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1973: Sir John William Atwell
Sir John William Atwell (1911-1999)
88th President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers
Atwell was born in 1911 and gained an apprenticeship at the age of sixteen with Yarrow and Company in Scotstoun. While working at the firm he also attended evening classes at the Royal Technical College in Glasgow. This fired his academic interest and he gained an Associate of the Royal Technical College qualification in 1937. He was awarded a Caird scholarship and continued his studies at Cambridge University, graduating with an MSc.
In 1939, he joined Stewarts and Lloyds Ltd, a steel tube manufacturing company, and after the Second World War progressed to management. His managerial experience led to an appointment with G & J Weir in 1953 and he oversaw the merging of the firm with Drysdale and Company and Harland Engineering. He assumed the role of chairman from 1970 and in the same year was awarded the CBE.
Atwell was involved in the establishment of the Fellowship of Engineering and received fellowships from the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Strathclyde University. He became President of the IMechE in 1973 and was knighted in 1976.
He died at the age of 88 in 1999.
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