John Atwell (engineer)

Sir John William Atwell CBE PRSE FREng FIMechE (24 November 1911 – 5 July 1999) was a Scottish engineer.[1][2][3]

Life

Born in Glasgow in 1911 the son of William Atwell (d. 1953) and his wife, Sarah Workman, John Atwell attended Hyndland Secondary School in Glasgow. He then served an apprenticeship with Yarrow Shipbuilders in Scotstoun, Glasgow.

In 1939 he received an MSc from King's College, Cambridge (where he was a Caird Travelling Scholar). He then began working as a manager at Stewarts & Lloyds, who were one of Britain's largest shell manufacturers during the Second World War.[4]

In 1963, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Sir Samuel Curran, John Currie Gunn, Sir David Stirling Anderson and Frederick Malloch Bruce. From 1977 to 1982 he served as their Treasurer and from 1982 to 1985 was the President. In 1992 he was awarded the RSE Bicentenary Medal.[5]

From 1968 to 1970, he was Chairman of the Weir Group. In 1973 he received an honorary doctorate (LLD) from Strathclyde University.[citation needed]

He was awarded a CBE in 1970 and knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1976. He died in Glasgow. His remains were cremated.[citation needed]

Family

In 1945, he married Dorothy Baxter, sister of his friend, Allan Baxter.[6]

References

  1. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 December 2014. Retrieved 15 May 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ "Engineering Heritage Awards". imeche.org. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  3. ^ ATWELL, Sir John (William), Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2012; online edn, Nov 2012 accessed 15 May 2013
  4. ^ "Sir John Atwell". Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  5. ^ Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
  6. ^ "Sir John Atwell". Retrieved 21 December 2022.

Sources