ARCHIVES OF VISCOUNT WEIR

Introduction

Curriculum Vitae

1. Air Ministry

2. Douglas-Pennant Case

3. Civil Aviation Committee

4. The Coal Industry

5. Trade Boards Acts Committee

6. Cabinet Committee - Amalgamation of Forces' Common Services

7. - Reduction of National Expenditure

8. Committee of Imperial Defence - Fleet Air Arm Sub-Committee

9. Electricity Supply

10. Railway Electrification Committee

11. Cunard/White Star Merger

12. National Crisis, 1931

13. Air Disarmament

14. Ottawa Conference

15. Royal Mail Group

16. Cabinet Committee - Trade and Employment Panel

17. Committee of Imperial Defence - Defence Policy Sub-Committee

18. Committee of Imperial Defence - Supply Officers Committee

19. Air Ministry

20. Ministry of Supply

21. Tank Board

22. Hydro-Electricity in Scotland

23. Post-War Policy

24. Miscellanea

Almost without exception the papers are concerned with Lord Weir's public life and with the period after 1918. As the earliest papers have been affected by water it is possible that those before 1918 were lost in this way. The omission of any private papers is the result of efficient organisation of the files in the past. Since all the files are public and political they have been arranged according to subject and then chronologically in 24 sections.

In the absence of minutes, Lord Weir's correspondence usually provides the best guide to the conduct of his different activities. There are also usually a large number of papers giving Lord Weir's thoughts and impressions about the subject and about evidence presented to committees. These are in two forms - in manuscript and typewritten. The former are written on pads (made up at his works) of an unusually long and thin size. The latter are normally on quarto paper and in several copies - often amended by Lord Weir. The reports too usually survive in several typescript and printed versions.

The collection is open for consultation by researchers using Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge. Individual closures of files are indicated in the catalogue. Churchill Archives Centre is open from Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm. A prior appointment and two forms of identification are required.

The papers of the first Viscount Weir were deposited at the College by his son, the present Viscount, in November 1968.

The papers were then in 42 filing cases and each was labelled according to the subject of the papers. It was obvious that the documents had always been kept in good order and that a certain amount of sorting and labelling had taken place when the recent biography had been written. Only a few files were in the wrong chronological sequence.

1877 Born, son of James and Mary Weir of Dumfriesshire.

Educated Glasgow High School.

1898 Partner in G. and J. Weir Limited.

1904 Married Alice Blanche MacConnachie of Glasgow.

1915 Scottish Director of Munitions.

1917 Controller of Aeronautical Supplies and member of Air Board.

1917 Knighted.

1918 Director General of Aircraft Production, Ministry of Munitions.

1918 Secretary of State and President of Air Council (till 10.1.1919).

1918 Privy Councillor.

1918 Baron Weir.

1919 Chairman of Advisory Committee on Civil Aviation.

1921 Member of Trade Boards Acts Committee.

1923 Chairman of Committee on Fories Common Services.

1923 Member of Committee of Imperial Defence Committee on Fleet Air Arm.

1925 Chairman of Committee on National Grid.

1931 Chairman of Committee on Railway Electrification.

1932 Industrial adviser at Ottawa Conference.

1934 G.C.B.

1936 Member of Committee of Imerpail Defence Committee on Defence Policy.

1938 Viscount Weir of Eastwood, Renfrewshire.

1939 Director General of Explosives, Ministry of Supply.

1941 Resigned.

1942 Chairman of Tank Board.

1942 Resigned.

1942 Member of Hydro-Electric Development in Scotland Committee.

1959 Died.

W.J. Reader, Architect of Air Power (London, 1968).