General Electric Company at Schenectady in New York.[3]

In 1931 he became Director of G & J Weir Ltd.

His father was created Viscount Weir in 1938. The title transferred in 1959 on his father's death.

From 1955 he was Chairman of the Weir Group.

In 1967 he was given an honorary doctorate (LLD) by Strathclyde University. In 1970 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Robert Silver, Alick Buchanan-Smith, Baron Balerno, Anthony Elliot Ritchie and Thomas Diery Patten.[3]

He retired in 1972 and died on 16 August 1975.[3]

Directorships

Family

He married twice: firstly in 1929 to Dorothy Isabel Lucy Crowdy, and following Lucy's death in 1972 the following year he married Mrs Dorothy Hutton (née Dear), a widow.[4][5]

He had six children by his first wife, of whom William Kenneth James Weir became 3rd Viscount Weir.

Through his first wife he was related to James Fuidge Crowdy, Assistant Secretary to the Governor General of Canada and Charles Keefer, one of the prominent civil engineers of Canada.[6]

Arms
Coat of arms of James Kenneth Weir
Coronet
A Coronet of a Viscount
Crest
A Wing Argent charge with a Thistle slipped proper
Escutcheon
Azure a Cogwheel Or winged Argent in chief the Sun in Splendour of the second
Supporters
On either side a Winged Horse Argent hoofed and crined Or
Motto
Forward Towards The Light

References
  1. "Weir, Viscount (UK, 1938)". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk.
  2. Glasgow Post Office Directory 1904
  3. Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 978-0-902198-84-5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  4. "Viscount Weir to Wed Mrs. Dorothy D. Hutton". The New York Times. 11 February 1973. p. 67. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  5. "Person Page". www.thepeerage.com.
  6. "James F. Crowdy dies at hospiral in his 58th year". The Ottawa Journal. Ottawa, Ontario. 30 April 1934. p. 26. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
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