Allan MacDiarmid

Sir Allan Campbell MacDiarmid C.C.A.

1880 Born, son of Allan and Elizabeth MacDiarmid; Allan was a Starch Manufacturer Master Employing 80 Men

1917 Secretary of Clydeside Tube Co

1939 Chairman and Managing Director, Stewarts and Lloyds, Ltd.

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1945 Obituary

... we recorded with regret the death, in London, on August 14th, of Sir Allan Macdiarmid, who for close upon twenty years was the managing director and chairman of Stewarts and Lloyds, Ltd ., and was President of the Iron and Steel Federation.

Sir Allan, who was born in 1880 at Glasgow, was the son of the late Allan Macdiarmid. He attended the Kelvinside Academy, Glasgow, and later on went to Uppingham School, after which he studied for the profession of a chartered accountant , and entered the office of the Glasgow firm of McClelland Ker and Co. In 1903, he headed the list of successful candidates from the West of Scotland in his final examination. It was in 1909 that he was appointed secretary to Stewarts and Lloyds, Ltd ., and at the end of the last war he was made a director of the company. He was appointed chairman and managing director of the company in 1926, and in the following years, which were so important for the British steel and tube industry, he took a leading part in the reorganisation and development of his company. During his chairmanship the decision to utilise the Northampton iron ores was reached, and plans were made for the great works at Corby, which, with their blast-furnaces, basic steel plant, and tube works, which were to play such an important part in the war effort.

Even before the war Stewarts and Lloyds, Ltd. and its associated firms were manufacturing the greater part of the tubes made in this country and were taking a leading part in export trade. In the course of hi s chairman's speech at the last annual general meeting of the company, Sir Allan made some mention of its great war task, which, he said, had included the supply of fifty million shell forgings. The part played by the firm in the "Pluto" pipeline scheme has already been referred to in our pages, notably the production of the Hamel steel pipes for the supply underneath the English Channel of petrol to our Forces. In addition to his chairmanship of Stewarts and Lloyds, Ltd he was chairman of the Stanton Ironworks Company, Ltd., and a director of Tube Investments, Ltd ., the United Steel Companies Ltd., Richard Thomas and Co. Ltd. and the Davy and United Engineering Company, Ltd. He succeeded Sir James Lithgow as President of the British Iron and Steel Federation in April, 1944, and during recent months gave much attention to the drawing up of a new constitution for the Federation, for which he was mainly responsible and which was adopted. His work was recognised by the bestowal of a knighthood in the New Year Honours this year.

His death, at the comparatively early age of sixty-five will be widely mourned. He was a leader in industry, with wide vision and great courage, and he looked forward to a new spirit in the industry which he so well served. His artistic nature and his charm of manner endeared him to a wide circle of friends."

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