Sir Robert Blyth GreigMCFRSE (23 March 1874 – 29 November 1947) was a Scottish agriculturalist. He served as Chairman of the Scottish Board of Agriculture from 1921 to 1928 and was Secretary to the Department of Agriculture for all Great Britain from 1928 to 1934.
Early life
Robert Blyth Greig was born on 23 March 1874 in Balcurvie, Fife, the son of Helen Ann Martin and George Greig, a farmer.[1][2]
In the First World War he served as a Staff Captain in the Royal Scots and saw action in France in 1916 and 1917, being awarded an MC in the 1917 New Year Honours. He was created a Knight Bachelor in 1919. He received honorary doctorates from St Andrews University (LLD) and South Africa (DSc).[8]
In later life, he lived at "The Shaws" (10) Barton Avenue West in western Edinburgh.[11] The house is a large detached Arts and Crafts villa set in substantial gardens, and is now a category B listed building.[12]
A photographic portrait of Greig by Alexander Bassano is held by the National Portrait Gallery in London.[14]
Family
In 1903, he married Alice Maud Hunter. They had four children: George Marcus Greig (b.1904); Marion Greig (b.1906); and Robert Coventry Greig (b.1909) and John Martin Greig (b.1920)[2]
References
^The Physics of the Universe, Sir James Hopwood Jeans, 1928