Margaret Weston

Dame Margaret Kate Weston, DBE, FMA (born 7 March 1926) was the Director of the Science Museum, London.[1]

Life

Margaret Weston was born in Oakridge, Gloucestershire, the daughter of a headmaster[2] and educated at Stroud High School. In 1955, at the age of 28, she achieved the status of Chartered Electrical Engineer[3] and was on the Senior technical staff of the General Electric Company Limited[4] before joining the Science Museum in London, starting in 1955. In 1967, she was appointed as Keeper of the Department of Museum Services at the Science Museum (the first time a woman was appointed as a Keeper there), having previously worked as Deputy Keeper of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Communications.[4] She rose to become to Director at the end of her career from 1973-86, succeeding Sir David Follett. She oversaw a significant expansion of what is now known as the Science Museum Group.[5]

On her first day as Director, Weston was in York, announcing the city as the home of the National Railway Museum (NRM opened in 1975)[5] She oversaw the acquisition of Concorde 002 for the Science Museum, which is now housed at the Fleet Air Arm Museum Yeovilton. She described how the Museum acquired Concorde, saying, "I had a telephone call – it was all telephone calls in those earlier days, not e-mails – and the man didn’t give his name or his department. But he just said, do you want Concorde 002? It's coming to the end of its test service. And I said, well I want to preserve it but I have no place to put it. But yes I'll take it."[5]

Concorde 002 was the second prototype of this Anglo-French aircraft. It was assembled in Britain and made its maiden flight from the British Aircraft Corporation's plant at Filton, Bristol on 9 April 1969. Its last flight was made to the Fleet Air Arm Museum Yeovilton in July 1976.[6]

Dame Margaret was instrumental in establishing the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television (now the National Media Museum) in Bradford, which opened in 16 June 1983. In 1984 she was invited to deliver the MacMillan Memorial Lecture to the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland. She chose the subject "The Science Museum and Change - Over the last Thirty Years".[7] She is also the Patron of the Heritage Railway Association and the Stroudwater Textile Trust.[3]

Honours

Margaret Weston was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) on 16 June 1979. She is also a Fellow of the Museums Association (FMA). In 1984 she was made an Honorary Fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge.[8] In 2018, she was made a Fellow of the Science Museum[9].The fellowship was presented by Dame Mary Archer at Dame Margaret's home.

Bibliography
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References
  1. Dame Margaret Weston (Director of Science Museum) and Mrs Gandhi at the opening of Science in India. Science Museum, 1982, Science and Society Picture Library, UK.
  2. Pat Carrick, Catalogue of Research Material on Oakridge, Far Oakridge, Waterlane, Bournes Green, Tunley and Daneway, Part II Archived 13 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  3. "Stroud Textile Trust". stroud-textile.org.uk. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  4. "The Woman Engineer". www2.theiet.org. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  5. "Happy Birthday to Dame Margaret Weston". blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  6. "Concorde Fleet Air Air Museum Yeovilton Somerset". fleetairarm.com. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  7. "Hugh Miller Macmillan". Macmillan Memorial Lectures. Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland. Archived from the original on 4 October 2018. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  8. https://www.newn.cam.ac.uk/about/people/honorary-fellows/
  9. "Science Museum Director's Dinner". 2018. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  10. David Follett, The Rise of the Science Museum under Henry Lyons. London: Science Museum, 1978. ISBN 0-901805-19-X.
  11. David Weston, Beware of Trains. London: Ian Allan, 1981.
Cultural offices
Preceded by
Sir David Follett		 Director of the Science Museum
1973–1986		 Succeeded by
Sir Neil Cossons
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