Thomas Leith

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title: "Thomas Leith" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1926-births", "officers-of-the-order-of-the-british-empire", "presidents-of-the-institution-of-engineers-and-shipbuilders-in-scotland", "fellows-of-the-royal-academy-of-engineering", "scottish-mechanical-engineers", "20th-century-scottish-inventors", "engineers-from-glasgow", "2005-deaths", "alumni-of-the-university-of-strathclyde", "scottish-industrial-designers", "20th-century-scottish-businesspeople"] topic_path: "engineering" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Leith" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

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Thomas Orr Leith OBE, FRAE (23 March 1926 – 7 November 2005) was a Scottish mechanical engineer and industrialist.

Biography

Thomas Orr Leith was born on 23 March 1926 in Cathcart, Glasgow, Scotland, youngest son in a family with seven brothers and sisters.

He attended Holmlea Primary School in Cathcart (now closed) before being evacuated to Troon in 1939 at the start of the World War II. In 1942 he returned to Glasgow to join Weir Pumps Ltd in Cathcart, Glasgow (then called G. and J. Weir Ltd) as an Apprentice Marine Engineer. While an apprentice he also studied for the Higher National Certificate exams at Langside College in Mount Florida and, following this, left Weirs to study full-time at the Royal Technical College, Glasgow (now the University of Strathclyde). He graduated with a BSc in Mechanical Engineering in 1950, and was winner of the Montgomerie Neilson Gold Medal and Prize (awarded to the first ranked graduating student in Mechanical Engineering).

He rejoined Weir Pumps and in 1954 he became Head of Steam Turbine and Gearing Design, in 1962 was made Chief Designer and in 1966 Director and General Manager of the Pump and Turbine Division (later renamed the Energy Division). In 1980 he became Director, Contracts Division at Weir Pumps before moving in 1988 to take up the Managing Director role at Weir Westgarth Ltd until his retirement in 1991. He was Chairman of Clairmont Plc from 1992 to 1994.

He was an inventor or co-inventor of a number of improvements to centrifugal pumps{{ cite patent | country = US | number = 3128714 | status = patent | title = Centrifugal pumps | pubdate = 1964-04-14 | invent1 = George Frederick Arkless | invent2 = Thomas Orr Leith | country = GB | number = 77501 | status = patent | title = Improvements in or relating to centrifugal pumps | pubdate = 1964-12-09 | invent1 = George Frederick Arkless | invent2 = Thomas Orr Leith | country = GB | number = 836146 | status = patent | title = Improvements in or relating to boiler feed pump installations | pubdate = 1960-06-01 | invent1 = Thomas McAlpine | invent2 = Thomas Orr Leith | country = GB | number = 891161 | status = patent | title = Improvements in or relating to the control of feed water pumps | pubdate = 1962-03-14 | invent1 = Thomas McAlpine | invent2 = Thomas Orr Leith | country = GB | number = 801618 | status = patent | title = Improvements in or relating to apparatus for indicating and/or controlling the level of liquid in a container | pubdate = 1958-09-17 | inventor = Thomas Orr Leith

He was a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, President of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland from 1987 to 1989, Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and Fellow of the Institution of Marine Engineers. He was conferred Honorary Fellowship of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland in 2004.http://www.iesis.org/honorary-fellows.html[[File:ThomasLeithPlaque.JPG|thumb|Plaque in Strathaven, Lanarkshire]]

Thomas Leith was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire OBE in the 1988 New Year's Honours for Services to Export.

Thomas Leith was active in the local community. He was Chairman of the Community Council in Newton Mearns and, following a move to Strathaven in Lanarkshire on his retirement in 1991, was actively involved in the Avondale Civic Society of which he was chairman from 1998 to 2004. A plaque near Strathaven Castle was raised by Avondale Civic Society to commemorate his contribution.

Selected papers

References

References

  1. [http://cathcart.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/former-holmlea-primary-site.html Former Holmlea Primary site, Evening News, 4/12/2009] {{Webarchive. link. (13 August 2011)
  2. [https://archive.org/stream/transactionsins20scotgoog#page/n409/mode/1up Transactions of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland, page 366, Vol 46, 1903]
  3. {{London Gazette. (31 December 2007)

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1926-birthsofficers-of-the-order-of-the-british-empirepresidents-of-the-institution-of-engineers-and-shipbuilders-in-scotlandfellows-of-the-royal-academy-of-engineeringscottish-mechanical-engineers20th-century-scottish-inventorsengineers-from-glasgow2005-deathsalumni-of-the-university-of-strathclydescottish-industrial-designers20th-century-scottish-businesspeople