Thomas Leith

Thomas Orr Leith OBE, FRAE (23 March 1926 – 7 November 2005) was a leading 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).