William Weir, 1st Viscount Weir

William Douglas Weir, 1st Viscount Weir GCB (1877 - 1959) was a Scottish industrialist and politician born in Glasgow.

During World War I he converted his factories to produce explosive shells, and in 1918 he became Minister of Munitions.

It was during the First world War that William Douglas Weir rose to national prominence. He had come to the head of the family engineering business some time between 1910 and 1912 but it was during the war that he first attracted the attention of the government as a brilliantly successful manager. Weir was appointed Scottish Director of Munitions in 1915 and was responsible for overseeing the implementation of the 'dilution scheme' on Clydeside. In 1915 he was appointed Controller of Aeronautical Supplies at the Ministry of Munitions in London and in 1918 he became Secretary of State for Air in Lloyd George's cabinet and was responsible for combining the naval and army air services into the Royal Air Force.^[1]

He was made a Knight in 1917. In 1918 he became President of the Air Council and raised to the peerage as Baron Weir. He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in the same year.

In 1925 Weir headed a government committee to plan the rationalisation of the United Kingdom's electrical power industry, and his conclusions led to the Electricity (Supply) Act 1926 and the creation of the National Grid. In 1938 he was created Viscount Weir of Eastwood.

Supporter of corporate propaganda

At the outbreak of the first world war, Sir William Weir was chairman of Weir's of Cathcart, a large engineering works situated on the south side of Glasgow. As one of the major Glasgow engineering works involved in the production of munitions, Weir's experienced the growing influence of the Clyde Workers' Committee and the rise in industrial militancy linked to the introduction of 'dilution'.

The rise in industrial and political militancy during the first world war inspired fear within many sections of the British political establishment with regard to a possible Bolshevik revolution on British soil. In order to combat these potential forces of revolution, many within the established political order began to organise anti-socialist and counter-propaganda groups. Weir, with his experience as a major employer and a government minister, was one of those proactive in preventing the growing influence of left-wing political ideology and trade union strength.

According to the Lord Weir's private correspondence, between August and September of 1919 there was a flurry of activity aimed at attracting his membership of, and financial support for, right-wing anti-socialist propaganda groups. Weir's correspondence from this time details moves made by three groups to solicit his support, these being the Reconstruction Society, the Freedom of Britain Movement and an unnamed grouping headed by Conservative MPs Edmund Talbot and F E Guest. It is thought that Weir eventually lent his support to the Freedom of Britain Movement.^[2]

The fear and suspicion of a Bolshevik-inspired revolution on British soil was widespread within the political establishment of Britain from 1916 onward. William Weir, with his upper-middle-class background and his experience as a major employer and as a government minister, was to prove himself a willing and able participant in the propaganda battle to prevent the growing influence of left-wing political ideology and trade union strength...

Weir's correspondence on these matters shows that he rebuked the offer from the Reconstruction Society, citing that he felt their strategy and tactics overlapped with the work of similar groups. Weir felt that if the work of several groups with the same aims was uncoordinated, then all the work done could be wasted and would lead to greater difficulties. Weir seems to have come down on the side of the Freedom of Britain Movement, telling Edmund Talbot in his reply of 19 August 1919 that on the matter of his support for anti-Bolshevism propaganda he was inclined to lend his support to a 'very large organisation which has recently been formed'.^[3]

In fact this unnamed group seems to have been one which turned out to be quite significant. According to Weir, describing a meeting which took place at 12 Downing Street on 13 August 1919, 'Cailliard wanted to explain what had been taking place in regard to propaganda and how to use the opportunity to further develop the existing programme, the fusion as regards propaganda of the Engineering Employers Federation, the British Engineers Association, the British Commonwealth Union with the Alliance of Employers and Employed and another Union'^[4]

This sounds very like the organisation created earlier that year at a meeting in Dean's Yard, just down the road from Downing Street. That meeting created a body called National Propaganda.

Corporate boss to government minister

Sir William Weir resigned as Managing Director of G & J Weir on 24 July 1915 in order to take up a full-time post with the Ministry of Munitions as the Scottish Director of Munitions. Lloyd-George had personally sought Weir for this position as he considered him the right man to implement the Munitions of War Act on Clydeside and to enforce dilution in the munitions works on Clydeside.

As the memorandum highlights, Weir held very firm views on the role of trade unionism during war-time and it was these deeply held convictions which coloured Weir's plans to tackle militant trade unionism in the munitions workshops and yards of Clydeside.

The struggle to implement dilution on Clydeside went on from Autumn 1915 until Spring 1916 and reached its climax with the Beardmore strike at Parkhead between March and April 1916. That this strike was broken sharply, efficiently and with complete success was largely down to the plans drawn up by Weir and which are alluded to in this memorandum.[5]

See Also

• Vincent Caillard
• Dudley Docker
• Reginald Hall
• Edmund Talbot
• Frederick Guest
• Weir Group

Resources

• Letter written by Sir William Weir to Sir Robert Horne in relation to establishment of anti-Bolshevik organisation. Dated 14 August 1919.
• Letter signed by Lord Edmund Talbot MP and Capt Hon F E Guest MP and addressed to Lord Weir, dated 19 August 1919.
• Letter from the Reconstruction Society to Lord Weir, 12 September 1919.

Notes

1. ^ Glasgow Digital Library Red Clydeside: A history of the labour movement in Glasgow 1910-1932, Key political figures of the Red Clydeside period, William Weir accessed February 2007.
2. ^ Letter written by Sir William Weir to Sir Robert Horne in relation to establishment of anti-Bolshevik organisation. Dated 14 August 1919, copied to Edmund Talbot.
3. ^ Letter from the Reconstruction Society to Lord Weir, 12 September 1919.