• G & J Weir Ltd

G & J Weir & Co was established as an engineering company by two brothers, George and James Weir, in Liverpool in 1871. The business came to specialise in the production of innovative pumping equipment for land and marine use and moved to a foundry at Cathcart, Glasgow, in 1886. In 1895 the partnership was dissolved and a private company, G & J Weir Ltd, was established with a capital of £60,000. During the First World War, under the chairmanship of James Weir's son, William Douglas Weir, the company produced munitions and also manufactured aircraft, including the Royal Aircraft Factory FE2 fighter and bomber and Airco models in conjunction with other companies in the Scottish aircraft-building combine, like Alexander Stephens & Sons Ltd. Weir was appointed director of munitions in Scotland in 1915 and to the Air Board in 1916 and to the Air Council in 1917. He was knighted in 1917. After the war, in 1926, G & J Weir Ltd gave financial support to the establishment and development of Cierva Autogiro Co, by one of the firm's directors, James George Weir. During the early 1930s autogiros, Weir W1, W2, W3 and W4, were also constructed at the Cathcart works and flown at Abbotsinch. G & J Weir produced the first successful helicopter, the W5, flown in 1938 at Dalrymple near Ayr, which was followed by the W6 in 1939. From 1939 James George Weir had a controlling financial interest in Cierva Autogiro Co and that company's subsequent models from the W9 on adopted the Weir numerical sequence. After the Second World War G & J Weir Ltd ended aircraft construction, but continued to produce pumps. The firm grew organically and by acquisition and G & J Weir Ltd soon became a subsidiary of G & J Weir Holdings Ltd. In 1969 the group acquired a half share in a rival British pump manufacturer, Worthington-Simpson, and the holding company became known as Weir Group The debt incurred by the acquisition was to bring financial problems in the following decades. The group later diversified selling off its Glasgow pump business and reorganising in 2008 into three divisions: minerals, oil and gas and flow control. The company continues to trade, headquartered in Glasgow.